Church Investors Group

The Society strives to invest its resources in ways which are consistent with its mission, i.e., ‘in solidarity with those made poor, with the powerless, and with those who are oppressed.’ This goal may be accomplished by:

1. 1. Avoiding investment in companies which are involved in the production of weapons of war, of products damaging to the health of people or the environment, or which support oppressive regimes;
2. 2. Investing in companies which support justice and are concerned for the environment, as witnessed by the products they produce, by their fair employment and marketing practices and by their concern for the local community;
3. 3. Investing in ‘alternative investments,’ e.g. projects which provide loans to groups which do not have easy access to such funds, such as cooperatives in the inner city or lower income countries (this type of investment will usually yield little or no income but gives a social return), and
4. 4. Investing in companies, even when we disagree with their policies, in order to promote change by voting stockholder resolutions, which usually requires cooperation with other concerned groups.

Investments are NOT to be made in companies:

• whose defense contracts exceed 15 percent of sales;
• which are the top fifteen recipients of defense contracts;
• which own or operate gambling operations;
• which manufacture alcoholic beverages or tobacco products; or
• which are electric utilities with 10 percent or more of their operating capacity in the form of nuclear power plants.