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What is the connection between faith
and investing?
ICCR members believe that as responsible
stewards they must invest their saved resources -- pensions
and endowments -- in ways that are consistent with their faith
values. Since their faith calls them to promote peace, economic
justice and stewardship of the universe, they believe they
should not profit from production or sale of unsafe or harmful
products; from exploitation of human weakness; from violation
of human rights, production for war, racism, sexual exploitation
or destruction of the environment and so on. They believe
they should encourage safe and healthy production methods,
forgiveness of debt for poor nations and investment in sustainable
development, equal employment opportunity, diversity in management
and in boards of directors and payment of living wages.
ICCR began in the early 1970s in part
as an outgrowth of opposition to the Vietnam War. Like anti-war
students of the day, progressive clergy questioned whether
churches were profiting off the war, which most ICCR members
opposed in 1971 when ICCR began. This questioning led ICCR
members to challenge military contractors on their production
of nuclear weapons (a top priority of ICCR members during
the 1980s), foreign military sales and development of space
weapons. Similarly, ICCR member opposition to apartheid in
South Africa was an extension of the longstanding opposition
of U.S. faith communities to slavery, discrimination and segregation.
Today ICCR members steadfastly promote environmental justice,
access to capital, access to health care, diversity on boards
of directors and an end to global warming and sweatshop abuses.
Each action taken by ICCR members, has a basis in the beliefs
of the ICCR member participating in the action.
Does socially responsible investing result in lower financial
performance?
Until recently this was a difficult question
to answer because so few investors screened their portfolios
and so few portfolio managers had the ability to include social
and environmental performance in investment decision making.
However today socially screened investments are performing
with the best as dedicated investors develop a history of
doing well while doing good. Last year, for example, the Domini
Social Equity Fund, one of the most aggressively screened
socially responsible funds, received Morningstar's FiveStar
overall rating (Highest Rating) among 3,043 and 1,878 domestic
equity funds for the 3- and 5-year periods ended 6/30/99,
respectively.
Moreover, screening portfolios and shareholder
advocacy are not rare practices. Social Investment Forum data
(1999) shows nearly one out of every seven dollars under investment
management in the U.S. -- more than $2 trillion -- is now
actively involved in the corporate social responsibility movement.
Remarkably, socially responsible assets grew at twice the
rate of all assets under management in the U.S., linked in
part to increased participation of defined-benefit and defined-contribution
pension funds and a sharp increase of labor union participation.
Can individual invest in a socially responsible manner?
To join our Advocates
program for individuals, click
here. In addition, there are numerous socially responsible
mutual funds and portfolio managers which have individual
investor clients. ICCR has a database of SRI Service Providers.
To get started on your search, click here.
Who are the members of ICCR?
ICCR members include 275 Protestant, Catholic
and Jewish institutional investors including denominations,
religious communities, pension funds, healthcare corporations,
foundations, dioceses with combined portfolios worth an estimated
$100 billion. ICCR and its members work with conscientious
individual and institutional investors as well as advocacy
organizations, who share all or part of ICCR's commitment
to a just and peaceful world. These partner groups include
pension funds; socially responsible mutual funds and portfolio
management firms; labor unions; foundations; civil rights
and environmental organizations; human rights advocacy organizations;
health care professionals and public health advocates; food
safety advocates; peace groups; community economic development
organizations; women's groups and local citizens organizations
from around the world. For a list of the ICCR membership,
click here.
