Like you, I’ve been holding my breath waiting for the much anticipated TIAA-CREF participant survey on issues relating to social investing. I haven’t been this excited since I heard John Tesh was putting out a new album. Or maybe more recently in the weeks preceeding my scheduled surgery for a hernia.

My sarcasm has a point. And that is most of us only marginally care about it. As is evident in the results of the survey itself. Only 27% of the financial service provider’s Social Choice Account “strongly agree” with the statement, “‘ensuring that my investment decisions reflect my personal values about social and environmental impacts’ is most important when making investment decisions” with 83% merely agreeing with the statement. (The fact that 83% agreed is not lost on me. That’s a great number. I just wish it were higher and that they “strongly agreed”.)

For those who don’t know, TIAA-CREF provides “retirement plans in the academic, medical and cultural fields”, the University of Arkansas being one of the academic institutions it services. I’m guessing I’ll never know but I’d love to see localized results of the survey. How many of us are putting a little bit of our retirement in the hands of socially responsible companies? And how many of us who did, made that decision based on moral convictions rather than ensuring a diverse portfolio? Any thoughts? A few facts for your edification:

• CREF Social Choice Account has, by TIAA-CREF’s statement, become the planet’s “largest social screened investment fund for individual investors with just over $8 billion in assets (03/31/06).”
• “The survey also found that majorities of SCA and non-SCA participants buy organic food (61 percent SCA, 48 percent non-SCA) and would consider buying a hybrid car (76 percent SCA, 69 percent non-SCA). They also say that they try to purchase products from companies where they approve of corporate practices (71 percent SCA, 59 percent non-SCA) and boycott products where they disapprove of corporate practices (77 percent SCA, 67 percent non-SCA).” (from the TIAA-CREF survey results press-release.)
• There are many places to invest your money responsibly. Here’s a few places to help you put your money where your mouth is: Sierra Club Mutual Funds, Calvert, Winslow Management Company, Parnassus Investments to name just a very, very few.
• “The overall amount of money (or assets under management, AUM) invested in one or more of the three main SRI strategies (screening, shareholder advocacy, and community investing) grew to $2.29 trillion in 2005 from $2.16 trillion in 2003. However, this represents a decline from the peak of $2.32 trillion in 2001.” (from a January, 2006 article on SocialFunds.com)

I for one, can see few greater value statements to make than investing in socially screened companies. It is true that you can find many companies among the portfolios of “green investors” that you may not expect to see in a socially screened portfolio. A quick look at the top holders in TIAA-CREF’s Social Choice Account are none other than the beloved U.S. Treasury Bond, Microsoft Corp, Johnson & Johnson, Proctor & Gamble Co, JP Morgan Chase and Co., AT&T, IBM, Wells Fargo and Wachovia as of the end of March of 2006. I won’t, or can’t, argue in defense of the presence of these companies, some who have in the past been known as notoriously bad corporate citizens. But I do know that some of those same companies are now on this list precisely because they have been under the critical eye of the consumer, media or one or many NGO’s at one time or another. While some have greenwashed, others have trully changed or are making great leaps toward change. I wouldn’t be surpised to find the GAP somewhere on the list of people I have mutual funds invested in. The GAP has recently made aggressive efforts, praise-worthy efforts apparently, toward becoming a transparent and accountable company. Their 2004 Social Responsibility Report was ground-breaking in it’s candor and transparency and has been applauded by GAP critics worldwide. I’m still waiting for the publication of their 2005 report but there is some information at their corporate website. Point is, many unexpected multi-national businesses are taking strides of varying lengths toward becoming better stewards of the earth and their stakeholders around the world. And I, when justified, will be happy to invest in that.

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