wfn.org | Using investments as 'gift' for environment

[NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG]

Nov. 6, 2000 News media contact: Linda Bloom·(212) 870-3803·New York
10-33-71B{506}

NOTE: This report is a sidebar to UMNS story #505.

By United Methodist News Service

For years, the United Methodist Church has put its money where its mouth is,
in terms of speaking on social and environmental issues.

One hundred percent of the denomination's $13 billion worth of pension funds
is in investments that are considered socially responsible, according to
Vidette Bullock Mixon, director of corporate relations and social concerns
for the United Methodist Board of Pension and Health Benefits. And at least
30 percent of the estimated total of $75 billion in funds and property held
by United Methodist-related bodies or organizations are in ethical
investments.

This model of using money to promote social responsibility - either by
investing in specific companies or by using shareholder power to advocate
for change within corporations - is the "sacred gift" that the Board of
Pension will bring to the Nov. 15 celebration of religious leaders and
environmentalists in Nepal.  

Laurie Michalowski, the board's coordinator of corporate responsible
ministry, will give a presentation in Nepal and hopes to demonstrate to
other participants the power of such investments.

At the Board of Pension, criteria for socially responsible investing mirror
the denomination's Social Principles and exclude companies that derive 10
percent or more of their gross revenues from products related to alcohol,
tobacco, gambling, pornography or firearms. Guidelines also exist for
companies dealing with military armaments or nuclear weapons.

Faith groups and other concerned organizations in the United States have
long banded together in this effort through the Interfaith Center for
Corporate Responsibility. But, Michalowski pointed out, a need also exists
for an international consortium of faith partners involved in socially
responsible investing.

In the United States, religious investors have created a model that others
in the financial community are following, Mixon said. In 1999, according to
data from the Social Investment Forum, nearly one out of every seven dollars
in investment management -- more than $2 trillion -- was part of the
corporate social responsibility movement.

ICCR's "victories" during the past five years included: 

·	Convincing Baxter International to phase out polyvinyl chloride
(PVC) materials in its intravenous health care products.
·	Persuading DuPont to abandon plans to strip mine along the
Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Georgia.
·	Successfully pressuring Sara Lee to sell its Drum rolling tobacco
business and sever its ties to the tobacco industry.
·	Convincing Pepsico and Texaco to withdraw their investments in and
business ties to Burma.

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United Methodist News Service
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