Socially Responsible Investing (SRI)

Here is my latest prezi about Socially Responsible Investment.
Its from a presentation i gave in my class yesterday.

enjoy!

Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) on Prezi

My speaking notes:

Intro:

Have you heard about SRI?

Do you think SRI is important?

Did you, in the investment game, screen your stocks with SRI values?

Why?

Why not?

There is a wide believe out there, that SRI brings back lower returns, is more risky or less attractive for investors. I will try to prove the opposite.

Video

Def:

Socially responsible investing (SRI), also known as sustainable, socially conscious, green or ethical investing, is any investment strategy which seeks to consider both financial return and social good.

What are your personal values?

What do you believe in?

Do you believe in peace, abundance, community?

Or in war, scarcity and dictatorship?

What would you rather want your money to support?

Weapons solar panels

mass murder community

oil spills - nature

Creation myth:

Quakers:

Who knows these guys?

Quakers?

Quakers “invented” sRi in the 1758 cause a doctrine told them they where “prohibited members from participating in the slave trade–buying or selling humans.“

Modern:

In the 1960’s, due to the political climate, increasingly sought to address equality for women, civil rights, and labor issues.

Economic development projects started or managed by Dr. Martin Luther King, like the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Operation Breadbasket Project] in Chicago, established the beginning model for socially responsible investing efforts

1950s and 1960s, trade unions started investing pension funds

SRI had an important role in causing ending the apartheid government in South Africa

Since the late 1990s, SRI has become increasingly defined as a means to promote environmentally sustainable development

GROWTH

Socially responsible investing is a booming market in both the US and Europe. Assets in socially screened portfolios climbed to $3.07 trillion at the start of 2010, a 34% increase since 2005

From 2007-2010 alone, SRI assets increased more than 13%, while professionally-managed assets overall increased less than 1%

So what does SRI do?

What are the approaches investors typically utilize in SRI?

Screening

evaluating investment portfolios or mutual funds based on social, environmental and good corporate governance criteria.

Screening may involve including strong corporate social responsibility (CSR) performers, avoiding poor performers, or otherwise incorporating CSR factors into the process of investment analysis and management. Generally, sutainable and responsible investors seek to own profitable companies that make positive contributions to society. "Buy" lists may include enterprises with, for example, good employer-employee relations, strong environmental practices, products that are safe and useful, and operations that respect human rights around the world.

Shareholder advocacy

sustainable and responsible investors who take an active role as the owners of corporate America.

These efforts include talking (or "dialoguing") with companies on issues of social, environmental or governance concerns. Shareholder advocacy also frequently involves filing, and co-filing shareholder resolutions on such topics as corporate governance, climate change, political contributions, gender/racial discrimination, pollution, problem labor practices and a host of other issues. Shareholder resolutions are then presented for a vote to all owners of a corporation.

Community Investing 

directs capital from investors and lenders to communities that are underserved by traditional financial services institutions.

Community investing provides access to credit, equity, capital, and basic banking products that these communities would otherwise lack. In the US and around the world, community investing makes it possible for local organizations to provide financial services to low-income individuals and to supply capital for small businesses and vital community services, such as affordable housing, child care, and healthcare

How many assets are involved in SRI?

US SIF's 2010 Report on Socially Responsible Investing Trends identified $3.07 trillion in total assets

How many SRI mutual funds are there?

 2010, there were 250 socially screened mutual fund products in the US

What is the fastest growing area of SRI?

Community investing

 Over the past three years, community investing has grown over 60-percent, from $25.0 billion to $41.7 billion in assets.

Performance and SRI Investment

FTSE KLD 400 with returns of 9.51

 8.66 percent for the S&P 500

domini 400:

1. Approximately 250 companies in the S&P 500
2. 100 companies not in the S&P 500, but providing sector diversification and exceeding pre-determined market cap limitations
3. 50 companies that have shown excellence in their social and environmental dealings