Reviewing your investment policy: A living document of faith in action

At this year’s Association of Provincial Bursars Annual Conference, FaithInvest asked attendees to raise their hands if they had reviewed their investment policy in the past twelve months. Around two-thirds of hands went up. It was a heartening sign. But it also prompted a deeper question: what does it actually mean to 'review' your investment policy? 

For faith-based organisations, reviewing an investment policy is not only a governance obligation. It can provide a moment of reflection and a chance to ask whether your investments continue to tell a faithful story about who you are, what you value, and the kind of world you seek to help build.  

We can help

If your organisation would like to explore how well your investments reflect your faith values, FaithInvest can help. Through our confidential Investment Policy & Guidelines (IP&G) Assessment, we provide a fresh, independent perspective helping faith organisations of all sizes identify strengths, gaps, and opportunities to make their faith commitments more visible and actionable. 

So, what does it mean to 'review' an investment policy? 

A review is a structured process of reflection and evaluation. It involves taking a fresh look at your Investment Policy and Guidelines to ensure they remain accurate, relevant, and faithful to your mission.

A good review will check whether your faith principles are clearly stated, whether your investment criteria are still appropriate, and whether the way you invest continues to reflect the moral and practical priorities of your organisation. 

A living document 

At FaithInvest, we often describe an investment policy as a living document. This means it is not a static, one-time statement of principles but a framework that should evolve as your understanding of faith, mission and stewardship deepens, and your organisation's capacity to achieve greater faith-alignment expands.

As our recently updated guide, From Faith Values to Investment: A Guide to Faith-Consistent Investment Policy and Guidelines (October 2025), explains, your policy and accompanying guidelines serve as the moral and operational compass for your investments. They define how faith principles translate into action through your choice of investment strategies, screening criteria, and engagement priorities. 

But just as faith communities evolve, and the world changes around them, so too must this compass be recalibrated.

A 'living' policy adapts to new theological insights, new ethical challenges, and new market realities – whether that means incorporating denominational guidance on climate stewardship, addressing emerging social concerns, or integrating updated positive or negative screening tools from your asset managers. 

Seeing your investment policy as a living document also shifts how we think about review. It’s not simply an administrative task or a compliance exercise. It’s a moment of discernment – a chance to pause, reflect, and ask how faithfully our financial decisions express who we are and what we believe.

Each review is also an act of fiduciary care, ensuring that the duty to manage resources responsibly is carried out in a way that reflects the faith and values that give those resources purpose. 

Timing and the review cycle 

When and how you review your policy can make all the difference. Some organisations may find it most effective to schedule a review in advance of a decision point, such as an upcoming investment committee or board meeting. Doing so allows new insights and recommendations from the review to directly inform discussions with managers, advisers, or trustees. It also helps ensure that any changes to faith priorities or market conditions are reflected in how decisions are made. 

Think of the review as a preparation for discernment. Reviewing the policy a few weeks or months before your investment committee meets provides space for reflection and dialogue. It invites members to step back from day-to-day performance reports and ask broader questions: 

• Do our current investments still align with the moral and environmental priorities of our faith? 

• Are there new areas where our faith calls us to act? 

• Are our managers implementing our values as we intended? 

By synchronising the review with your committee calendar, the exercise becomes practical by helping to shape agendas, set priorities, and strengthen investment governance. 

Why reviews matter 

As outlined in From Faith Values to Investment, regular policy review and monitoring are essential to ensure that investment practices remain 'current with evolving denominational guidance' and 'continue to reflect the organisation’s faith commitments over time'. 

Faith communities face new moral and financial questions every year: How should we respond to the social and environmental concerns? What about the ethics of artificial intelligence, or social media investment? How do we consider indigenous rights, biodiversity loss, or corporate lobbying? 

A regular review also strengthens fiduciary oversight, ensuring that investment policies continue to integrate faith values with sound financial governance. Revisiting your policy allows trustees and committees to confirm that investment objectives, risk parameters, and performance expectations remain appropriate and responsibly managed.

In this way, a review addresses both moral discernment and financial stewardship and reaffirms that faith-consistent investing is not about sacrificing returns but about pursuing them with integrity and purpose. 

Without regular review, even the most carefully written policy can become outdated or disconnected from the issues your faith community now feels most strongly about. 

A good review ensures that: 

• Your values remain visible and actionable, not buried in technical language. 

• Your screens and engagement strategies are still relevant and effective. 

• Your managers and advisers are accountable for implementing your faith criteria. 

• Your investments continue to express your mission. 

• Your financial performance goals and faith commitments are mutually reinforcing. 

As our guide notes, this is about creating 'systematic processes for ongoing assessment of both investment performance and values alignment'. 

Who should be involved? 

A thoughtful review brings together both financial and faith perspectives. Ideally, it involves: 

• The investment or finance committee, who understand the mechanics of the portfolio; 

• Faith or mission leaders, who can interpret evolving teachings and values; 

• Trustees or governing members, to provide oversight and authorisation; 

• And, where relevant, external advisers or asset managers, who can translate faith objectives into investment mandates. 

Including both technical and theological voices creates richer conversations and prevents reviews from being overly narrow. For some congregations, especially those relying on volunteers, the review may simply involve a facilitated discussion among trustees or bursars; for others, it might include consultation with denominational offices or faith-based investment networks. The key is participation: review should be shared work rather than an administrative task delegated to one individual.

What to look at – and to ask 

A review is an opportunity to look beyond financial metrics and ask: what story do our investments tell about us as a faith community? 

Some areas to explore include: 

• Faith expression: Does your policy still articulate your core beliefs clearly? Have new teachings or statements been issued that should be reflected in the language? 

• Implementation: Are asset managers acting consistently with your policy? Do their engagement, proxy voting, or ESG processes align with your stated faith principles? FaithInvest’s blog, Faith-Based Due Diligence Questions Every Faith-Based Investor Should Ask Their Asset Manager, offers a practical set of questions to help you explore these issues in more depth during your next review or meeting with your manager. 

• Fiduciary and financial oversight: Do your investment objectives, risk parameters, and performance expectations remain appropriate, responsibly managed, and aligned with your organisation’s long-term mission? A review should confirm that prudent financial management and faith commitments continue to reinforce one another. 

• Impact: Are you seeing measurable outcomes that correspond to your faith priorities, whether that’s care for creation, human dignity, or social inclusion? 

• Transparency: Are you communicating progress to your members and stakeholders? Do people know how your money works in service of your mission? 

One useful approach, highlighted in FaithInvest’s guide, is the 'integration audit'. This is a deeper assessment that examines what proportion of your assets truly reflect your faith aspirations. This helps organisations identify where they are strong, where there are gaps, and how they can move closer to full alignment over time. 

Balancing capacity with commitment 

Of course, not every faith-based organisation has the staff or resources to conduct a comprehensive review each year. Many depend on part-time bursars or volunteers. The good news is that a meaningful review doesn’t have to be exhaustive. 

Start small. Schedule a brief annual reflection – perhaps tied to your investment committee meeting for example –to consider whether your values are still visible and your guidelines still fit for purpose.

Over time, build toward a more in-depth review every two to three years, ideally with input from both faith and financial experts. Whether your next review takes the form of a short discussion at your investment committee meeting or a full, structured reassessment, the important thing is to begin. 

Review as an act of faith 

As From Faith Values to Investment reminds us, 'Every dollar aligned with faith values becomes a force for positive change'. The review process can serve as a moment of prayerful reflection for committees: a chance to bring the faith dimension back into the conversation about financial stewardship. In this sense, it’s about reaffirming your community’s commitment to live out its faith through the responsible use of resources. 

If your organisation would like to explore how well your investment policy reflects your faith values – or if you’re planning a review in the coming year – FaithInvest would be delighted to help.  

Even where congregations have undertaken their own internal reviews, an independent, faith-informed perspective can be invaluable. Some organisations may find or believe that their policies are largely sound, yet small refinements in language, structure, or implementation can make their faith commitments far more visible, measurable, and actionable. 

Our IP&G assessment service

FaithInvest’s Investment Policy and Guidelines (IP&G) Assessment offers exactly that perspective. It is a confidential, structured review service that analyses your current investment policy and guidelines to identify strengths, gaps, and opportunities for deeper faith alignment. Tailored to your organisation’s size and faith tradition, the assessment highlights how clearly your values are articulated, how well they are embedded in investment governance, and how effectively they guide manager selection, monitoring, and reporting. 

Our assessment provides constructive, practical feedback you can immediately use to refresh or strengthen your policy, without being overwhelmed by the process.

For many faith communities, this has been a critical first step in building confidence, improving internal understanding, and setting a clear direction for more intentional, faith-consistent investing. 

The service draws on the principles outlined in FaithInvest’s newly updated guide, From Faith Values to Investment. This comprehensive resource provides a roadmap for faith-based investors seeking to align their beliefs and investments from discerning and documenting faith values, to building robust governance structures, to conducting regular reviews that integrate mission and fiduciary responsibility. 

Together, the IP&G Assessment and From Faith Values to Investment guide form a critical foundation for any organisation ready to take the next step on its faith-consistent investing journey. 

• Contact us at info@faithinvest.org to schedule your confidential IP&G Assessment or to discuss how we can help you strengthen your investment policy in line with your faith and mission. 

• You can also download the new guide, From Faith Values to Investment, for a comprehensive overview of the process and best practices. 

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FaithInvest is an international nonprofit organisation that empowers faith groups to invest in line with their beliefs and values. FaithInvest is not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority and does not provide financial or investment advice. Information provided on FaithInvest’s website or its other communication channels does not constitute financial or investment advice. If you wish to receive any form of financial or investment advice, please consult a qualified and independent financial advisor. You should conduct your own due diligence in relation to any investment opportunities or strategies you choose to pursue. FaithInvest does not promote any specific investments or opportunities and cannot therefore accept responsibility for any specific financial or investment decisions you make following participation on its website platform. For more information please visit FaithInvest.org.