Encouraging others
Informing others of the many reasons for investing responsibly is a good way of encouraging its adoption. If demand from charities for Responsible Investment grows, fund managers are likely to increase the range of SRI products and services available.
In this section:
Encouraging your charity
Encouraging your peers
Encouraging your charity
Get the facts
If you believe your charity should adopt Responsible Investment you will need to gain the support of your fellow trustees. Educating yourself with the facts about Responsible Investment is a good first step.
Other sections of this website should help you learn about the key Responsible Investment issues. This can help you prepare arguments to persuade other trustees of the merits of Responsible Investment. You may wish to look at:
Why do it?
Financial returns
Legal issues
FAQs
You can encourage other trustees to read this information – or to download the Trustee toolkit which provides a good introduction to Responsible Investment.
Get it on the agenda
You can then place Responsible Investment on the agenda of a future trustee meeting. The issues can then be discussed and you can present a compelling case for its adoption.
If you are a charity employee you should talk to trustees to discover if they would support Responsible Investment and encourage them to champion it with other trustees.
Learn from others
At this stage it may be useful to talk to trustees of other charities (especially those that have similar missions and structures to your own) that already invest ethically. It may be useful to invite them to share their experiences at a trustee meeting.
The case studies section may help you to learn from the experiences of other charities.
You could also arrange for a briefing /training session to be delivered to trustees by someone with expertise in the area. This could include a specialist from your existing training provider, investment adviser or fund manager, or an alternative service provider. Contact us for further suggestions.
Talk to staff
You may also wish to contact staff members within your charity responsible for delivering programmes, marketing and supporter services, to raise awareness of Responsible Investment issues. You could then seek their support for investing in a way that reflects the charity’s mission, matches staff and supporter expectations and does not pose a risk to the charity’s reputation.
Encouraging your peers
If your charity already invests ethically you may wish to spread the word and encourage other charities to follow suit. This may involve:
- raising the issue at investment conferences and training sessions
- providing a case study for this website to share your experiences
- talking to your peers about your investment policy and its benefits for your charity
- going public – announce your decision to adopt Responsible Investment
