Church Agency Explores Global, Faith-based Investment

November 19, 2002
by Kathleen LaCamera

LONDON – The United Methodist Church's pension agency is working alongside Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Sikhs, and other faith-based investors to put hundreds of billions of dollars worth of global corporate wealth to work for good.

Drawing on decades of experience in the area of ethical investment, the United Methodist Board of Pension and Health Benefits is playing a key advisory role in the formation of the International Interfaith Investment Group, dubbed "3iG." The group is the brainchild of the U.K.-based charity the Alliance of Religions and Conservation, and aims to consolidate the financial might of the world's religions.

Laura Michalowski, the pension board's coordinator for corporate responsible investing, traveled to Britain in November with members of the U.S. Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility, for three days of meetings and events focusing on the power of faiths worldwide to be a force for change. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip joined Michalowski and other 3iG representatives Nov. 13 at London's historic Banqueting House for a celebration of religion's contribution to environmental conservation.

"We have come together with our consciences and with our money to effect a positive global impact," commented Michalowski, who also met with British Methodists working on ethical investments while in London.

"The ultimate goal is to get corporations to join us in partnership," she explained. "Imagine the potential and power of corporations and faiths coming together in a way that all people are recognized, human dignity is respected, and our heritage cared for and preserved for future generations.

"Corporations have moved from an understanding of profit as the only bottom line to one that includes fiscal, social and environmental returns. ... The faiths have always believed these goals were not mutually exclusive."

The alliance sees the accomplishments of the United Methodist Church and the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility as models on which to build an international ethical investment initiative. The church ethically invests all of its more than $10 billion in pension funds, and the center represents some 275 U.S. Catholic, Protestant and Jewish faith-based institutional investors.

Alliance Director Martin Palmer told United Methodist News Service that the whole inspiration for 3iG started at a meeting in Nashville, Tenn., when Palmer first met Michalowski and heard about what United Methodists were doing with their investment power. Four years on, Palmer credits the pension board with playing a fundamental role in helping other religions around the world get involved in ethical investment programs individually and through "cluster" organizations like the interfaith center.

"United Methodists are fundamental to the concept of 3iG, the enthusiasm for 3iG and the implementation of 3iG," Palmer said. He also explained that while the International Interfaith Investment Group is being developed to help faith groups manage their institutional portfolios, each faith member would publish ethical investment advice for individuals within his or her tradition as well.

The United Methodist pension portfolio is the largest pool of assets among all U.S. mainline denominations and is in the top 100 of all corporate, charitable and endowment asset pools. Reflecting priorities established by the United Methodist General Conference, the denomination's top legislative body, the fund screens investments and engages corporations on issues of corporate governance, equality, environment, finance, health, global accountability and militarism.

But encouraging economic cooperation among religions on a global scale is not just about how a denomination or group invests in the stock market. The alliance estimates that the 11 major faith traditions it works with own or control nearly 7 percent of the earth's habitable land. In Scandinavia, the Church of Sweden is the third-largest owner of all Swedish forests. Followers of the Jain faith tradition, who come primarily from India, are major players in the global petrochemical industry.

For Michalowski, it is clear that the way United Methodists and other faiths do business, together as well as individually, makes a difference. Projections from initial conversations between 3iG representatives and Citigroup senior analysts indicate that a coalition of faith-based investors worldwide could affect as much as 15 to 18 percent of global capital investment. It is a statistic that Palmer said "flabbergasted and amazed" both Citibank officials and faith representatives.

Michalowski, who has 29 years of experience with socially responsible investing, pointed out that, to date, "3iG" is still a work in progress. Not only are faith groups joining in these developing conversations, but also major financial institutions and international NGOs such as the World Wildlife Fund.

"The challenge ahead is that we must proceed responsibly, keeping in mind a common agenda, while at the same time respecting each faith's mission and principles," she said. "The language of religion need not be divisive. There is a commonality here. Even though there may be differences between us, we come with a common purpose."

United Methodist News Service
Kathleen LaCamera is a United Methodist News Service correspondent based in England.