New faith-based funds, apps and screening tools

Many new faith-based funds, apps and screening tools have been launched this year, providing faith-based asset owners with a growing range of options for implementing faith-consistent investing. Here are just some of the many recent launches:

In September, Bountiful Financial and S&P Dow Jones Indices announced the launch of the S&P 500 Christian Values Screened Index, which excludes companies engaged in activities such as abortion, adult entertainment, predatory lending, recreational cannabis, gambling, tobacco, and violent video games. Sector adjustments maintain close alignment with the broader S&P 500, offering low tracking error. This new index is being used as the basis for new investment products such as the Global X S&P 500 Christian Values ETF (CHRI), a passively managed fund that 'allows investors to invest in a broad basket of U.S. equities conforming to Christian guidelines, with the tax efficiency of an ETF' according to their recent press release.

Meanwhile, Wahed, a Shariah-compliant fintech, launched its Private Real Estate investment platform in the United States, 'bringing fractional property ownership to faith-based investors with entry points as low as $100'. The move builds on the firm’s success in the UK and expands its mission of creating inclusive, ethical, and accessible investment opportunities worldwide for Islamic investors.

To help investors gain better awareness of potentially objectionable holdings in their investments, new screening tools are coming to market as well; in August Eventide Asset Management announced the official launch of its Good Investor Screening Tool, a free resource that 'helps investors uncover ethical issues they may be profiting from through their investments'. The tool reveals the composition of mutual funds, ETFs, and publicly traded investments so investors can search by security name or ticker symbol to see if particular investments may be generating returns from the five most common issues screened by faith-based investors: Abortion, Alcohol, Gambling, Pornography, and Tobacco.

For Catholic investors, Aquinas Wealth Advisors 'offers Catholic parishes, dioceses, institutions and individuals the Faith & Finance Score, a tool powered by artificial intelligence that issues report cards showing investors whether their money is funding causes that could be seen as contrary to Catholic values'.

The big take away from all these new products and services is that barriers to faith-consistent investing are coming down; all it takes is a clear articulation of a faith organisation's faith values in an Investment Policy and Guidelines statement as a foundation for moving assets into FCI and for monitoring them over time. FaithInvest offers a free assessment of your organisation's investment policy, visit our website for details.

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