WHAT IS SRI >> What You Can Do
Policy changes vary drastically. You can and should advocate
for change on many levels.
Change University Policy
Successful student organizations have advocated for various
levels of SRI policy to govern endowment investing. Some
have used student government resolutions to advocate for
SRI. Other students have met with either the entire or individual
members of the Board of Trustees. Almost everyone develops
relationships with Administrators to advocate for SRI policy
change (or policy improvement).
Start an Alternative Fund
Students at Stanford and Williams have lobbied and successfully
established alternative giving funds. Graduating seniors
and others have boycotted the senior gift and begun their
own funds, to serve a purpose similar to the endowment, that
are invested through SRI mutual funds or are otherwise more
effectively socially responsible. To read a case study on
the campaign for the Williams Social Choice Fund, click
here.
Currently alumni from several schools choose to donate
to a fund separate from the endowment if they feel that
the
endowment ought to be invested differently or that the
university should actively vote on shareholder resolutions.
Some universities
and colleges are shareholder activists. Many have committees
composed of students, faculty, alumni and employees to
advise the Board of Trustees on SRI issues. Please see
the Schools section for more info about SRI advisory committees at
10 schools.
Get a Diverse Group of People Involved
Find dedicated students to work with. Commit part of
your campaign to recruiting younger students. Connect
with sympathetic
professors. Contact alumni who will support your campaign.
Make yourself credible to you administrators. Build a
relationship. Many have had success painting themselves
as intermediaries
between anarchist radicals and their corporate-minded
administrators.
Develop and Circulate a Proposal
This is effective because it forces a conversation shift
to what the proposal should look like, not should there
be such a proposal. For more info on proposals, check
out our
Sample Proposals section of the website.
Finally, it is
important to realize that while it might seem daunting
to think about running a campaign on SRI
at your
school, we are here to help by providing the valuable
resources you need to succeed--from extensive documentation
on the
nuts and bolts of running a campaign, the success
stories of recent campaigns, the structure of existing
SRI committees,
to a personal mentorship program to offer guidance
and advice, we provide one-stop shopping for help with
running
a campaign
(but it really isn't shopping, since its all free).
To continue to the Run a Campaign section, click
here.
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