Rob Thomas, Social(k) president.

Social(k), celebrated its fifth year of providing mission driven organizations low cost access to hundreds of SRI mutual funds for company retirement plans. An increasing number of larger plans (over $1 million in assets and over 100 employees) are adopting the platform, broadening their Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives.

"Social(k)'s inaugural years were focused on providing 401(k) and 403(b) plans to smaller, nimbler organizations looking to offer more than one or two Environmental, Social or Governance (ESG) screened funds in their company retirement plan. In 2010, larger mission driven organizations began to see the benefits to Social(k) when changing plan providers and we see that trend continuing into the future," said Rob Thomas, Social(k) President.

New Social(k) clients in 2010 included San Francisco, CA-based Black Rock City, LLC, coordinators of the annual Burning Man Festival in Nevada; Netsol Technology - symbol NTWK; Candle 79 Restaurant, a favorite of The New York Times; Give Something Back, the Oakland, CA based office supply store that is one of Northern California's largest corporate donors; RSF Social Financial, a San Francisco, CA-based financial services organization providing capital to non-profit and for-profit social enterprises addressing food and agriculture, education and the arts, and ecological stewardship; and Veritable Vegetable, the nation's oldest distributor of certified organic produce, also based in San Francisco.

Non-profit organizations also like the simple 403(b) solution for plans moving from non-ERISA plans to ERISA qualified plans per the new regulations. The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), Blue Spruce Habitat for Humanity, and Forestry Stewardship Council are a few of the non-profit organizations that chose Social(k).

Social(k) also increased its selection of screened funds with the addition of Eventide Gilead Funds, Azzad Funds from Azzad Asset Management, and Pax World ESG Manager Portfolios. These fund partners increased their share of the overall retirement market and won awards while doing so. For example:

• Pax World ESG Manager Portfolios developed ESG portfolios for the first time then added them to Social(k);


• The Eventide Gilead Fund was named "Category King" by the Wall Street Journal for the one-year period ending September 30, 2009; and


• Azzad Funds investment philosophy strives to identify companies that are financially responsible. That means that companies with high debt are excluded.

2010 demonstrated that times certainly are changing:

• The Unitarian Universalist Association chose to move its $178 million retirement plan from Fidelity to take advantage of their social fund options and move from a provider whose investments were not meeting the UUA screens. UUA/TIAA-CREF: http://www.uua.org/news/newssubmissions/165466.shtml


• The Board of Trustees of the Maryland Supplemental Retirement Plans, with $2.4 billion in assets, selected the Plans' first responsible investment offering - the Parnassus Equity Income Fund. http://www.parnassus.com/our-firm/highlight.aspx?hl=84


• Despite the recent economic downturn, sustainable and socially responsible investing (SRI) in the United States is continuing to grow at a faster pace than the total universe of investment assets under professional management, according to the new 2010 edition of the Social Investment Forum Foundation's Report on Socially Responsible Investing Trends in the United States: http://www.socialinvest.org/news/releases/pressrelease.cfm?id=168. The report found that SRI assets were up 13 percent in the current economic downturn, while overall assets increased less than 1 percent, and


• The FTSE KLD 400 Social Index (the KLD400) turned 20 years old. In the past 20 years, since the inception of KLD's Domini 400 Social Index on May 1, 1990, its annualized returns of 9.14 percent have beaten the S&P 500's annualized returns of 8.39 percent (as of July 31, 2010), proving that even in a rough year, socially responsible investing could hold its own. Green Century celebrates 20 years with KLD index. http://www.greencentury.com/news/news/Green_Century_Celebrates_20th_Anniversary_of_the_FTSE_KLD_400-Social-Index

Other highlights of 2010 include Thomas being a finalist for the SRI in the Rockies' "2010 SRI Service Award" for the fourth year in a row, and Social(k) being highlighted in B Corp's multimillion dollar ad campaign as a "better way to do business." Thomas launched his popular blog (http://blog.socialk.com/) and Social(k) Facebook page, keeping investors and the media up-to-date on the most recent report and events.

Social(k) continues to donate bee hives for every Social(k) plan, every year they are with us, qualifying Social(k) for One Percent for the Planet membership. Each year, Social(k) buys hundreds of bee hives through Heifer International, a practice made more important while we fight Colony Collapse Disorder and see bee populations under threat.

Thomas anticipates increasing interest in 2011 as companies nationwide continue to review their retirement assets as part of their efforts to become better corporate citizens. To make sure everything runs smoothly, Social(k) is expanding its client service team at ExpertPlan. As a key partner with record keeper ExpertPlan we have a designated client service team for Social(k) helping deliver a level of service our clients deserve.

"Social(k) continues to grow rapidly and remains one of ExpertPlan's leading private label partners," said Ross Brown, Senior Vice President of Sales and Relationship Management for ExpertPlan, the East Windsor, NJ-based retirement plan provider and Social(k) administrator.

"Interestingly," Brown continued, "in 2010, ExpertPlan saw more existing plans converting to Social(k) than start-ups adopting the plan, confirming that established plans are taking a careful look at the underlining investments made available to participants." Brown also noted that, "Given the success with Social(k) and its brand awareness, ExpertPlan will be promoting the platform across our entire advisor channel and supporting it with increased sales coverage."

To learn more about Social(k) (www.socialk.com), visit ExpertPlan's booth at the ASPPA 401(k) Summit, March 6-8, 2011, at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, NV.

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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