In the past few months dioceses around the Episcopal Church such as Southern Ohio, Oregon, Massachusetts, Olympia , and California have been faithfully engaging with new ways of being disciples and socially responsible investors.
In 2013, as more dioceses came to understand their investments as outward and visible signs of their lives together in Christ, results ranged from the divestment of fossil fuels in Massachusetts and Olympia to Southern Ohio voting “no” on fossil fuel divestment and California advocating further study of incorporating sustainable and responsible investing practices consonant with the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society’s investment policy and objectives.
This year, the 2014 Annual Council of the Diocese of Virginia features Resolution 9 which calls for the Executive Board of the Diocese of Virginia to join the work of other dioceses through a review of all investments of the diocese and, especially in light of the diocesan relationship to the Congo, consider its financial relationship to conflict minerals and electronics through the development of a socially responsible investment policy:
Resolved, that the 219th Annual Council of the Diocese of Virginia meeting in Richmond, Virginia, calls upon the Executive Board to review the investments of the Diocese in light of the updated June 25, 2012, list of Companies Subject to No-buy Portfolio Restrictions in Exhibit C of the Statement of Investment Policy & Objectives for the Domestic & Foreign Missionary Society dated April 2012; and be it further
Resolved, that the Executive Board review The Enough Project’s ranking of the largest electronics companies that are (or are not) contributing to the creation of a clean minerals trade in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and ultimately, the reduction of conflict there; and be it further
Resolved, that the Executive Board publish a Social Responsible Investment Policy and Guidelines for the purchase of electronic equipment and devices for use by the diocese, congregations and related organizations of the Diocese.
Does your parish or diocese have a process to examine how faith impacts investment decision-making?