The Heart Rating

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The Heart Rating

Using the Social Rating

The NI Social Rating^SM is a tool you can use to get a snapshot of social performance, but portfolio content is not a part of the Rating, as we do not attempt to evaluate every company in every fund. Investors are urged to consult a fund's website, quarterly reports, and annual reports to review a fund's portfolio holdings.
Read more: Using the Social Rating

Natural Investments Social Rating

FUND NAME	SYMBOL	RATING

Alger
Green	SPEGX

American Trust
Allegiance	ATAFX

Appleseed	APPLX

Ariel
Appreciation	CAAPX
Discovery	ARDFX
Focus	ARFFX
Global Equity	AGLOX
Growth	ARGFX
International Equity	AINTX

Boston Common International Equity Fund	BCAIX

Calvert
Aggressive Allocation	CAAAX
Capital Accumulation	CCAFX
Conservative Allocation	CCLAX
Equity Income	CEIAX
Global Alternative Energy	CGAEX
Global Water	CFWAX
International Opportunities	CIOAX
Large Cap Value	CLVAX
Moderate Allocation	CMAAX
Small Cap Value	CCVAX
Social Balanced	CSIFX
Social Bond	CSIBX
Social Enhanced Equity	CMIFX
Social Equity	CSIEX
Social Large Cap Growth	CLGAX
World Values International Equity	CWVGX

CNI Charter
Socially Responsible Equity	AHSRX

Community Investments
Access Capital Community Investment Fund	ACASX
Community Capital Management Fund	CRAIX

Dimensional Fund Advisors
Emerging Market Social Core	DFESX
US Sustainability Core 1 Porfolio	DFSIX

Domini
International Social Equity	DOMAX
Social Equity	DSEFX
Social Bond	DSBFX

Dreyfus Third Century	DRTHX

Flex Fund
Total Utility & Infrastructure	FLRUX

Frontegra SAM Global Equity	FGSLX

Gabelli SRI Green	SRIGX

Green Century
Balanced	GCBLX
Equity	GCEQX

Integrity Growth & Income	IGIAX

Legg Mason Partners Social Awareness	SSIAX

Neuberger Berman Socially Responsive	NBSRX

New Alternatives	NALFX

Northern Global Sustainable Index	NSRIX

Parnassus
Equity Income	PRBLX
Fixed Income	PRFIX
Fund	PARNX
Mid-Cap Fund	PARMX
Small-Cap Fund	PARSX
Workplace Fund	PARWX

Pax World
Balanced Fund	PAXWX
Global Green	PGRNX
Global Womens Equality	PXWEX
Growth	PXWGX
High Yield	PAXHX
International	PXINX
Small Cap	PXSCX

PIMCO
Low Duration	PTLAX
Total Return III	PRFAX

Portfolio 21	PORTX

Schroder Investment Management
Emerging Market Equity	SEMVX

Sentinel Funds
Sustainable Core Opportunities	MYPVX
Sustainable Growth Opportunites	WAEGX

Spectra Green Fund	SPEGX

TIAA-CREF Social Choice	TCSCX

Touchstone
Premium Yield Equity	TPYAX

USAA
First Start Growth	USFGX

Vanguard FTSE Social Index	VFTSX

Walden Social
Balanced	WSBFX
Equity	WSEFX
Mid Cap	WAMFX
Small Cap Innovations	WASOX

Winslow
Green Growth	WGGFX

For individual fund performance, visit the Social Investment Forum.

Copyright Natural Investments, LLC 2012

Publication or Reproduction without written permission of Natural Investments, LLC, P.O. Box 747, Paonia, CO 81428 is prohibited.
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The information available on this website is posted for informational purposes only. Links to other Internet sites are included as a convenience. Natural Investments, LLC is not responsible for and assume no liability for its content since the parties are unrelated. In addition, Natural Investments, LLC does not review the website and does not make any representation as to the accuracy of the content.

The Heart Rating

The 200 mutual funds which currently label themselves as socially responsible define their social responsibility screens using different criteria, formats, and language. Some may screen out only tobacco companies, some incorporate numerous avoidance and affirmative screens, while others engage in shareholder activism and community development investing.

To address this diverse continuum, Natural Investments developed its proprietary NI Social Rating ^SM ("the Rating") in 1990 to provide investors with a social rating system based on objective, standardized criteria. The presentation of the rating, from

, similar to the star-rating used by Morningstar to track financial performance (www.Morningstar.com), provides a quick and convenient overview of the breadth and depth of social responsibility criteria applied by each fund.

Investors can use the Rating as an integral component of their research process in selecting potential SRI mutual funds as investment holdings. Mutual fund companies use the Rating to promote their commitment to social justice and ecological regeneration. The NI Social Rating^SM is the only national mutual fund social rating system in the United States, and it is published in every issue of Green Money Journal and the LOHAS Journal.

History

Jack and Hal developed the Rating in 1990 while writing Investing from the Heart (Crown), to give a simple graphic representation based on a qualitative evaluation of each SRI fund's screening process. They looked at the screens stated in the fund's prospectus and verified with the fund managers how they actually applied the screens, either informally or via written policy. Mutual funds were scored and then awarded a to rating, with being a fund with minimum screening and given for a fund that was comprehensively screened on many social issues.

Nearly a decade later, Jack and Hal wrote Investing with Your Values (Bloomberg Press, 1999); during that span the SRI mutual fund industry had grown from 12 funds in 1990 to 55 mutual funds that had defined social criteria in their prospectus, plus over 100 others that qualified due to their selection of particular stocks and bonds. As a result, NI refined the Rating system and added new credit to funds that participate in Community Investing and Shareholder Activism.

Methodology

The methodology used to compile the Rating addresses the three main strategies of Corporate SRI - Avoidance and Affirmative Screening, and Shareholder Activism - along with Community Investing. The mutual fund's application of each element is weighted and scored, and then the funds are ranked. Those in the lowest percentile group (0-20%) are awarded , those in the highest percentile group (81-100%) . Each fund is reviewed annually to determine its rating, and it is not uncommon for funds to rate differently from year to year given changes in their social responsibility policies.