Nachhaltige Investoren (Kapitaleignerkulturen)

"The Domini Story"

Abb.: Amy Domini
[Bildquelle: http://www.bokutakusha.com/2002_books/2002_books.html. -- Zugriff am 2005-10-06]

"Amy wasn't the only one thinking along these lines. Many individuals had already made the connection between their investments and their personal beliefs, and sought to invest in companies they respected while avoiding those companies that violated their principles. A handful of mutual funds already existed to screen for ethical concerns and community development financial institutions were developing ways to use their capital to re-invest in their local communities. Shareholder activists affiliated with the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility had years of experience using their shares to influence corporate behavior. But the community of professionals dedicated to what became known as "socially responsible investing" was small, and efforts were isolated. In 1984, Amy wrote "Ethical Investing", one of the first attempts to understand what these various strategies meant, and how they could complement each other.

Amy realized that what social investors needed was a benchmark – something akin to traditional investment benchmarks like the Standard & Poor's 500 or the Dow Jones Industrial Average that could be used to determine whether there was a cost or a benefit, in dollars and cents, to invest this way. For example, would an investor that chose not to invest in tobacco companies or major polluters, preferring companies with better environmental and human rights records, perform better or worse than investors who did not consider these factors? She saw this uncertainty as the primary obstacle to the growth of socially responsible investing.

In 1989, she and her partners Peter Kinder and Steve Lydenberg began work on the Domini 400 Social Index^SM, an index of 400 primarily large-capitalization U.S. corporations, roughly comparable to the S&P 500, selected based on a wide range of social and environmental criteria. When it was launched in 1990, it was the first index of its kind. A year later, they launched the Domini Social Equity Fund^SM, to provide investors with a fund that tracks the Index. At the same time, they launched Kinder, Lydenberg, Domini & Co., a firm dedicated to providing social and environmental research on publicly traded corporations – information that was not being systematically collected.

They didn't know what the results would be. It seemed logical that companies with better social and environmental records would perform at least as well as polluters and firms with poor employee relations – probably better – but there was simply no evidence one way or the other. Wall Street analysts told them it would never work– including social and environmental considerations into investment decisions would limit the investment universe, and therefore limit returns. They didn't acknowledge that traditional money managers are paid large sums of money to do just that – limit their investment universe to a profitable portfolio of stocks.

As it turned out, Wall Street was wrong. The ten-year track record of the Domini 400 Social Index has proven that social and environmental screens do not limit your performance. To the contrary, they may, in fact, lead to higher returns.

This important lesson has allowed us to use our shareholders' investments to encourage greater corporate responsibility, both by using social and ethical criteria to select our holdings and by directly engaging corporate management through proxy voting and shareholder dialogues. Since 1994, we have engaged numerous corporations in discussions on a wide range of issues, from sweatshops to the environment. In 1999, we became the first mutual fund manager in the country to publish its proxy votes, so that our investors could hold us accountable for the positions we are taking.

We have also learned that it is possible to profitably use our investments to help rebuild those communities that have not benefited from our nation's economic growth. We believe that healthy economies are built from the bottom up, and that prudent investors should look for ways to invest in the economic development of struggling communities. We have therefore developed investment vehicles that work to rebuild our nation's underserved communities, and will continue to expand and strengthen that commitment: the Domini Social Bond Fund and the Domini Money Market Account.

Socially responsible investing has come a long way in the past twenty years. It is now widely recognized that social investors use three basic tools, often in tandem, to achieve their social and financial goals – social and environmental screening, shareholder advocacy and community investing. We are guided by the knowledge that it is possible to earn a competitive return while using our investments to make a difference in the world. It is no longer necessary to choose between your principles and your investments. "

[Quelle: http://www.domini.com/print/PrintPage.asp?ref=http://www.domini.com/about-domini/The-Domini-Story/index.htm. -- Zugriff am 2005-10-06]

Kulturen von Arbeit und Kapital

Teil 3: Kapitaleignerkulturen

3. Nachhaltige Investoren

von Margarete Payer

0. Übersicht

Motto

1. Einleitung: Das Geld und die Vision von einer besseren Welt

2. Die Verantwortung der Aktionäre
(shareholder, stockholder)

3. Ethisches Investment
(socially responsible investing (SRI), 社会的責任投資)

3.1. Zum Beispiel: Amy Domini

3.2. Warum eine Geldanlage ethisch sein kann

3.3. Der Unterschied zwischen Konsumentenbewegung und ethischem Investment

3.4. Wo bleiben die Finanzgiganten Staatskirchen?

4. Kritische Aktionäre / Shareholder engagement

5. Weiterführende Ressourcen

5.1. Printmedien

5.2. Online