Religion-based shareholder activism dates again to Nineteen Seventies
Up till the Nineties, the nuns had few investments. That modified as they started to put aside cash to look after aged sisters because the group aged.
“We determined it was actually necessary to do it in a accountable method,” mentioned Sister Rose Marie Stallbaumer, who was the group’s treasurer for years. “We wished to make certain that we weren’t simply amassing cash to assist ourselves on the detriment of others.”
Religion-based shareholder activism is commonly traced to the early Nineteen Seventies, when spiritual teams put forth resolutions for American corporations to withdraw from South Africa over apartheid.
In 2004, the Mount St. Scholastica sisters joined the Benedictine Coalition for Accountable Funding, an umbrella group run by Sister Susan Mika, a nun primarily based at a Texas monastery who has been working within the subject because the Eighties.
The Benedictine Coalition works intently with the Interfaith Heart for Company Accountability, which acts as a clearinghouse for shareholder resolutions, coordinating with faith-based teams—together with dozens of Catholic orders—to leverage belongings and file on social justice-oriented subjects.
The Benedictines have performed a key function at ICCR for years, mentioned Tim Smith, a senior coverage advisor for the centre. It may be discouraging work, the place the needle solely strikes barely every year, however he mentioned the sisters “have the endurance of long-distance runners.”
The resolutions hardly ever go, and even when they do, they’re often non-binding. However they’re nonetheless an academic device and a way to lift consciousness inside a company. The Benedictine sisters have watched through the years as help for a few of their resolutions has gone from low single digits to 30% or perhaps a majority.
Progressively environmental causes and human rights considerations have swayed some shareholders, at the same time as a rising backlash foments in opposition to investments involving ESG (environmental, social and governance considerations).
