The Responsible Endowments Coalition works to foster social and environmental change and to promote corporate reform through university endowments by educating and empowering a diverse community of university members and allies. Colleges and universities control over $340 billion in capital; they also lay claim to strong social missions. Yet few are aware of the great opportunities available to engage in responsible investment. The Responsible Endowments Coalition provides the tools, resources, and networks to help students and other university members to successfully implement responsible investment practices on over 50 campuses nationwide. These campuses control more than $150 billion of invested assets. By working with their institutions to invest responsibly and proactively, students and other university members have the power to support corporate reform in areas such as human rights, environmental responsibility, and equal opportunity, and to encourage accountability to the communities in which they live and learn by supporting community development and participation.
This site provides an introduction to an emergent form of activism. You can learn about existing campaigns, responsible investment strategies and the history of the responsible investment movement. We’ve also compiled a number of useful documents from student campaigns.
We provide one-on-one mentorship to students interested in endowment activism. If you have other questions or want to join our listserv, feel free to contact us. If you would like to contribute to the Responsible Endowment Coalition, please visit our donation page.
Want to learn more about responsible investing in practice? Click here to read our new handbook for college administrators and trustees, co-produced with Amnesty International, which provides a broad overview of strategies for integrating mission, values and investments. Our student handbook is coming soon!
