Despite the recession economy, 2009 business boomed for Social(k), the nation's most diverse socially responsible retirement platform. Indeed, the number of companies and organizations adopting the company's socially responsible retirement platform for their 401(k) or 403(b) plans increased dramatically as an ever wider array of companies and organizations nationwide continued to opt for socially responsible retirement options because of the tumultuous financial period.

Social(k) is made up of almost 200 socially responsible mutual funds in addition to more than 4000 conventional funds to provide investors flexibility in meeting investment goals.

"Investors increasingly want to invest their money in funds that have been screened for ethical conduct and as a result are signing up with Social(k) in ever greater numbers," said Rob Thomas, president of Social(k).

New Social(k) clients in 2009 included organizations and companies from the organic and sustainability sectors, including, B Lab (Berwyn, PA), Native Americans in Philanthropy (Minneapolis, MN), Numi Tea (Oakland, CA), and the Western Organization of Resource Councils (Billings, MT).

Social(k) is such a popular program that one retirement planner, Timothy Yee of Green Retirement Plans in Oakland, CA, chose to convert all the firms' retirement plan work to Social(k) in April 2009. As a result, business has boomed with companies nationwide signing on and there are numerous plans in the pipeline.

A major new announcement in 2009 was that Social(k) added the tobacco-free AHA Investments Funds to its roster, signifying an important relationship with the American Hospital Association. While several funds include tobacco in their social screens, the AHA Investment Funds are the first exclusively non-tobacco funds on Social(k)'s platform.

Social(k) continues to be well-received by the financial community with more than 500 financial advisors nationwide registering with the Springfield, MA-based company so as to be able to offer its unique retirement program to their clients as an alternative to the limited options normally offered through today's traditional sponsored programs.

"The demand for the Social(k) product continued to experience phenomenal growth in 2009 and ExpertPlan is proud to be the recordkeeper for such a company," said Ross Brown, Senior Vice President of Sales and Relationship Management for ExpertPlan, the East Windsor, NJ-based retirement plan provider, noting that Social(k) is one of their top alliance partners.

In the past 19 years, since the inception of KLD's Domini 400 Social Index on May 1, 1990, its annualized returns of 9.51 percent have beaten the S&P 500’s annualized returns of 8.66 percent (as of December 31, 2009), proving that even in a rough year, socially responsible investing could hold its own.

With investors comings out from their recessionary mode, Social(k) anticipates 2010 will be a banner year as people start putting their money back into their 401(k) plans.

Social(k)

Social(k)

Social(k) is a retirement plan platform with over 200 Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance, ESG, screened funds, rather than the usual one or two. In addition Social(k) offers over 2000 traditional funds to provide employees greater choice when determining portfolio mix. Social(k) is the first choice for mission driven organizations operating in a sustainable manner. Social(k) works with your existing advisor or we can refer someone from our network of over 500 advisors. Whether you have a plan or are just looking to offer one let us show you how we offer a sustainable investing advantage to your employees.

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