The Corporate Conundrum
There is hardly a more polarizing term in the economic arena than CORPORATION. For Wall Street's proud capitalists, corporations are revered as humanity's greatest invention, a brilliant way to pool capital and talent so that the needs of society can be met in an efficient manner. But for others - including many progressive thinkers - the mention of "the C-word" conjures images of greedy executives conniving to extract maximum profit, with nary a thought for the destruction of the planet and abuse of workers.
Natural Investments takes a more engaged approach to this complex topic. We start with the simple awareness that - like it or not - corporations are the dominant player on the economic stage. The history of the corporation (see chapter 1 of our book, Investing with Your Values: Making Money and Making a Difference, 2000) has been one of increasing corporate influence over every aspect of life... even our government.
Do aspects of the corporate agenda endanger our democracy, social justice, and the global environment? Absolutely.
But corporations have also given us amazing technologies, medical advances, and - for at least a small portion of the world's population - a superb quality of life. Each of us, as investors, consumers, and citizens, must be conscious of how we interact with corporations.
Corporate Investing With Natural Investments
Here at Natural Investments we devote a great amount of research and soul-searching to finding ways that investment capital can be best used to achieve our client's financial goals while encouraging greater corporate responsibility. Money can be used as a "carrot" to reward companies that are leading us in positive directions, and wielded as a "stick" to halt destructive practices. By using the tools we've practiced and written about for years - "screening" and "shareholder activism" - we gain entry to the halls of power.
Since 1989, the founders of Natural Investments have been screening investments to meet the rigorous social and environmental values of our clients. A wide range of issues can be considered in an investment portfolio. We use specialized research - as well as our experience and contacts in the field of Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) - to design complete portfolios that satisfy a broad range of social and environmental issues.
Using our Natural Investing Social Questionnaire, we will work with you to craft a portfolio that reflects your own social priorities and personal values.
We also participate in shareholder activism, which is an essential part of SRI. Natural Investments recommends SRI mutual funds that pursue a broad social agenda through dialogue with corporate executives. Companies that are not receptive to dialogue often find themselves targeted by shareholder resolutions. This combination has brought about significant improvements in corporate practices, labor standards, environmental performance, and internal governance policies.
Given the long-term returns of stocks and bonds, most of our clients join us in our quest to find ways to use Corporate Investing in service of our larger goals and values. When combined with Community Investing and Regenerative Investing, there are boundless opportunities for your money to make constructive contributions to the world we are forging for the future. |
What is Natural Investing? 
