SRI could be described as an attempt to change the world via economics. Usually
SRI means that the investor avoids putting money into corporations which produce
social undesirables (alcohol, tobacco, firearms, etc.), belong to problematic
industries (defense, nuclear, etc.), or engage in poor behavior (environmental
degradation, war profiteering, discrimination in management, etc.). This way
the investor does not profit from social ills, and does not give such corporations
the benefit of her/his investment dollars. Note that the definition of social
ills depends on the investor; there are faith-based SR investors as well as
both liberal and conservative SR investors. A more positive spin on SRI would
have investors choosing to invest only into corporations which effect social
good with their products and/or behavior... unfortunately, too few companies
are completely good (by almost anyone's definition) to make this a realistic
investment strategy. We're still in the do-as-little-harm-as-possible world.
SRI can also refer to shareholder activism, in which one hopes to promote positive
corporate behavior by investing in a company and then voting one's shares with
a social/political agenda. Shareholder activism is practiced both with poorly-behaving
and with well-behaving companies.
some general SRI sites
Online Guide
to SRI: Introduction
Sustainable Business.com: The
Center for Environmental Business on the Web
Co-op America
SocialFunds.com
Good Money
some SR mutual fund sites
Citizen's Funds
Pax World
Domini
(my favorite page there)
Calvert
Green Century
Ethical Funds
Neuberger & Berman
Meritas Mutual Funds
these folks do that money management thing
Progressive Asset Management -
Socially and Environmentally Responsible Investing
Rocky Mountain Humane Investing
Trillium Asset Management (one
of the VPs is a fellow Haverford alumn)
First Affirmative Financial Network
Invested Interests
First Sustainable
Credit Where Credit Is Due (started by one
of my fellow Haverford alumns)
other relevant sites
Studies of Socially Responsible Investing
KLD Research & Analytics creates SR
indices
Clean Edge seems to be all about
alternative-energy-related stocks/companies
Michael Bluejay's Directory of Socially
Responsible Companies
Fast Company magazine gives out Social
Capitalist awards...and has other cool stuff, too.
GreenMoney Journal
There's a reason I don't list Business for Social Responsibility here.
A different kind of SRI...Alternative Gifts
International Catalog
An even more different kind of SRI... RTMARK