Corporate Social Responsibility

The United Church Foundation is an integral part of the United Church of Christ's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Ministry. This joint ministry of the national setting exists to help the Covenanted Ministries, the Pension Boards, and the United Church Foundation - and those they serve - achieve greater harmony between the management of their investments and the social policies adopted by the Church. The CSR Ministry shapes the faith-based investment strategies and related activities undertaken.

The United Church Foundation (UCF) is deeply committed to faith-based investing, also referred to as socially responsible investing (or SRI). Through the United Church Foundation, the CSR Ministry also serves other institutions of the church that depend on the UCF to manage their assets in a socially responsible manner.

The faith-based investment strategies used by the UCF include screening, shareholder advocacy, and participation in the wider CSR movement. Supporting the social justice positions taken by the United Church of Christ over the years at General Synod, this strategy attempts to align the UCF's investment practices with synod-approved social policy resolutions. The UCF's social investment policy is thus highly consistent with that of the Covenanted Ministries and the Executive Council, in that it specifically restricts investments in firms which derive a significant portion of their revenue from the manufacture, sale or distribution of alcohol, tobacco, gambling or military products and services.

However, the majority of the UCF's faith-based investing work is really much more "proactive." By initiating and co-filing shareholder actions in concert with other faith-based institutional investors through the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), the UCF attempts to positively influence the behavior of companies whose stock it holds. These resolutions attempt to engage companies in constructive dialogue rather than simply screen them out of the portfolio. Proxies are also voted in a manner that is consistent with the UCC's positions on social issues and which call for reforms and improvements in corporate governance.

The UCF is an active participant in efforts of the broader faith-based institutional investment community seeking to bring collective power to bear on these issues. Through collaboration with peers at the ICCR each year we contribute to the development of emerging social and corporate governance resolutions, as well as help shape new shareholder proposals.