November 2022 – Aligning Faith and Finances

On the theme of values-based investing, a speaker at a Christian MBA networking conference I attended explained the importance of having a framework to look at how a company treats all of its stakeholders, namely, its customers, employees, suppliers, host communities, the environment, and broader society. The bottom line was her assertion that what is right is also, in many cases, good for business and investors.

Faith-based investors have an opportunity, indeed an obligation, to exert influence on businesses to maximize the human welfare of shareholders, broader stakeholders, and society at large. Such investors may align investments with their belief system, like Quakers eschewing any business dealings with companies involved in the slave trade, or early Methodists avoiding investments in alcohol, tobacco, gambling or weapons.

There is a reawakening among faith investors to address global challenges through the power of mobilizing assets in alignment with their values. Over the decades, faith leaders charted a course that has engaged both values-aligned investors and financial professionals. Today, we are witnessing some of the first “impact investing” pioneers coming together with a new generation of faith-based asset owners and networks.