Charities 'putting ethical investment policies in place'

Investment policies for the majority of charities now reflect ethical concerns, a new survey has confirmed.

The Charity Finance Directors’ Group (CFDG) and the Ethical Investment Research Service (EIRIS) analysed policies at 164 separate not-for-profit firms.

They found that six in ten of those charities which had investment holdings running into the seven figures had some form of ethical policy in place.

However, just one in four of charities with under £1 million invested said the same.

Ethical policies could involve the firm refusing to put their money into perceived non-ethical sectors, such as arms manufacturers and non-renewable energy suppliers.

When the charities were asked by CFDG/EIRIS why they had put in place such a policy, a common response was that they did not want to promote investments which conflicted with the overall aims of the organisation.

Reputational risk was also a concern, with 70 per cent of fundraising charities saying that they had an ethical investment policy.

Sam Collin, charity adviser at the EIRIS Foundation, commented: ’It is encouraging to see that many charities now invest in line with their aims.

’But there is still much work to do to ensure that all charities are not putting their reputation and stakeholder relationships at risk through their financial decisions.’ADNFCR-2318-ID-19302440-ADNFCR