'Two fundamental moral principles guide our work in managing assets: the principle of human dignity and the concept of stewardship.'
– Church of Sweden
FOR PEOPLE AND PLANET
ABOUT
FaithInvest empowers faith groups to invest in line with their beliefs and values. Our aim is to support the rapidly developing movement of faiths actively using their investments to create a better world – for people and planet.
ABOUT FAITHINVEST
OUR HISTORY
FaithInvest was founded in 2019 after a landmark Faith in Finance meeting of religious investors, philanthropies, the United Nations, national governments and investment firms, organised by our founding organisation, the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC), in Zug, Switzerland, in 2017.
The meeting recognised that the faiths could be a significant investment bloc on the global stock markets, and an important force that could help to make our world a better place. In order to make this a reality, the meeting unanimously concluded that a new organisation was needed, and so began two years of development which led to the launch of FaithInvest in 2019.
However, our roots go much further back to the two decades that ARC spent engaging faiths on their investments and purchasing power.
2001
ARC, in partnership with Citigroup, begins to explore with partners such as ICCR and people involved in faith finance, whether the investment power of the religions could be a major environmental force for good.
Sept 2015
The UN asks ARC to organise the only formal consultation of the faiths about the new Sustainable Development Goals. The conference leads to the publication of the Bristol Commitments – pledges of practical action by the faiths to support the SDGs. Included were significant aspirations around investing in line with their values.
April 2005
These consultations lead to the creation of a new independent foundation, 3iG – the International, Interfaith, Investment Group – to promote faith-consistent investing. 3iG undertakes some important research but it was ahead of its time and ultimately failed.
Dec 2016
ARC publishes the ground-breaking paper, Faith in Finance, which was commissioned by OECD and UNDP to explore the role of faiths as investors, particularly in connection to the strategic development goals (SDGs) created last year by the United Nations.
March 2007
ARC publishes the Atlas of Religion which includes the first attempt to chart the faiths' investments worldwide.
Oct 2017
ARC organises a landmark meeting of 50 faith traditions, investment houses, foundations and the UN in Zug, Switzerland. The meeting includes the publication of the Zug Guidelines outlining the investment priorities and of different faith traditions. By unanimous agreement, it is agreed a new alliance is needed to accelerate faith-consistent investing.
The Zug Guidelines to faith-consistent investing
The Zug Guidelines were published at the Faith in Finance meeting, organised by the Alliance of Religions and Conservation and held in Zug, Switzerland in October 2017.
They outline the investment priorities for dozens of traditions from eight of the world's major faiths – Buddhism, Christianity, Daoism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism and Shintoism, alongside the ethical rationale behind their investment decisions.
The Zug Guidelines helped to fuel an unprecedented interest in faith-aligned investing. Now more than 40 such guidelines exist.