3003 Plenary III
Planning Committee Sponsored
Socially Responsible Investing
James Gunning, Chair, Committee on Socially Responsible Investing
June 22, 2002
"Responsible" is our middle name.
Our task is to foster Responsible Investing. Responsible not only in financial terms, but that's one part of the task.
We also want to be responsible in religious and spiritual terms, because we are religious people.
We do not have to be schizophrenic about our job of investing.
I am here to tell you we can have it both ways. We can obtain competitive financial returns while using our clout to improve the lives of many people at home and around the world.
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And our middle name also applies to our social mission. Our UU principles tell us to live and be part of the whole world -- not just on Sunday or any other part of the week.
The whole world and all of its parts. And the whole interdependent web of life.
So our task also is to foster Social Responsibility. In our motives and actions, we must bear witness to our principles throughout our whole world community.
Our goal is the Sixth Principle: world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all. Nothing less.
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How in the world can we use our investments to move towards this goal?
Let's try to explain in these terms.
SRI [socially responsible investing] -- SRI is a ministry -- like many other ministries. We may use different tools, and we may be speaking to different target groups of people. But our ends and outcomes are similar to many other ministries.
Our path is, in part, to use our financial assets as a tool to achieve greater "bang for the buck". To get competitive financial returns WHILE we also get social returns from our financial clout.
Our path is, in part, to call out -- to witness in our world -- that the companies in which we invest can do a better job as a world citizens, consistent with their responsibilities to their financial mission.
And we do that by talking to the managers of these companies, people just like you and me. In fact, many UUs have responsible positions in companies that we approach. Perhaps a number of you here today are in equivalent positions.
Our task is to bring our religious and ethical beliefs into the companies in which we invest and show their managers that it's "good business" to be a good citizen.
* * * * * * * *So what have we been doing in the first year and a half of our existence?
Our first efforts have been to assist the UUA Investment Committee to screen the companies in which the endowment fund invests. And how the proxy votes are cast, and select the issues on which to engage the companies represented in the portfolio.
Now that these areas are well under way, we will turn to the local congregations and individual UUs and direct our energies towards offering assistance on a broader base.
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That's what we are about. How about joining us in the ministry of Socially Responsible Investing. Some congregations are already part of this ministry to their own congregations, and we want to welcome many others to the mission.
We had one workshop on the subject yesterday. There are two more workshops this year -- one tomorrow jointly with the UU Service Committee -- focusing on the shareholder activism. And another on Monday on the process of screening companies in which to investment. I invite you to join us, at the workshops and in this ministry.
It's exciting. It's rewarding. It's a way to put our faith into action.Thank you for your attention.
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