Mr. Leech: The Presbyterian Church Foundation was founded in 1799 and it's accountable for managing the endowments and permanent funds that are left to the Church and many of its entities. We also provide investment management services to a number of churches, seminaries, colleges, retirement homes and the denomination. New Covenant Funds are socially responsible mutual funds managed according to what we would call Presbyterian values. In view of that, the Foundation's total assets under management are about $2 billion as of the end of October. Our SRI philosophy is based solely on the SRI principles of the Presbyterian Church (USA). We are the only church-authorized fund in existence. Our goal is to help individuals and institutions grow their financial resources in a manner consistent with their principles and values.
TWST: How would you describe the socially responsible nature of the portfolio
investment and what does it entail?
Mr. Rue: There are two main approaches to our SRI strategy. The first approach
and the most visible is negative screens. We screen companies that have a
majority of their revenues in alcohol, gambling, tobacco and firearms, as well
as a limited number of defense companies. We work together with the Presbyterian
Church and a broad group of Presbyterians to develop a social witness policy
that can also identify other companies we may want to preclude from investment.
More important, as a socially responsible investor, we focus on corporate
engagement, working ecumenically with other faith-based investors to engage
corporations in dialogue concerning their practices on issues relating to the
environment, access to capital, human rights policies, labor policies and
workplace issues. Our corporate engagement takes a variety of forms from
corporate dialogue to writing letters and sponsoring shareholder resolutions.
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