George Floyd

During our team meeting this week, we discussed the impact and importance of George Floyd’s death. We felt it was important to share that conversation with our customers too.

Racism continues to be a devastating part of all our societies. It has been for too long. And we must ensure that each and every one of us are actively involved with creating impactful change for the future.

What that means for each individual will be different, but as a company we have our part to play. That starts with sharing what we’re doing, to send the clear message that we’re actively learning what is right, and that no company is too big or too small to do the right thing.

We’d like to share the steps our business is taking. Make no mistake, this is a long term commitment to continue to challenge ourselves, our team and our customers to make this world a better place. We’re making that commitment public so that you can all hold us accountable. We encourage you to do the same.

We’re making a donation to the NAACP. They are an organisation that has been fighting this battle for a very long time, and we’ll continue to support them and encourage our team to do the same.

We can do more to amplify black voices. We will use the platform we have to do this more. In particular, we can use our place in the finance services industry to focus on financial inclusion for black people and we will partner with other organisations to make changes to Penfold and the wider industry.

We can do better in our hiring processes. We are still a very small team, but that is not an excuse for not prioritising diversity and inclusion. Our first step is external diversity and inclusion training for everyone in our team (we are all involved in hiring new staff), and will make this mandatory for all new hires going forward.

We’ll have much needed conversations on this with our team in our weekly meetings, and be transparent with them (and you) about what we’re doing to be better.

We've shared some further resources below. We encourage you all to continue the conversation with us. We are listening.

Pete, Chris and Stu

More resources

• Donate to: Minnesota Freedom Fund, Reclaim the Block, Black Visions Collective, Black Lives Matter
• Educate ourselves on what is White privilege and how to be a better ally
• Learn the history that was not taught to us as children because of the system of white supremacy we were born into and raised within. Start with The Great Unlearn.
• Follow Rachel Cargle to continue your education and unlearning.
• For Parents
• Ways to help