What is Socially Responsible (ESG) Investing?
Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) is also known as ESG Investing and sometimes referred to as
Sustainable, Green or Ethical Investing. It is an investment strategy that considers both financial
return as well as social impact, good and bad, companies create on the society. There is also a
related area known as Impact Investing which is focused on creating direct social impact through
loans and grants as well as investing in earlier stage companies and non-profits.
In general, socially responsible investors encourage corporate practices that promote
environmental stewardship, fair dealings with employees, human rights, consumer protection,
and diversity among others. They also tend to avoid fossil fuel, weapons production, tobacco and
gambling, pornography, and other companies involved in business activities they believe harm
society.
Major areas we evaluate corporate practices are:
Environment - Employee Relations and Human Rights
Energy - Weapons Production
Corporate Governance - Product Quality and Safety
Animal Rights and Testing - Tobacco, Alcohol and Gambling
Community Development - Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)
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Our focus is to provide a high quality personalized client service through open communication, to strive hard to achieve competitive financial return, and to create a high level of positive societal impact
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Customized Socially Responsible Investment Management
We manage investment portfolios of individuals, families, non-profit organizations and businesses
in a customized way.That means each client’s portfolio is designed to fit that client’s specific
financial goals and preferences as well as social criteria and values. A client said “Oh, it’s like you
are creating a socially responsible mutual fund to fit just me.” Thinking about it, that is a good
description of our service.
We screen the universe of companies we invest in to keep out those that do not meet not only
our financial criteria but also the client’s social values. This way, clients are not supporting any
companies and business activities they do not believe in or find harmful. In addition, we work
with clients to incorporate into portfolios high social impact stocks such as companies involved in
various forms of clean energy, energy efficiency and conservation, battery development, electric
vehicles, pollution reduction, reversing global warming, natural foods and processes, affordable
housing and education. These are generally smaller companies that have only one or two clear
lines of business which are easily identifiable as benefitting society in some way. We also work
with those clients who want to invest in direct impact community projects or funds.