Socially Responsible on Investing

1. Divestment and Socially
Responsible Investing
Presented by Trav Williams
Investment Advisory Services offered through Global
Financial Private Capital, LLC,
an SEC Registered Investment Advisor.
CA Insurance License # 0G61385

2. I confess…
I’m a tree hugger!
(me – 1973)

3. Four Questions
• What is socially responsible
investing (SRI)?
• What is divestment?
• Do they make a difference?
• What’s the downside?

4. What is SRI?
Aligns with investor’s values
–Renewable energy
–Fair trade
–Sustainable development
–Etc.

5. What SRI Isn’t…
• The opposite
–Socially irresponsible
• Shouldn’t all investments be
socially responsible?

6. Who controls corporate
social responsibility? Employees?
Managers?
Executives?
Boards of
Directors?
Investors

7. SRI Myths
• SRI limits investor diversification.
• Thousands of investment options to
choose from

8. SRI Myths
• Higher returns from
irresponsible investments.
• How sustainable are these
returns?

9. SRI Myths
• Markets aren’t impacted by SRI.
• Institutional investors are already
impacting markets by requiring SRI
• CalPERS, for example

10. SRI Myths
• Hard to know how socially-responsible
an investment is
• Hard, but not that hard!

11. 4 Steps for SRI
1 - Identify SRI screening criteria
• Pollution?
• Oil drilling and fracking?
• Slave labor?
• Rainforest destruction?
• War?

12. 4 Steps for SRI
2 - Analyze existing portfolio
3 - Identify alternative investments
4 - Adjust portfolio

13. What is divestment?
• Sale of an asset to achieve a particular
objective
• Eric Hendey, Harvard University Institute of Politics
– “…Worldwide popular opposition in the 1980s
contributed to the decline of apartheid, and
divestment was an important piece of this puzzle.”

14. Fossil Fuel Divestment
• “…We must reduce the amount of CO2 in the
atmosphere from its current level of 400 parts
per million to below 350 ppm.” -350.org
• Better long-term investment?
– Oil?
– Renewable energy?

15. Divestment Commitments
“A growing number of
institutions are
committing to divest
from fossil fuels.”
• gofossilfree.org/commitments

16. Colleges, Universities, & Institutions
College of the Atlantic
Foothill-De Anza Community
College Foundation
Green Mountain College
Hampshire College
Naropa University
Peralta Community College
District
Pitzer College
Prescott College
San Francisco State University
Foundation
Stanford University
Sterling College
Unity College
University of Dayton
Conservation Breeding
Specialist Group
Santa Fe Art Institute
New Progressive Alliance
Council of Canadians
Santa Clara Valley Water District
Students’ Society of McGill
University
Island Institute, Maine, US
British Medical Association

17. Cities and Counties
Seattle, WA
San Francisco, CA
Portland, OR
Eugene, OR
Berkeley, CA
Richmond, CA
Santa Monica, CA
Boulder, CO
Santa Fe, NM
Madison, WI
Bayfield, WI
State College, PA
Ithaca, NY
Truro, MA
Provincetown, MA
Providence, RI
Cambridge, MA
Northampton, MA
Ann Arbor, MI
Boxtel, the
Netherlands
New London, CT
Amherst, MA
Sudbury, MA
Concord, MA
Framingham, MA
Dunedin, New
Zealand
Oakland, California
Eugene, OR
City of Brisbane, CA
San Francisco
County, CA
Dane County, WI

18. Foundations
Divest-Invest Philanthropic Group
Sierra Club Foundation
Wallace Global Fund
Jubitz Family Foundation
The Educational Foundation of
America
Park Foundation
The Russell Family Foundation
Compton Foundation
KL Felicitas Foundation
The Chorus Foundation
Singing Field Foundation
Nia Community Foundation
The John Merck Fund
The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust
Solidago Foundation
Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation
Granary Foundation
The Schmidt Family Foundation
Ben & Jerry’s Foundation
Pax Fund
Ross Knowles Fund
Madden Sainsbury Foundation
Earth Welfare Foundation
McKinnon Family Foundation
The Hunt Foundation
Pace Foundation
Mullum Trust
NSRC Fund
Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation
[Rockefeller Foundation]

19. Religious Institutions
United Church of Christ – National
Massachusetts United Church of Christ
Minnesota United Church of Christ
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Oregon
First Unitarian Church of Salt Lake City, UT
First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church in Cambridge, MA
Portsmouth South Church Unitarian First Unitarian Church
of Pittsfield, ME
First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee, WI
First Presbyterian Palo Alto, CA
Uniting Church, New South Wales & ACT, Australia
Dover Friends Meeting, Dover, NH
Melbourne Unitarian Church, Australia
Unitarian Universalist Society of Amherst, MA
Anglican Diocese of Wellington, New Zealand
Anglican Diocese of Auckland, New Zealand
Anglican Diocese of Dunedin, New Zealand
Anglican Diocese of Waiapu, New Zealand
Anglican Diocese of Waikato and Taranaki, New Zealand
Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia
Brighthelm Church, Brighton, UK
Society for Community Work
Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, MA
Maine Council of Churches, ME
Trinity St. Paul’s United Church, Toronto, Canada
Quakers in Britain
Diakonia, Sweden
Colorado Ratnashri Sangha
First Unitarian Church, Ottawa
Union Theological Seminary, New York City
First Religious Society of Newburyport, MA
Unitarian Society of Northampton & Florence, MA
Unitarian Universalist Association
Central Philadelphia Monthly Quaker Meeting, PA, USA
Lansdowne Monthly Quaker Meeting, PA, USA
Westtown Monthly Quaker Meeting, PA, USA
Lehigh Valley Monthly Quaker Meeting, PA, USA
Old Haverford Monthly Quaker Meeting, PA, USA
Newtown Monthly Quaker Meeting, PA, USA
Haverford Quarterly Quaker Meeting, PA, USA
Jamaica Plain Unitarian Universalist, NY, USA
World Council of Churches
Community Friends, OH, USA
Uniting Church in Australia Assembly, Australia
Franciscan Sisters of Mary, MO, USA
Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts, MA, USA

20. SRI Resources
• Biblical Responsible Investing
Institute www.BRIInstitute.com
• CalPERS investment research
www.CalPERS-Governance.org
• Coalition for Environmentally
Responsible Economies
www.Ceres.org
• Community Development Venture
Capital Alliance www.cdvca.org
• Corporate filings with the SEC
www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml
• Details on public companies and
funds
http://www.morningstar.com/
• Interfaith Center on Corporate
Responsibility – Reports &
Publications
http://www.iccr.org/reports-and-publications
• Most sustainable companies,
according to the World Economic
Forum www.Global100.org
• SRI articles
http://www.triplepundit.com/categ
ory/investment-markets/
• SRI Mutual Fund List
http://charts.ussif.org/mfpc/
• US SIF - Research and Publications
http://www.ussif.org/pubs

21. Closing
• Do SRI and divestment make a
difference?
–YES!
• What’s the downside?
–Additional level of screening

22. Questions?