New on UUA.org is Ten Things All UUs Should Know About Socially Responsible Investing. The article, from the UUA’s Committee on Socially Responsible Investing, will be useful to congregations and individuals interested in using their money to change the world in positive ways.

The article notes that socially responsible investing has been instrumental in getting McDonald’s to reduce its use of Styrofoam packaging and in persuading Procter & Gamble to sell Fair Trade Certified coffee. It has also influenced companies to adopt nondiscrimination policies around sexual orientation and gender identity.

The article makes the following points:

• Socially responsible investing is more than avoiding bad companies. It means supporting responsible ones as well. It also focuses on investing in low-income communities that may have difficulty obtaining loans from more conventional sources.  Socially responsible investing also supports struggling small businesses and entrepreneurs around the world with microloans.

• Studies have shown that responsible investing does as well as conventional investing.

• Congregations can participate in socially responsible investing through the UUA’s Common Endowment Fund.

UUA Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer Tim Brennan recently wrote an article for the Huffington Post on socially responsible investing and climate change.

About the Author

Don Skinner

Don Skinner is editor of InterConnections and a member of the Shawnee Mission UU Church in Lenexa, Kansas.

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