Ethical Investing - Making money and making a difference.

Our presenter for tuesday August 20th.2013 was Dr.Barbara Treiloff-Deane who demystified the subject of ethical funds and ethical investing. She termed this as Socially responsible Investing showing us how equities in the portfolios were scrutinized to meet the Social,Environmental and financial considerations for good ethical investments. A key component was the engagement between the shareholders and investment managers with the company to ensure the companies met the benchmarks established to qualify the funding.

Supply chain management was a key component in ensuring that standards are met. Example was Loblaws and their Joe Fresh Clothing line.
As you may recall Joe Fresh was one of the garments produced in the factory in Bangladesh that collapsed with a loss of more than a thousand workers. Loblaws had a supply chain policy which met the ethical supply standards but there was little evidence of checks in place to ensure the 
production met this criteria. Following this disaster an accord was created that Loblaws joined to ensure worker safety in Bangladesh adding measures to ensure commitments are met. This is an example of where the investors through the engagement process steered the company to ensure ethical standards were met.

Dr Treiloff-Deane explained that the selection of investments starts with using established financial analysis to confirm that it is financially sound investment then an analysis of the social and environmental analysis is conducted to ensure it is ethically sound. If both these components are met it is considered for investment and addition to the funds selection.

Companies that qualify for inclusion in Ethical fund portfolios must have the following guiding principles ..
Promote environmental stewardship,consumer protection,human rights and diversity.

We are now all better informed as to what Socially responsible investing is and can better evaluate our investment activity as these funds reflect the guiding principles set forth in  ROTARY  Four-Way Test.

Is it the TRUTH?
Will it be FAIR to all concerned?
Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
Will it be BENEFICIAL to all Concerned?

President John presented Dr Treiloff-Deane with a token of our appreciation for her presentation and expanding our understanding of other
ways in which we can improve the world we live in..