Investing for the future, making an impact on the present
Our holistic approach to financial management includes the belief that corporations that combine positive financial and social performance make the best long-term investments. According to our perspective, companies that do not follow socially and environmentally responsible practices, such as polluters and tobacco manufacturers, will tend to have greater liabilities and charges against earnings due to regulatory pressures, fines, strikes, legal expenses and boycotts.
Social screens frequently requested include:
- Environment
- Weapons/military
- Quality of products and services
- Nuclear weapons or nuclear power
- Tobacco, alcohol, or gambling
- Relations with repressive regimes
- Animal welfare
- Human rights
- Board diversity
- Genetically Modified Foods
- Employee relations
- Corporate practices
- Workplace issues, violence, safety
Consumer advocacy has produced labels such as Fair Trade that help guide our purchases. Similarly, investor advocacy has produced Socially Responsible Investing to guide our investment decisions. The field of accounting is responding to the risk of experiencing catastrophic loss due to poor business practices. In accounting this process is called Triple Bottom Line as with social and environmental screening for investments, Triple Bottom Line analyses financial, social and environmental and evaluates business system design for long term profitability and stability.
The times we live in have been characterized by consumption of non-renewable resources, work specialization (which often results in linear thinking), oversimplification of complex issues, and rapid change. Let us help you prosper and navigate the winds of change as an investor or as a business owner.