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Corporate Social Responsibility
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12.04.2007 - 08:53am ET
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Handbook Helps Asset Managers Multiply Impact Through Investments Across All Asset Classes
Boston College's Institute for Responsible Investment provides new strategies for responsible investing
(CSRwire) CHESTNUT HILL – December 4, 2007 — A new handbook on responsible
investing across asset classes, released by Boston College's Institute for
Responsible Investment, provides a tool for investors interested in
multiplying their organization's impact on society through options that
complement their mission with investments that create long-term value to
society.
The handbook, which offers an overview on how to implement responsible
investment practices across a range of asset classes and investment
styles, is designed to meet the needs of foundation and university
endowments, pension funds, socially responsible investors including church
pension funds and socially responsible mutual funds, high-net-worth
individuals, nonprofits, and others target investments that create
long-term societal wealth while also achieving institutional financial
objectives.
The project, made possible by a grant from the F.B. Heron Foundation, was
developed by the Institute for Responsible Investment (IRI), a part of the
Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship. The Handbook will be
disseminated in collaboration with the U.S. Social Investment Forum and Eurosif.
The Institute
for Responsible Investment (IRI), an affiliate of the Boston College
Center for Corporate Citizenship, works with investors, corporations,
public sector organizations, and research institutes to coordinate
thinking and actions around issues of strategic importance to long-term
wealth creation for shareholders and society. The IRI is funded in part
through generous support from the Brooks Family Foundation.
Responsible investing—understood as the incorporation of environmental
and social analysis into investment decision-making—is a growing
discipline that offers opportunities for long-term value creation both for
investors and society as a whole.
"In recent years investors have increasingly turned to environmental and
social analysis to identify long-term risks and opportunities related to
their investments," said David Wood, director of the IRI. "At the same
time, a broad range of investors such as foundation endowments are
exploring alternative methods for creating social and environmental
benefits consistent with their missions, while achieving market rates of
return."
Each chapter of the Handbook focuses on a single asset class—cash
equivalents, public equities, fixed-income, real estate, private equity,
hedge funds, and commodities—identifying three key issues and challenges
for responsible investment, including real-world examples of responsible
investment underway in each area. Each section includes information on how
to:
Design a responsible investment strategy for the asset class;
Identify opportunities for market-rate responsible investments in the
asset
class;
Incorporate engagement strategies into the asset class investment
strategy.
In particular, the Handbook will be useful to:
Foundation endowments and other investors who want to align their
endowment investments with their institutional mission, in order both to
further institutional goals and manage reputational risk
Institutional investors who wish to address the financial
implications of long-term social and environmental risks and opportunities
in their investment mandate
Asset owners, money managers, and consultants who see the creation of
social and environmental value, and the mitigation of social and
environmental damage, as increasingly important elements of their
fiduciary concerns
To download a PDF of the handbook
or to order a print copy contact David Wood at david.wood.4@bc.edu. All media
inquiries should be directed to Peggy Connolly at peggy.connolly.1@bc.edu.
About The Institute for Responsible Investment
The Institute for Responsible Investment is an affiliate of the Boston
College Center for Corporate Citizenship works with investors,
corporations, public sector organizations, and research institutes to
coordinate thinking and actions around issues of strategic importance to
long-term wealth creation for shareholders and society. www.bcccc.net/responsibleinvestment
About the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship
The Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship is a membership-based
research organization associated with the Carroll School of Management. It
is committed to helping business leverage its social, economic and human
assets to ensure both its success and a more just and sustainable world.
The Center creates knowledge, value and demand for corporate citizenship
and offers publications including a newsletter, research reports, and
white papers; executive education, including Certificate programs; events
that include an annual conference, round-tables and regional meetings;
peer-to-peer learning forums and a corporate membership program. www.bcccc.net
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