ICCR Prepares For Its 40th Anniversary with Streaming Audio Podcasts
Chronicling the History of Faith-Based Shareholder Activism

Coalition of 300 Faith-based Institutional Investors Issues “The Arc of Change” Series

New York City///June 18, 2009///Anticipating the celebration of its upcoming 40th anniversary, the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) is telling its story through a year-long series of monthly audio podcasts.  The series, entitled The Arc of Change, relates how ICCR pioneered the practice of shareholder activism, which has significantly shifted widespread corporate practices to be more in line with the tenets of environmental and social sustainability.  ICCR is a coalition of nearly 300 faith-based institutional investors representing over $100 billion in invested capital.

Podcast producers Bill Baue and Francesca Rheannon of Sea Change Media interviewed over a dozen key ICCR figures recounting stories of their struggles – and successes – in convincing companies to change.

ICCR Executive Director Laura Berry said: “In the first Arc of Change episode, I recount the advice I gave my investment clients in my early years as a financial advisor in the 1980s. I counseled them to support new shareholder resolutions on environmental, social, and governance issues filed by the 300-odd faith-based institutional investors who make up ICCR – because they advanced practices that make moral and financial sense. Faith-based institutional investors have proven to be an early warning system, identifying emerging risks in the capital markets time and time again.”

The series tells the ICCR story in the voices of the history-makers:

• Attorney Paul Neuhauser recounts how, in the early 1970s, the newly-formed Socially Responsible Investment Committee of the Episcopal Church filed one of the first-ever shareholder resolutions.  It asked GM to get out of apartheid South Africa, an appeal that set in motion a long chain of events that ultimately ended in the abolition of apartheid.
• Benedictine Friar Mike Crosby and former ICCR Executive Director Tim Smith relate how ICCR expanded its ecumenical approach early on by bridging Protestant and Catholic activism.
• Sister Barbara Aires describes how the keys to success in effecting corporate change are consistent articulation of a moral voice, meeting directly with decision makers (such as Jack Welch of GE and Rob Walton of Wal-Mart), and demonstrating the power of engaged leadership to influence entire sectors. 
• Jeffrey Dekro of Jewish Funds for Justice discusses the genesis of the Isaiah Fund, an interfaith community investing fund for the Gulf Regions impacted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and how this enacts the Jewish concept of Tikkun Olam, or “repairing the world.”
• ICCR Deputy Director KC Burton discusses the future evolution and diversification of ICCR.  

“Until now, ICCR’s story has unfolded largely behind-the-scenes – in corporate boardrooms, at company annual shareholder meetings, and on the ground in communities impacted by corporate decisions,” said Sea Change Co-Director Bill Baue.  “We feel privileged to be conveying the unheard, untold stories behind  ICCR’s world-changing work in The Arc of Change podcast series,” added Sea Change Co-Director Francesca Rheannon.

The Arc of Change will be available on the ICCR website (http://podcast.iccr.org) for webstreaming, downloading, and podcasting.  

ABOUT ICCR

The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility is a coalition of nearly 300 faith-based institutional investors representing over $100 billion in invested capital. ICCR members bridge the divide between morality and markets by envisioning a civic economy that integrates ethical, environmental and social values. Inspired by faith, committed to action, ICCR members work to build a just and sustainable global community.

ABOUT SEA CHANGE MEDIA

The mission of Sea Change Media is to make connections that advance the shift to social, environmental, and economic sustainability.  Its main project, Sea Change Radio, is nationally syndicated on over 20 stations and globally podcasted from the Sea Change website (http://www.cchange.net).  Sea Change also produces audio podcasts and videos, blogs, conducts research, and consults with organizations committed to sustainability, including CSRwire.com, 3BL Media, the Investor Environmental Health Network, the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, Audubon, the Harvard-Kennedy School’s Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative and the office of the UN Special Representative on Business and Human Rights.  Sea Change Media is a division of the Trusteeship Institute, a 501(c)3 non-profit.
 
CONTACT: 
Patrick Mitchell, (703) 276-3266 or pmitchell@hastingsgroup.com.