SRIC Report to the General Assembly

On Thursday, June 20th the Chair of the SRI Committee, Glenn Farley, presented their report (PDF) to the General Assembly. Please take a moment to read the report to see who the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) is as a responsible investor, promises made and fulfilled by the committee and, the promises they commit to fulfill in the future.

Community Investments

The Unitarian Universalist (UU) Common Endowment Fund devotes 1% of the Fund’s assets to community investments. One of those is Root Capital. an institution that lends to rural farmer cooperatives in South America and around the world. We’re pleased to share their report with you.

Ten Things All UUs Should Know About SRI

The UUA’s Committee on Socially Responsible Investing offers a must read for all Unitarian Universalists (UUs) called Ten Things all UU’s Should Know About Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) .

UUA Prompts Investors Representing More Than $145 Billion to Call for Immigration Reform

March 1, 2011—The UUA has spearheaded a group of more than 60 institutional investors who are demanding comprehensive reform (PDF, 3 pages) of America’s broken immigration system. These institutional investors, representing more than $145 billion in assets, are asking CEOs of leading companies (PDF, 7 pages) in the United States to speak out for immigration policy reform and to say that repairing our current immigration system is an economic and human rights imperative. Read the whole story here .

Money, Values and Impact:

A Conference on Ethical Investing for Unitarian Universalist Congregations

The conference was in May 2009, but a lot of the information is still pertinent. You can see videos and more information .

SRI Activities and Resources

Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) is ensuring that our investments are aligned with our values. The UUA has been strongly committed to SRI for over forty years. Our commitment springs from our faith, and from our deep conviction in the dignity of all human beings.

The UUA is constantly engaged in SRI activity from shareholder resolutions, to community investing, to affordable housing and other justice initiatives. Congregations can get involved in SRI in a number of ways. The simplest way is to invest your funds in the UUA’s Endowment Fund. which Financial Services strives to invest according to UUA Socially Responsible Investing Guidelines (PDF, 3 pages) .

Congregations can also invest on their own through an SRI firm or engage in other activities, such as microcredit or shareholder activism. If you are new to SRI, we recommend that you first read about the four aspects of SRI: positive and negative screening. shareholder activism. proxy voting. and community investment. before deciding how best to engage your congregation. Community investing is important for those of you who are interested in affordable housing and microcredit.

For more information on the four aspects of SRI, see Getting Started in SRI .

The UUA has put together some key resources to help congregations with their SRI programs. See Tools for Congregations. These include: