wfn.org | Lutherans, Episcopalians Discuss Corporate Social Responsibility

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

January 19, 2000

LUTHERANS, EPISCOPALIANS DISCUSS CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
00-15-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "This was a first-time acquaintance for all of us,"
said Dr. Robert C. Holland, Bethesda, Md., newly elected chair of the
advisory committee for corporate social responsibility of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).  The Lutherans met Jan. 14-15 with their
counterparts on the social responsibility in investments committee of The
Episcopal Church.
     Through the advisory committee, the ELCA Division for Church in
Society counsels various institutions of the church about the social
records of corporations in which they hold stock.  In some cases,
shareholder resolutions may be considered to effect change in the
corporation's practices.
     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  Many resolutions are withdrawn before reaching the stockholder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.
     "There was a synergy here that was extraordinary," Holland said of
Lutherans meeting with Episcopalians.  "We found they were extraordinarily
knowledgeable, intelligent, committed people.  We learned from them.  I
think they learned from us."
     "You can tell the group as a whole felt that way with how quickly
they accepted the idea of having another meeting," he said.
     That meeting will be held Sept. 15 in New York to coincide with a
meeting of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR).  About
275 religious organizations, including the ELCA and The Episcopal Church,
coordinate their corporate social responsibility efforts through the ICCR.
     The committees met together to discuss the idea of Lutherans and
Episcopalians co-sponsoring shareholder resolutions on one or two issues in
which they share common concerns.  Jean Pogge, senior vice president,
National Funding Group, South Shore Bank, Chicago, addressed a plenary
meeting of the two committees.
     "It's criminal to think that people are okay because they have jobs,"
said Pogge.  "Poverty has taken a new nature in our community."  She said
the minimum wage cannot support many of the families in the area South
Shore Bank serves.
     South Shore Bank was established in 1973 as the first community
development bank in the United States.  It has lent more than $400 million
to more than 11,000 businesses and individuals in economically depressed
areas of Chicago.  The bank's model has been replicated in other states and
other countries, Pogge said.
     Inner-city and rural areas of the United States are "under-invested
communities," disconnected from the prosperity of the larger economy, she
said.  "With the economy doing so well ... it isn't as true in our
neighborhood as it is in other neighborhoods."
     "Faith-based investors have been very important to our work.  Some of
our early shareholders were church institutions," Pogge said in an
interview.  "We're talking about putting your money into a federally
insured bank account at market rates of interest, where you know your money
is going to be used for a purpose that matches your values."
     "I believe the faith communities have had a great impact on corporate
thinking," said Timothy H. Smith, ICCR executive director.  Smith, a member
of the Episcopal committee, gave a brief report on ICCR activities to the
Lutheran committee.
     Smith said investors are looking for companies that share many of the
values religious organizations have supported for years -- racial diversity
in decision-making, a good environmental record and fair labor practices.
     "It's going to stick if moral values are blended with why it makes
good business sense," said Smith.  "As people of faith, we are called to be
in this ministry."
     The ELCA advisory committee met separately to set its priorities --
areas in which to focus its energies as its considers shareholder
resolutions and the practices of U.S. corporations -- for the next two
years.  The priorities are equity in the workplace, community reinvestment,
elimination of land mines and care of the environment.
     Health care issues had been a priority for corporate social
responsibility and it will be the subject of a churchwide study.  The
ELCA's 1999 Churchwide Assembly initiated development of a social statement
on health and ethical challenges of health care for possible presentation
and adoption in 2003.
     Trudy A. Brubaker, ELCA director for corporate social responsibility,
said another ongoing priority will be to tell Lutherans, especially those
who own stock, about corporate social responsibility.
     The committee elected Holland as chair; Steven Koenig, Elwood, Neb.,
vice chair; and Joanne Heltner, Bloomington, Ill., as secretary.  Koenig is
a member of the ELCA Church Council, the church's board of directors, which
serves as the legislative authority of the ELCA between its biennial
churchwide assemblies.

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