Corporate Social Responsibility
One way we embody our faith through civic engagement is to advocate for corporate social responsibility and socially responsible investing. Through the partnership of our Finance Office, the Executive Council’s Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility, and our Division of Public Policy, Partnership and Witness, we are mindful of how we invest our churchwide assets; we engage corporations about their practices; and we submit shareholder resolutions on issues of importance.
We also encourage Episcopal dioceses, congregations, and individuals to explore ways to advocate for change at the corporate level, as well as to practice faith-informed investing as part of their own financial stewardship.
As Christians, we believe we are stewards, not owners, of our financial resources. Jesus tells his followers throughout the Gospels to “stay awake” and “be alert,” and we take that to heart as we seek to be wise investors and proponents for wholesome societal change.
Learn more below about the ways The Episcopal Church has engaged in corporate social responsibility and how you and your congregation and diocese can get involved.
History
In 1970, then-Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop John Hines appointed what is now the Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility (CCSR) to look into whether the church could use its investment powers to effect good or prevent harm in society. In 1971, The Episcopal Church became the first institutional investor to file a shareholder resolution on a moral and ethical issue, calling on General Motors to stop its manufacturing in apartheid-era South Africa.
Since then, The Episcopal Church has divested from a number of sectors, including tobacco, fossil fuels, private prisons, and companies that are found to have violated human rights. We have successfully engaged companies to put in place better practices around human trafficking, supply chain, and labor practices.
Learn more about the committee’s advocacy against apartheid in South Africa, as well as efforts to engage corporations on issues of human rights violations, climate change, and gun violence.
How to engage in corporate social responsibility and faith-informed investing
Educate
- Learn about the compelling history and work of the Executive Council’s Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility by watching above and sharing “The CCSR Story,” a 30-minute documentary film.
- Join weekly calls with Office of Government Relations staff to receive legislative updates on issues the church has identified as focal to our mission and values—areas that also impact our investment choices.
- Read a report compiled for the church’s 80th General Convention in 2022 on “Investing as Doing Theology” (see p. 857), which details the faith-informed investing practices of seven Episcopal parishes and seven dioceses, as well as Episcopal Relief & Development.
- Learn more about socially responsible investing at the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, of which The Episcopal Church is a founding member.
Advocate
- Sign up to receive action alerts and send emails to your elected officials about pressing legislation on issues that also inform our churchwide investment choices. These include climate and the environment; ending poverty; human rights and peacebuilding; migration; racial reconciliation; ending gun violence; and more.
- Find out if your diocese or congregation has an endowment or investment committee, and consider joining. Ask for—or help create—an investment policy.
Pray
- Join in and share weekly prayers from the public policy and witness team that highlight vulnerable communities, many of them impacted by the policies and practices of corporations.
Socially responsible investing
- If your church or diocese has an endowment, consider examining any investments in fossil fuel industries and following the church’s 2024 directive to divest from those.
Learn which companies are on The Episcopal Church’s “no-buy” list (see p. 24) for investments in the areas of militarism, for-profit prisons, tobacco products, fossil fuels, and human rights.
Consider coinvesting as a congregation or diocese with The Episcopal Church endowment.
Coinvest with The Episcopal Church endowment
Episcopal dioceses, congregations, and affiliated organizations may co-invest with The Episcopal Church endowment, which ensures that your investing aligns with the church’s mission and values.
