Sustainable and Socially Responsible Investing
Welcome to Socially Responsible Investing! Do you want the companies of tomorrow to be dumping toxic wastes into your rivers and streams or to be developing alternative energy that can help build a sustainable future? Do you want the companies of tomorrow to be paying their CEO's outrageous salaries while their workers get poverty wages or to be treating their employees fairly and paying a living wage? These are the types of choices you are making with every dollar you have to invest.
So what is Socially Responsible Investing (SRI)? According to the Social Investment Forum, SRI is a broad-based approach to investing that now encompasses an estimated $2.3 trillion out of $24 trillion in the U.S. investment marketplace today. SRI recognizes that corporate responsibility and societal concerns are valid parts of investment decisions. SRI considers both the investor's financial needs and an investment's impact on society. SRI investors encourage corporations to improve their practices on environmental, social, and governance issues. You may also hear SRI-like approaches to investing referred to as mission investing, responsible investing, double or triple bottom line investing, ethical investing, sustainable investing, or green investing.
As a result of its investing strategies, SRI also works to enhance the bottom lines of the companies in question and, in so doing, delivers more long-term wealth to shareholders. In addition, SRI investors seek to build wealth in underserved communities worldwide. With SRI, investors can put their money to work to build a more sustainable world while earning competitive returns both today and over time.
Socially responsible investors include individuals and also institutions, such as corporations, universities, hospitals, foundations, insurance companies, public and private pension funds, nonprofit organizations, and religious institutions. Institutional investors represent the largest and fastest growing segment of the SRI world.
