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Find out about our news, activities and events. You can also access resources and our media page, where you will find links to our latest press releases, our communications team and a selection of the news stories written about FaithInvest and our activities.
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Our 2024 Annual Report: A busy year of change and consolidation
2024 was a year of change and consolidation for FaithInvest, as we outline in our newly published Annual Report. We navigated leadership transitions, sharpened our focus on what faith communities most practically need, and kept building the bridge between faith beliefs and investment decisions. Executive Chair Dave Zellner 'That image of a bridge has long guided our work because it is what we seek to be: a trusted span between values and action, between faith communities and
Susie Weldon
How the global religious landscape changed from 2010 to 2020
The world’s population expanded from 2010 to 2020, and so did most religious groups, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of more than 2,700 censuses and surveys. But while some religious groups grew, others did not keep pace with global population growth, and the total global percentage of people affliiated with a faith or belief dropped from 84% to 75.8% , according to the report, How the Global Religious Landscape Changed from 2010 to 2010 . Since 2010, the share o
Susie Weldon
New guide 'a practical roadmap' to help faiths invest in line with values
Press release: The movement of faith-based investing is growing fast as increasing numbers of religious groups seek to ensure their values are reflected in their investments. Now non-profit FaithInvest has published a comprehensive guide, From Faith Values to Investment , t o help faith-based organisations develop faith-consistent investing (FCI) programmes. FaithInvest Executive Chair Dave Zellner says the guide is very timely given the sharp rise in interest in FCI in r
FaithInvest
'Let us take seriously the business of religion' – Martin Palmer
FaithInvest took part in an unusual and fascinating international forum held by the University of Hong Kong on the future of community...
Susie Weldon
New Masterclass helps investment professionals engage the trillion-dollar faith-based market
Press release: Faith-based investors globally control trillions in assets , yet most investment professionals are missing opportunities...
Susie Weldon
FaithInvest gathering of faiths in Australia live-streamed to 37,000 people globally
FaithInvest has co-hosted an extraordinary gathering of faiths and traditional cultures in Australia – which was also live-streamed to...
Susie Weldon
A lively FCI Forum focuses on building a new ecosystem for Catholic investing
We had a fascinating and inspiring FCI Forum on Catholic Investing, which offered a wide-ranging analysis of what is needed to develop a...
Susie Weldon
Radical engagement: Seven everyday habits for transforming systems
In these uncertain and conflict-driven times, it's vital to find ways of holding on to a sense of hope and agency as we strive to be...
Susie Weldon
Newly released FaithInvest report challenges the FCI 'performance penalty myth'
FaithInvest has released a new report: Faith-Consistent Investing: Challenging the Performance Penalty Myth. This paper examines the...
FaithInvest
A stellar line up of speakers – including the head of Vatican Bank – for our June FCI forum on Catholic investing
This year was already shaping up to be a significant year for the Catholic Church, even before the death of Pope Francis on Easter Monday...
Susie Weldon
The trillion-dollar faith-driven investment market is expanding fast – but many faiths still lack confidence
Our Faithful Finance course aims to change that. Starts May 20. Book by May 9 for our Early Bird Offer Press release: There has been a...
Susie Weldon
Faithful Finance course starts May 20 – book now for our £250 early bird offer
The next round of our popular Faithful Finance training course on the fundamentals of faith-consistent investing starts on Tuesday May...
Susie Weldon
Pope Francis dies on Easter Monday, aged 88. World leaders pay tribute
FaithInvest expresses its deep sorrow and offers condolences to the global Catholic community upon the death of His Holiness Pope...
Susie Weldon
Bridging the Gap: New masterclass on engaging the trillion-dollar faith investment market
The faith-driven investment market is expanding rapidly – with faith-based asset owners managing trillions of dollars of investments ...
Susie Weldon
Survey: What do faith-based investors want from their asset managers?
This year FaithInvest is complementing its Faithful Finance training programme with a new course designed for investment professionals...
FaithInvest
Launch of masterclasses in engaging faith-based investors for industry professionals
FaithInvest is launching a new programme of masterclasses aimed at equipping investment industry professionals with the tools and...
FaithInvest
Faith-based investors: The time to lead is now
In times of uncertainty, leadership often emerges from unexpected places. Today, as we witness mounting pressure against sustainable and...
Dave Zellner
How can faith-based investors influence corporate behaviour? Learn more at our FCI forum on March 6
We've got a fantastic FCI Forum coming up on Thursday March 6, exploring how faith-based investors can influence corporate behaviour and...
FaithInvest
Dr Lorna Gold appointed to head the Laudato Si' Movement
FaithInvest congratulates Dr Lorna Gold on her appointment as Executive Director of the Laudato Si’ Movement – one of FaithInvest’s...
FaithInvest
Mathew Jensen takes up a new challenge
Mathew Jensen, CFA Director of Faith-consistent Investing Programmes Mathew Jensen has left FaithInvest to take up a position as Senior...
FaithInvest
A new FCI ecosystem to be developed for Christian investors
FaithInvest came away from the recent Mensuram Bonam conference in London, UK, convinced that the event marked a watershed moment for...
FaithInvest
Our third Faithful Finance training course just finished. How did it go?
What a wonderful Faithful Finance training course we have just completed, with participants from as far afield as Ireland and Sri Lanka,...
FaithInvest
Working with your investment managers: new CIG resource
The UK-based Church Investors Group has published a new resource to support church investors in the process of working with their...
FaithInvest
Mensuram Bonam summit marks major step forward for FCI in the Catholic Church
Catholic institutions have hundreds of millions of dollars to invest – but almost no investment options if they want to ensure their...
FaithInvest
Solving the two-pocket problem: aligning values & investments
How do you motivate faith groups to actively drive impact through their investments? That was the question posed to FaithInvest's Director of Faith-consistent Mathew Jensen by Siddharth Chatterjee, host of AVPN Academy's Money Meets Mission podcast . Mathew's answer raised an issue that we have focused on a great deal at FaithInvest – the disconnect between a faith's teachings and activities, and what their money is doing. 'It's something we've termed the two-pocket problem,'
Susie Weldon
Survey finds 88% of Christians want investments to reflect values
Press release: 4 November 2024: A new survey has confirmed what FaithInvest already knew – that the vast majority of Christians who...
FaithInvest
FIIND report challenges investors to rethink poverty reduction strategies
The FIIND Impact Foundation's latest report, Can you help solve multidimensional poverty with your investment portfolio? , presents a...
Susie Weldon
UUA pushes back against accusation of ‘woke’ investing
The Unitarian Universalist Association has pushed back against the accusation that it – and dozens of other US investors, including...
Susie Weldon
Tighter reporting rules for gas & oil companies? Consultation closes Friday
The gangster Al Capone did not go to jail for all the people he massacred, but the US authorities got him in the end – for tax evasion....
Susie Weldon
Role of finance in transforming the world's food and farming systems
FaithInvest recently attended a two-day TABLE workshop on the politics and economics of food system transformation at Oxford University....
FaithInvest
Faith: The oldest currency in the world?
Our eyes were caught recently by a graphic produced by Visual Capitalist on the oldest currency still in use and trading today. The...
Trish Groves
An intense few days with the 'heirs of hope' in Northern Ireland
FaithInvest founding president Martin Palmer spent an 'intense' few days in Northern Ireland last week at a series of events focused on...
FaithInvest
Third round of our popular Faithful Finance training course starts Oct 29
FaithInvest launches the third round of its popular online course, Faithful Finance: An Introduction to Aligning Investments with Faith...
FaithInvest
Leading environmental campaigner Martin Palmer joins faiths in Northern Ireland on climate justice
F aithInvest Founding President and prominent environmental campaigner Martin Palmer will join faith-based organisations and civil...
FaithInvest
Dave Zellner: A pioneer in FCI and responsible investing
FaithInvest considers itself very fortunate that its Chair of Trustees, Dave Zellner, is taking on a more active role in the organisation...
Susie Weldon
Dave Zellner assumes leadership role as Executive Chair, launches capital campaign to fund major expansion
Press release: FaithInvest is delighted to announce that Dave Zellner, longtime Chief Investment Officer of Wespath Benefits...
Susie Weldon
Launch of the Collaboratorium for faith consistent investing
FaithInvest is delighted to announce a new resource for anyone interested in faith- and values-consistent investing. Since 2020, eight...
Trish Groves
Thinking Beyond an Apocalypse
A blog by FaithInvest Founding President Martin Palmer was featured today in Modern Church, a media outlet advocating 'for liberal...
FaithInvest
FaithInvest announces resignation of Dr Lorna Gold, pays tribute to her service & 'unwavering commitment'
FaithInvest is sorry to announce the departure of its interim CEO Dr Lorna Gold, who has decided to step down at the end of her period as...
FaithInvest
World Federation of Daoists takes a 'first step' onto the world stage
The World Federation of Daoists held its inaugural council meeting recently – and Martin Palmer was there to represent FaithInvest as...
Susie Weldon
Mapping your faith-values
How do your organization’s faith-values map to frameworks like the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or ESG Factors? Recognizing many faiths don’t use or engage these frameworks (as noted in prior posts), many do, and considering there are globally over 3,700 investment manager signatories to the Principals for Responsible Investment, which are in-part aligned with the SDGs, they form a common investment language for expressing values. We’re being asked this question much
Mar 22, 2023
Recapping our recent FCI interest group event
We were delighted to have had our best turnout ever for the Faith-consistent Investing Interest Group quarterly virtual event this past...
Mar 16, 2023
New peer survey on Endowment and Foundation investors
As members of faith organizations, you may oversee an endowment or foundation along with other assets (retirement, operating etc.) How do other organizations manage these important funds? US investment consultant CapTrust is out with their annual survey of Endowment and Foundation Investors with insights on what your non-profit peers are doing. The survey is dense, covering topics from setting return expectations to board recruitment and governance. We found three intere
Mar 16, 2023
Matching SDGs to Investment Screens
The UN’s SDGs are designed to be the “shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet”. However, we’ve seen SDGs referenced in only a few of Investment Policies and Guidelines statements we’ve collected as part of the ongoing analytical work underlying our recent whitepaper ‘Good Intentions’ . In fact, just three out of the 55 Investment Policies & Guidelines statements (IP&Gs) we examined feature SDGs as a framework to screen investments against. Leavin
Mar 6, 2023
Phenix Impact Report: Where are Private Impact Investments Going? (Not Climate!)
Continuing on an ESG and SDG theme from last week (“how effective are the SDGs?”) – but taking a narrower impact investing perspective - which nearly 40% of faith-based asset owners in our IP&G database allow (if not implement for reasons we’ve discussed in other settings) - well known impact investing consultant Phenix Capital out with their February Impact Report, focusing on ’22 investment activity. (summary attached below). Notable that Phenix is largest impact investmen
Mar 6, 2023
How effective are the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?
The latest SDG report for 2022 calls for “an urgent rescue effort for the SDGs,” noting: “the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is in grave jeopardy…” with recent negative trends in: “poverty eradication” “essential health services” Food access “debt burdens” And seemingly many of the environmental metrics Among others. Interestingly, the report notes that measurement data remains one of the big issues, noting as an example that “for 8 of the 17 SDGs, fewer than half
Mar 2, 2023
The Difficulties in the Clean Energy Transition — Alternative Solutions
As the world moves to a more sustainable future, investors are faced with many methods in which to express their climate goals. Typically, the large energy super-majors and big polluters are singled out as the main culprit for the greatest greenhouse gas emissions. Simultaneously, the Saudi based Aramco , (world’s largest oil & gas producer) has launched a $1.5 Billion Venture Fund to invest in carbon capture, storage and low carbon fuels. The oil major has expressed difficu
Feb 27, 2023
The transition to a low-carbon economy has tradeoffs to consider
Getting narrow on a topic many of us try to balance in our ethical investment oversight efforts – transition to a low-carbon economy has tradeoffs to consider. Recent research from S&P Global “Rocks and Hard Places: The Complicated Nexus of Energy Transition Minerals and Biodiversity” looks at the increased demand for “transition minerals” (cobalt, lithium and copper) key to low carbon tech, and the impact increased mining of these minerals has on biodiversity loss. Their
Feb 16, 2023
Climate-aware Return Assumptions
As investors, we’re typically building portfolios around long-term asset classes (stocks, bonds and cash) using risk, return and correlation assumptions and creating a strategic asset allocation. As faith-consistent investors, we additionally incorporate investable expressions of our faith-values --- though the two are intertwined; how does one effect the other? We’ve found a fairly consistent value of “the environment” across all the faith investment policies and guidelines
Feb 13, 2023
Don't miss our next FCI Interest Group meeting on March 9 where we'll explore the portfolio...
... performance and risk implications of using faith-aligned negative screens with Rashed Khan, Director of Portfolio Risk and Analytics...
Jan 27, 2023
What does your Board / Investment Committee know and what training might they need?
In our work with several of you, and hearing from others, identifying board / committee members and proper investment / values-investing training are on your to-do list. Consultant Hymans Robertson (HR) out with their “ National Knowledge Assessment Report 2022 ” as survey of pension committees and board members. The survey covers just UK government pension schemes, BUT the learnings are interesting. HR issued a knowledge assessment to 16 pension schemes, with responses fro
Jan 25, 2023
We're seeking a 2023 Investing Intern - interesting project developing our FCI Fund Rating service.
Location flexible, slight preference for east coast US. Referrals welcome! My email: mathew.jensen@faithinvest.org
Jan 24, 2023
Divest or engage? A question to raise strong views or shrugs. With our early Sustainable Banking...
...project we received guidance from a well-known advocacy organization “it’s better to buy a share in a bank and advocate for change as a shareholder, than to advocate for change as a customer – even a large one.” Why? “shareholder advocacy is a much more established path for corporate change.” But what if the change you want essentially causes the company to not exist? A recent article in ESG Investor Engagement with Consequences , looks at instances where the necessary ad
Jan 23, 2023
Undertaking a Faith Consistent Investment plan is a generally a difficult endeavour.
Impact investments prove to be an effective way to meet FCI targets and UN SDGs; however, getting exposure to impact products can be difficult as the space is relatively new and difficult to implement. The Impact Investing Institute has published guidelines for Impact Investment in Pensions. The aim of the fund is to gain 16% impact exposure, while 100% of the fund is ESG tilted and in compliance with article 8 of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). The fu
Jan 21, 2023
Amid a year-end flood of research, among several, research from the MIT Sloan School stood out.
“The Economic Impact of ESG Ratings” (attached below) – examines the impact of ESG ratings on stock returns, and investor (mutual fund) and corporate behavior, sticking with our theme recently – does ESG have an impact? Analyzing nearly 4,000 US listed companies, and 4,500+ ESG (MSCI) ratings changes on these companies between 2013 and 2020, the authors find: ESG Mutual Funds Respond : “ESG ownership reacts significantly to both ESG rating upgrades and downgrades. Two years
Jan 18, 2023
Following up from our previous posting around regulatory changes from the FCA in the UK.
The SEC in the US is looking to implement changes in its disclosure requirements in its registration statements and periodic reports for investors. The rules proposed would require disclosures about a registrant's direct greenhouse gas emissions and indirect emissions. In addition to this, emissions from a firm's activities across its value chain are required disclosures. While the changes are minimal, measurement and reporting are valuable inclusions and additions to as
Jan 14, 2023
Does ESG investing impact performance? Following a pre-holiday posting we did on Wespath’s...
...excellent and brief blog on the alpha (excess return) impact of investment exclusions , performance benchmark provider MSCI released their year-end ESG Index Report (linked below), and in it compared the 3 and 5 year returns and 3 year risk of their various ESG indices with a “standard” non-ESG index. Meaningful differences? … As shown in the above table – not really, except in one instance, and the most extreme ESG screened index outperformed all over the last 3 and 5 yea
Jan 9, 2023
The moral dilemma facing stem cell research is complex and difficult to navigate for...
...faith consistent investors. This is partly due to the various methods in which obtaining stem cells from embryonic sources or foetus differ. The one consistent factor around the ethical dilemma is that a human embryo or foetus is always destroyed in the process of harvesting. This naturally leads to the question of when life begins and how each faith-group view differs. An example view is the Catholic guidance on stem cell research which states that " The corpses of human
Jan 8, 2023
“Mensuram Bonam”. Faith-Based Measures for Catholic Investors: A Starting Point and Call to Action
“Mensuram Bonam”. Faith-Based Measures for Catholic Investors: A Starting Point and Call to Action ... was released by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, and before the Holidays I finally finished carefully reading its 38 pages of content, and found it… Effective at ... Motivating / compelling Catholic investors to pursue faith-consistent investing, Emphasizing the importance of investment policy, governance, process and commitment, Translating Catholic Social Teach
Jan 4, 2023
The Ethics & Considerations Around Investment in Nuclear Energy
Data from Statista suggests that nuclear energy has the lowest death rate (per terawatt hour produced), yet the common discourse around nuclear energy continues to be an ongoing discussion. From the data, there are a few observations that we can very easily make about energy overall: Nuclear power is one of (if not) the safest and cleanest (as determined by emissions) methods of producing electricity currently available. This is primarily due to the relationship between air
Dec 24, 2022
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