REC Blog

By Greg Caplan, REC Midwest Student Organizer

On February 18^th REC and the Sustainable Investing Institute presented a Proxy Season Forecast. As many annual meetings are approaching, it is a great time to discuss the various issues that have been raised to companies through the medium of the Shareholder Resolution. The Proxy Season Forecast was a rundown of all of the environmental and social issues that are included in shareholder resolutions to be voted on in 2010 annual meetings of shareholders. These issues were broken down into nine categories below, but it is interesting to note that if you combine sustainability reporting, climate change, and natural resources/toxics, environmental issues account for over 40% of social issues.

Some notable resolutions up for a vote:

· Hydraulic fracturing , which has 10 resolutions pending, is asking for corporations engaged in this mining technique to report on impacts, damage mitigation, risks, but the SEC challenges will be test of new risk approach. Hydraulic fracturing is a resource extraction method in which fluid is injected into fractures of rock in order to force resources such as oil and natural gas out. This increases the rate of extraction from reservoirs. Possible environmental issues associated with this process are contamination of the water supply and inducing seismic events.

· Mountain top removal financing is another new issue, with 2 proposals on the table, but it is also being challenged with the SEC because corporations are saying that it is an ordinary business challenge, and therefore cannot be voted on by the shareholders. Mountaintop removal is the process of blasting off the top of mountains with dynamite in order to expose resources, usually coal, in the interior of the mountain. Environmental issues associated with mountaintop removal are loss of biodiversity and contamination of the air and water surrounding the area.

· In Climate Change a very interesting new development is the trend toward asking corporations to adopt 6 BICEP principles . There are 9 of these resolutions pending. The BICEP principles call for corporations to cut emissions, set goals, pressure regulators, develop clean energy options, and adapt to and mitigate climate change.

If you would like to learn more about pending shareholder resolutions you should visit ProxyDemocracy.org! It is a great site and much easier to navigate than any other site I have seen on Proxy Voting and pending votes. Shareholder resolutions are most effective when they draw a lot of yes votes, so please consider supporting these resolutions. If you would like more information about how to get involved, please contact REC at info@endowmentethics.org .

By the Dwight Hall Socially Responsible Investment Fund

New Haven, Connecticut – The Dwight Hall Socially Responsible Investment Fund has launched the first undergraduate-run socially responsible endowment investment in the country.

Developed by members of Dwight Hall’s student-run socially responsible investment (SRI) committee, the first of its kind in the country, the Market-Driven and Mission-Driven Portfolios aim to promote Dwight Hall’s social values while earning financial returns to support the Dwight Hall operating budget. The investments have been authorized by the Dwight Hall Board of Trustees.

The Dwight Hall Socially Responsible Investment Fund was created in 2007 by the Board of Trustees of Dwight Hall, Yale University’s umbrella organization for public service and social justice groups, to invest a portion of Dwight Hall’s endowment according to environmental, social, and corporate governance guidelines. As the first undergraduate-run socially responsible investment endowment in the nation, the Fund aims to bring Dwight Hall’s investment policy in line with its institutional commitment to social change. “The Dwight Hall SRI Fund is an innovative form of service that allows Dwight Hall to dedicate its resources fully to improving the communities in which it operates,” says committee chair Thomas Meyer ‘11.

Composed of about ten undergraduate students who receive mentoring from graduate students at the Yale School of Management, the Dwight Hall SRI Fund represents the nation’s first undergraduate socially responsible investment group whose returns are expected to support the institution with which it is affiliated. The Fund has become the leading student-run socially responsible investment initiatives in the country, and its combined market- and mission-based approach represents an innovative SRI model.

When compiling their Market-Driven Portfolio proposal, students considered the entire universe of socially responsible investment funds and applicable traditional funds, using funnel analysis to eliminate funds that did not meet the group’s needs. Positive and negative screening allowed students to evaluate the environmental, labor, and corporate governance policies of funds’ holdings. Funds with assets greater than $200 million under management were expected to engage in shareholder advocacy. Students also considered funds’ past performance, manager experience, duration of existence, investment strategy, and fee structure. Each fund in the portfolio is expected to perform in line with or outperform the standard benchmark of its asset class.

The Mission-Driven Portfolio consists of a $10,000 investment in a certificate of deposit at The Community’s Bank of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Chartered under the Community Reinvestment Act, the Bridgeport bank focuses on providing individuals underserved by the traditional banking community with access to credit. Both FDIC-insured and classified as a community development bank, The Community’s Bank met the group’s criteria for financial viability and social impact. The bank was selected after extensive research on investment options that would benefit the New Haven-area communities served by Dwight Hall.

Socially responsible investing refers to an investment strategy that seeks to maximize both financial return and social good, taking into account the social impact of a particular investment when making acquisition decisions. This approach has roots in investment strategies of nineteenth century American religious groups. It became increasingly prominent in the 1990s when institutional divestment of holdings with ties to South Africa—including at Dwight Hall—generated significant pressure to end apartheid. “With the support of hundreds of institutional investors representing trillions of dollars, responsible investment is playing a growing and prominent role in modern finance,” says committee member Aaron Podolny ‘12.
Following these initial investments, the Dwight Hall socially responsible investment committee will monitor the overall portfolio’s performance to ensure that it continues to meet their investment objectives. The group will also explore options for further mission-based community investments. A letter of intent has already been sent to help the First Community Bank of New Haven complete its federal chartering process. “It’s exciting to see the country’s first undergraduate SRI endowment move forward with an investment strategy that not only will help to support the programs that Dwight Hall runs but also will grow in a healthy and responsible way,” says Meyer.

Contact press@dwighthallsri.org.

American University is located in upper Northwest DC and shares its neighborhood with members of DC’s professional upper middle class. To resist isolation from the rest of the city, the university maintains a focus on internships, community service, and taking advantage of the resources and opportunities that the city has to offer. However, to fully embody our mission to be a “private university with a public responsibility,” we must take one step further to support economic justice for every community in DC. Our city is immensely segregated, where communities of color have disproportionately lower incomes. As students at American, we are very concerned about inequality in DC and how we can utilize our privilege to benefit less privileged
communities.

What can we do as students to lessen this disparity? Individual students as well as universities and other institutions must start putting money in Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), such as community banks and credit unions, so communities who are underserved by our area’s corporate banks can gain access to credit, loans, and the opportunity to provide for their families. As part of the DC community, American University can positively impact these communities by moving some of the cash from our endowment into CDFIs. AU students are campaigning for the university to transfer 5% of the cash assets from its endowment into CDFIs such as the City First Bank of DC . Totaling $4.3 million dollars, these investments would significantly impact low-income communities of color.

Since 1998, City First Bank has been providing economic opportunities to underserved communities. Their efforts have resulted in 2,000 jobs and more than 1,400 units of low-income housing for these communities. Between 2004 and 2007, City First lent out over $150 million to community members who used the funds for community development projects, such as small businesses, and for achieving personal financial goals. DC residents who enjoy sugary pursuits know of the delicious bakery Cakelove on U Street, but few know that owner Warren Brown was only able to open the bakery with financing by City First.

By investing in CDFIs, American will be directly contributing to community control of economic resources. Having access to financial services is an effective way for communities to lift themselves out of poverty. Without CDFIs, many vibrant community-owned businesses would go out of business. National chains would move in to fill the void, thus accelerating the gentrification process.

American’s deposits would be just as protected in City First as it is in big corporate banks. City First and many other CDFIs are FDIC insured for deposits up to $250,000. The CDARS program of diversifying risk ensures that the government will protect investments of up to $50 million in CDFIs. It’s time that American makes our endowment money work for our communities and engages in direct community investment!

For more information, and to find a local credit union or development bank, try the Coalition of CDFIs , National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions , or the Move Your Money campaign.

Written by Maura Rendes, Northwest Student Organizer

The Seattle University Committee on Responsible Investment has successfully proposed a unique form of Community Investment, which allows for students to be involved in a micro-financing process right here in the Central District of Seattle, where the University is located. The administration has agreed to move $100,000 from the operating budget to a local micro-enterprise firm, called Community Capital Development (CCD), with the understanding that the project will be reevaluated in 5 years minimum and ideally matched with funds from the endowment in the future.

CCD is a consortium of three 501(C)-(3) non-profits one of which is the Seattle Economic Development Fund (SEDF), a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI). The CCD provides economic self-sufficiency and job creation through entrepreneurial development and access to capital in the form of micro-loans (greater than or equal to $35,000).

CCD has offered an internship program to be partnered with SU’s Microenterprise Program within the Entrepreneurship Center that will allow students to disperse the $100,000 themselves with the guidance of senior loan officers at CCD, permitting them to later guide and oversee the recipients of the loans and create relationships with the targeted minority and women-owned businesses as well as with the CCD itself.

The project is unique in that the organization itself is not insured by the FDIC, as REC typically recommends for Community Investment projects, however the administration sees the program as a perfect fit for SU and is happy to make the contribution because it so closely parallels our mission, and will have a direct impact on our neighborhood community. Seattle University is happy to share ideas and strategies with anyone interested. Please contact Maura Rendes at maura@endowmentethics.org

Bard
The Committee at Bard is hoping to approve proxy voting guidelines is likely to focus on spreading awareness at the school through lectures and possibly following in Columbia’s footsteps with some type of SRI curriculum in the upcoming semester. We may have exhausted our shareholder activist potential for this year as our portfolio has remained surprisingly clean. Obviously we will continue to look for options in that area but the members and I agree that capitalizing on the strong and healthy activist culture at Bard is the best use of the committee’s time at this point. Our community investment attempts continue to stall though we will continue to try different approaches on that.

Brandeis University
Our committee met with our COO (as we didn’t have a CIO at the time) who seemed supportive just before the break. He explained to us the basic institutional structure of control of investments at Brandeis and recommended we write him a letter thanking him for our meeting and giving an overview of our argument for increased transparency and student input in investments, which he would give to the investment committee of the board of trustees. We sent him the letter, so that’s where we are now. We’ll probably try to talk to the new CIO soon.

Carleton College
So we’re struggling to get through the proxy season as usual. It’s a little hectic, but otherwise we have a good dynamic on the committee. In terms of voting guidelines we have run into problems with the administration. We are curious about what other committees have done with guidelines, as our trustees are almost sure to reject anything rigid or set that we bring to them. As it is they have been asking us for very detailed analysis of the possible outcomes of any resolutions we propose to them. Maybe we can tackle it in the spring after more research.

Columbia University
The Committee plans to spend the spring voting proxies and working with the Trustees to ensure their approval of the proxy voting guidelines drafted last year. The Committee also hopes to learn more about filing resolutions and continue to engage in corporate dialogue.

Grinnell College
We’re back in bilzzardy and blustery Iowa and rejuvenated from break and excited about SRI. We’re talking about some other potentially more radical routes we as a group might take in our endeavor to get Grinnell to be more SR and are open to ideas. We’re going to continue to research proxies and encourage the Trustees to vote on them.

Hampshire College
The administration suspended the socially responsible investment policy and students continue to engage their administration on its reinstitution.

Haverford College
The Committee is co-hosting a REC Roundtable on Shareholder Advocacy on March 18th from 4-6pm, followed by an SRI networking hour. In addition the Committee continues to express interest in filing a resolution.

Howard University
The campaign for a committee at Howard continues to be stymied by a lack of transparency from the finance office, which refuses to release information to students.

Loyola University Chicago
Loyola’s Shareholder Advisory Committee lead-filed a resolution on mountaintop removal financing at JP Morgan Chase. The committee is actively looking for other investors who would like to join the dialogue Chase has now opened with the shareholders on this issue. If you’re interested please contact Elaine Lehman at elehma1@luc.edu.

Macalester College
A broad coalition of student groups continues to push for a more comprehensive responsible investment policy.

Middlebury College
At Middlebury we have a January term that lasts for just over three weeks. For this time period there are less students on campus, but those who are here are just taking one class. So, our hope as the SRI club is to use these three weeks as an educational opportunity to inform the student body about SRI at Middlebury and beyond. We want to have three or events…one each week. We have asked several professors to speak on a panel for the first event. The second one would be an information session about the developing Choice Fund that has not yet been made official, but that the Board of Trustees has agreed to create. The final one would be a sort of open forum for students to talk about next steps for SRI at Middlebury, once the Choice Fund has been created. So that’s J-term. Once Spring semester has started we hope to be wrapping up the final details for the creation of the Choice Fund.

Ohio State University
Recently, members of the Undergraduate Student Government at OSU have begun looking at the examples on investment responsibility and are particularly interested in beginning an initiative to create a committe on investment responsibility.

Tufts University
The Committee and Students at Tufts for Investor Responsibility (STIR) continue to advocate for broader committee membership and the development of structures like proxy voting guidelines and a social choice fund that will help deepen the school’s commitment to responsible investment.

University of California
The UC Responsible Investment Coalition held a retreat in January for students interested in pushing the Regents and the campus foundations to adopt committees on investor responsibility. The group developed goals and created working groups to take the necessary steps to move forward. UCRIC plans to be vocal at Regents meetings and on campuses this spring.

University of Chicago
Students for Democratic Society at the University of Chicago plan to challenge their school’s policy of “no responsible policy” this spring by raising the campus community’s awareness of the issue and working with administrators to come to a resolution.

University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Net Impact graduate and undergradute students continue to work with the administration toward setting up a comittee on responsible investing. We are currently meeting with the administration to discuss develping proxy voting guidelines and with student government to secure that body’s support for the effort.

University of North Dakota
We at SDS have a written proposal for a socially responsible investment committee that would be housed under student government. We plan to begin working with the University Investment Committee, the Alumni Foundation, and student senators to get the committee established.

Washington University-St. Louis

Washington University Students for Endowment Transparency continues to push for greater investment accountability and a multi-stakeholder process for investment decision.

Yale

Students are preparing for the committee’s annual meeting where they hope to push the committee to enact the reforms outlined in the Responsible Endowment Project’s report, available at www.responsibleendowment.com.  They are also circulating petitions that they believe will raise awareness and demonstrate the broad support on campus for greater transparency and broader purview of the committee.