Webinar – Page 2 – Seventh Generation Interfaith Coalition for Responsible Investing

Webinar: Human Rights Due Diligence

April 17, 2020July 8, 2020Chris Cox

On Friday, April 17th, SGI’s quarterly webinar addressed due diligence in human rights required of companies. The traditional audit and codes of conduct, while necessary, are no longer sufficient. We were fortunate that ICCR’s Anita Dorett, Camille Le Pors, the lead for the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark, and Patricia Jurewicz of the Responsible Sourcing Network, joined us for this webinar. Again, we are very grateful for the presence of Anita, Camille, and Patricia in this webinar, for their commitment to this work, and their generosity in sharing their wisdom and experience with us. As always, we welcome your feedback via a confidential evaluation found here. Slides are available here.

Don’t miss these two webinars!

February 21, 2020April 16, 2020Chris Cox

Each year, ICCR and Ceres offer webinars that highlight resolutions filed by members. These webinars provide excellent guidance to institutional investors and individual investors concerning shareholder proposals in the coming proxy season. We cannot recommend highly enough your participation in both webinars.

ICCR’s 2020 Proxy Resolutions & Voting Guide Overview. ICCR member resolutions reflect some of the most hotly-debated themes in the national discourse, from the failure of energy companies to meaningfully respond to the climate crisis threatening our planet, to the role of corporations in perpetuating civil and human rights abuses through technology products, and the unrelenting rise in the cost of U.S. healthcare. Register here. (Thu, Feb 27, 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Central) (UPDATE: 2020 Proxy Guide is here. Slides and recording are here. )
Business Case to Vote For 2020 Climate-Related Shareholder Proposals. An annual webinar presenting key climate-related shareholder proposals for the 2020 proxy season, and reasons why you should vote for them. Hosted by the Ceres Investor Network on Climate Risk and Sustainability. Register here. (Thu, Mar 12, 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Central)

Even if you cannot attend live, registration means that you will be sent a link to the slides and recording of the webinar. In other words, even in the event that you have a schedule conflict, it can be valuable to register and watch the webinar at another time. Please, register for these webinars!

The Ag Sector: The Nexus of Migration and Human Trafficking

February 15, 2020July 8, 2020Chris Cox

Agricultural workers are some of the most vulnerable workers on the planet. In the U.S., we carve out laws that treat agricultural workers differently from all other U.S. workers. Further, it is a sector populated largely with foreign-born workers. All too often, these circumstances generate situations of horrific human exploitation.

On Friday, February 14, we were joined in our quarterly webinar by a leader in efforts to uncover human trafficking and modern slavery: Laura Germino of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW). Laura, a founding member of CIW, helped to establish the CIW’s Anti-Slavery Campaign. In 2010, she was honored by the U.S. State Department as a TIP (Trafficking in Persons) Hero. In 2015, the anti-slavery campaign received the Presidential Award for Extraordinary Efforts in Combating Modern Day Slavery. CIW has pioneered a worker-based social responsibility model, the Fair Food Program, to include workers in addressing exploitation and abuse and to eradicate modern slavery in Florida’s tomato fields. We also discussed how these lessons can be applied to our corporate engagements.

We highly recommend sharing this video with your investment committee and other essential people involved in your investment strategy.

We are very grateful for Laura’s presence in this webinar, for her long-standing commitment to eradicate modern slavery in the ag sector, and her generosity in sharing her wisdom and experience with us.

As always, we welcome your feedback via a confidential evaluation found here. Slides are available here.

Fiduciary Duty Webinar

November 16, 2019November 27, 2019Chris Cox

At the heart of this webinar is the conviction, that the fiduciary duty to act in the best interest of a client does not exclude ESG and socially responsible investing. In addition to addressing common myths, this webinar describes the role and responsibility of a faith-based fiduciary.

On Friday, November 15, we were joined in our quarterly webinar by a leader in the socially responsible investing field: Frank Coleman of Christian Brothers Investment Services (CBIS).

We highly recommend sharing this video with your investment committee and other essential people involved in your investment strategy.

We are very grateful for Frank’s presence in this webinar, for his commitment to work on these issues, and his generosity in sharing his wisdom with us.

As always, we welcome your feedback via a confidential evaluation found here. Slides from the webinar are available via Chris Cox.

Corporate Governance Webinar

August 29, 2019September 13, 2019Chris Cox

At the heart of this webinar is the conviction, born of evidence, that transparent and accountable corporate practices correlates to higher shareholder value and lower volatility in share prices. A company run well will deliver superior financial returns, over the long term, than a company that does not adhere to principles of transparency and accountability,

On Thursday, August 29, we were joined in our quarterly webinar by two leaders within the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR): Tim Smith of Walden Asset Management and John Keenan of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).

We are very grateful for the presence of both our guests in this webinar, for their commitment to work on these issues, and their generosity in sharing their wisdom with us.

As always, we welcome your feedback via a confidential evaluation found here. Slides from the webinar are found here.

Holistic Approach to Socially Responsible Investing Webinar

April 13, 2019April 13, 2019Chris Cox

In recent months, some SGI members have been revisiting their policies for socially responsible investment. Such periodic reviews can be an opportunity see this ministry in a fresh light. We must evaluate the quality, forms, and priorities of our commitments as to how effectively they serve the needs of our institutions’ mission and, in a preferential way, the needs of those most vulnerable and the care for creation. In such moments, we may find the conviction to respond to the signs of the times and to change the course into which habit and convenience have settled us and our institutions. These are privileged opportunities for each member institution to consider anew how to align investments with our deepest values.

On Friday, April 12, we were joined in our webinar by two leaders within the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR): Anita Green of Wespath Investment Management and Susan Smith Makos of Mercy Investment Services. Each shared the approach that their organizations utilize for socially responsible investing.

We are very grateful for the presence of both our guests in this webinar, for their commitment to work on this issues, and their generosity in sharing their wisdom with us.

As always, we welcome your feedback via a confidential evaluation found here. Slides from the webinar are found here.

If your institution is reviewing its policy for socially responsible investment, we are happy to help. Please, contact Frank Sherman or Chris Cox. We also recommend US SIF’s free Roadmap For Money Managers and its Roadmap For Financial Advisors. We also provide a number of resources here on our website.

Decarbonizing Electricity Webinar

February 15, 2019April 4, 2019Chris Cox

SGI has been leading important work on climate change with regional utilities. Today, we hosted our first educational webinar of 2019 where we learned more about how we can advance those conversations. We hosted Dan Bakal of Ceres and Franz Litz, program consultant at the Great Plains Institute. Dan has been a key partner in our dialogues with the utilities. Franz has led innovative efforts to bring together policy makers, regulators, utilities, and NGOs to take action on climate change. In particular, he has led the building of a Road Map to Decarbonization in the Midcontinent.

We are very grateful for the presence of both our guests in this webinar, for their commitment to work on this issues, and their generosity in sharing their wisdom with us.

As always, we welcome your feedback via a confidential evaluation found here. Slides from the webinar are found here.

Supply Chain Human Rights Webinar

November 16, 2018Chris Cox

Dispersed global supply chains for many items in our daily lives veil immense violations of human rights. This webinar cuts to the heart of many SGI corporate engagements. Pat Zerega, director of Shareholder Advocacy at Mercy Investment Services, speaks about ethical recruitment (which reduces human trafficking). We hear, as well, from Mary Beth Gallagher of the Tri-State Coalition for Responsible Investment, of her work with Tyson and the poultry sector.

We are so very grateful for the presence of our colleagues from Mercy Investment Services and Tri-State in this webinar.

As always, we welcome your feedback via a confidential evaluation found here. Slides from the webinar are found here.

Member Webinar: Shareholder Resolution Process

August 17, 2018Chris Cox

Today, we hosted our latest webinar for member education on the “Shareholder Resolution Process.” ICCR’s Guide to Filing Shareholder Resolutions is a great tool. We are grateful that Tim Smith of Walden Asset Management and Pat Miguel Tomaino of Zevin Asset Management were able to join us. Their input was a great contribution. Without further ado, here is the video:

SGI Webinar Recording: Health

April 21, 2018Chris Cox

Hearing from both members and ICCR colleagues (Donna Meyer of Mercy Investment Servces and Meg Jones-Monteiro of the ICCR staff), this webinar provides tools for an understanding of our engagements in nutrition, insurance, pharmaceuticals, tobacco, and opioids as well as global health issues. This webinar also proposes time efficient ways of deepening our engagement with these issues.

The article, mentioned by Donna, about the relative expenses of research and development and marketing for pharmaceutical companies can be found here or in a PDF version here.

If you have any questions from the content of the webinar, please, feel free to direct them to us at [email protected]

As always, we welcome your feedback via a confidential evaluation found here.