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More activists are pushing for investment in Socially Responsible Investments. Mutual Funds have been created
to invest strictly in companies that environmently friendly as well as companies that do not violate human rights. It
may be alot of work for an individual to investigate the huge numbers of companies, so why not let a invest
in a fund that has already screened for socially responsible companies?
Below are the links into websites that contain information on Socially Responsible Mutual Funds:
SocialFunds.com
features over 10,000 pages of information on SRI mutual funds, community investments, corporate research, shareowner actions, and daily social investment news. Calvert For 30 years, Calvert has offered a broad range of investment products and services, including the nation's largest family of socially responsible mutual funds. Pax World Management Corp announced that it now is an associate member of the Chicago Climate Exchange®, a voluntary, multi-sector market for reducing and trading greenhouse gas emissions, and will honor its commitment to purchase Carbon Financial Instruments equal to the firm's indirect greenhouse gas emissions. By doing so, Pax World will offset its entire greenhouse gas emissions that would otherwise contribute to global warming. GreenMoneyJournal.com Tourism is the world's largest industry, and thus it has worldwide power and impact. So of course, GreenMoney Journal asks how, as travelers, do we make that impact more ecologically and socially responsible? As is the case with all of our spending, we realizing that our travel dollars hold far-reaching market power. The Social Investment Forum site offers comprehensive information, contacts & resources on socially responsible investing. Just jump in! You'll find lots of resources to help you take the next step. Investing in Socially Responsible Mutual Funds Academic Paper - (Abstract) We construct optimal portfolios of mutual funds whose objectives include socially responsible investment (SRI). Comparing portfolios of these funds to those constructed from the broader fund universe reveals the cost of imposing the SRI constraint on investors seeking the highest Sharpe ratio. This SRI cost depends crucially on the investor's views about asset pricing models and stock-picking skill by fund managers. To an investor who believes strongly in the CAPM and rules out managerial skill, i.e. a market-index investor, the cost of the SRI constraint is typically just a few basis points per month, measured in certainly-equivalent loss. To an investor who still disallows skill but instead believes to some degree in pricing models that associate higher returns with exposures to size, value, and momentum factors, the SRI constraint is much costlier, typically by at least 30 basis points per month. The SRI constraint imposes large costs on investors whose beliefs allow a substantial amount of fund-manager skill, i.e., investors who rely heavily on individual funds' track records to predict future performance. Socially responsible mutual funds While most investors look at fees, past performance, and investment objectives when selecting mutual funds for their portfolios, some also want to know about the actions and attitudes of the companies that are the fund’s underlying investments. Socially responsible mutual funds — also known as green funds, social funds, values-based funds, and mission funds, to mention just a few of the names they go by — are designed for investors who want to align their portfolios with their religious, political, or social convictions. The Social Investment Forum OVER 70 PERCENT OF LARGEST SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE MUTUAL FUNDS GOT TOP MARKS FROM MORNINGSTAR, LIPPER IN 2003 SOCIALLY CONSCIOUS MUTUAL FUNDS Green Century Funds, an environmentally responsible mutual fund, donates all profits earned through the management of the funds to a partnership of non-profit environmental advocacy organizations. The Funds utilize a simple guideline: shun the polluters, encourage the green companies.
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