wfn.org | Lutheran Investors Inspire Corporate America

[ELCANEWS@ELCASCO.ELCA.ORG]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

February 17, 1997

RELIGIOUS INVESTORS INSPIRE CORPORATE AMERICA
97-04-008-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- In the 25 years the Interfaith Center on
Corporate Responsibility has been operating, American
corporations have changed their views of religious investors,
and religious investors have "wised up" to what makes corporate
America tick.  That's what Timothy H. Smith, ICCR executive
director, told the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's
(ELCA) Advisory Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility
meeting here Jan. 18.
     "Initially a lot of corporations were very hostile when
religious groups as shareholders raised questions with them.
What they felt was that outsiders were trying to meddle in the
decisions they were trying to make," Smith said.  Those attitudes
began to change as other "large institutional investors" began
raising the same questions about "social and governance
issues."
     "A modern and sensitive corporation is going to be one that
is in tune with its investors, listening to them and trying to
teach their investors lessons that they have learned as
executives in that company," he said.
     "Initially we raised important social and moral issues with
business and hoped that business could change, sometimes
very quickly," said Smith.  "Now, while we still come as people
who are committed to `gospel values' and a prophetic witness,
we also understand much more of what makes a corporation
move, what shapes it."
     "Religious organizations have become much more
sophisticated about corporations," he said.  Corporations are
much more willing to listen when they are convinced that change
can improve the bottom line.
     As shareholders Lutherans want the companies to be
successful, said Marian Nickelson, ELCA director for corporate
social responsibility.  The ideal is a cooperative effort that
would "improve their bottom line, and improve their relationship
with their employees and with their shareholders."
     Nickelson reported on dialogues with a dozen corporations
on such topics as equal employment opportunity, diversity of
boards of directors, global corporate standards, the environment
and U.S.-owned factories in Mexico.
     The advisory committee has recommended that in 1997 the
ELCA use its shareholder status to effect change in three
general areas -- health care, energy and the environment, and
equality in the workplace.
     Various ELCA institutions benefit from stocks held by
endowments and foundations.  The church's Board of Pensions,
seminaries, colleges, social ministry organizations and some
congregations make up a network of ELCA shareholders.
     The ELCA Division for Church in Society, through its
advisory committee, counsels the shareholder network on
resolutions expressing the concerns of the church they could
offer the corporations.  The division works with its counterparts
in 275 Protestant, Catholic and Jewish organizations through the
ICCR office in New York.
     "Our goal is not so much to file a resolution and raise the
issue but to change corporate behavior.  The resolution is just
one tool for doing that," Smith said.
     Generally, resolutions are filed with corporations before
the end of each year in preparation for stockholder meetings to
be held the following spring.  Many resolutions are withdrawn
before reaching the stockholder meetings because they prompt
significant dialogues between the filer and the corporation's
management.
     Smith said many religious investors, like the ELCA, move in
three directions to effect change in corporate America:

     *    "Sometimes they screen out investments in certain
          companies.  They won't own stock in companies they feel
          undercut their moral values."

     *    "Churches have defined their role as advocates trying
          to raise questions with companies, encouraging
          companies to change."

     *    "Increasingly religious investors are taking a portion
          of their investment portfolio, and they're investing it
          in community economic development programs and
          projects."

For information contact:
Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html