Page 18 RAIN Summer 1986 movement to change the focus and priorities of public policy. · RAIN: What directions are emerging in the SRI'movement? Bavaria: We are begining to see a mainstream interest in. what we are doing. I don't think anything 'gets done in this' country unless it reaches the mainstream. We are a middle .... class society. Any invention is started by."mad artists" and· ·then others pick up the idea. I think that's what's happening now. It's hitting people it never hit before. It's not just on the fringes. Reeck: What we have now is a decade of experience. The · discipline has been invented and at present it is being refined. The hard core of social investment counselors is maybe 50 people, but this is a growing area. Wha~' s going to happen is that existing social investment counselors are going to . attract more business. Second, many more social investment · counselors will come into the business, and third, I think We need to look outward and publicize the very credible record we've assembled, but we also need to look inward and be willing to challenge ourselves and one another. m~ny more people in the standard investtllent business are gping to see that they have to start investment specialities in their business. They are being asked to do it, but they are holding it at arms length because they don't.believe in it. RAIN: What efforts are being made to expand interest in SRI? , Bavaria: The Social Investment Forum has engaged in a public relations effort where we·are appearing on television programs. The'media has been very kind to us and written good things about us. Some less than good things, too, but that's just p~ of public debate. There are various kinds of educational seminars. Amy wrote a book; there are some of us who are publishing. There is a lot of outreach, networking, and public relations involved. Last, .but not least, we are striving to achieve excellent performance and be wonderful professionals. Matthei: I think this movement is moving out of its infancy, but is still a very small child. We've achieved the goal of putting the concept before the public-at least there is initial recognition in quite a number of quarters. Clearly the next step is a lot of promotional activity-spread the word and debunk the myths. Over time there are going to be some legislative issues, particularly regarding pension fund investments. Pension funds, in the forseeable future will account for about half the value of the American economy. There is the potential to redirect the economy in fundamental ways. Its important for us to grow as a movement, not simply to look outward but to look inward. There are a lot of difficult and challenging q'1estions about the nature of wealth, where it comes from, how it is used. What would a just economy look like and.how will we get there? We need to look outward and publicize the very credible record we've · assembled, ~ut we also need to look inward and be willing to challenge ourselves and one another., RAIN: .The concept of social investment covers many different objectives. To what ex~ent will th~ field hold together over time? Reeck: The concern is to develop an integrated discipline. I don't think there is any standard ideology of social investing. I see that as a potential weakness. Right now i! is a movement-based coalition and like all coalitions it could fall ..apart. It's working together now. A great deal of thought needs to go into this issue of what constitutes social investment. The other side is that there is a great deal of freedom for the expression of many different values. No one is going to impose an ideology. The one single value that holds the social investment movement community together is this; we affirm the right of investors to make investments using social criteria. RAIN: Has the Social Investment Forum considered set- .ting up guidelines, so that as the SRI movement grows it has a credible reference? .Bavaria: Yes, the Social Investment Forum does have a code of ethics that is reasonably broad, but asks members to subscribe to certain disclosure and honesty requirements. What the forum is not equipped to do is evaluate members. The only mechanism·we have now is reports of other members. Certainly over time we hope to refine those processes. I think it is very important. · Reeck: ·The Social Investment Forum is the start of what we need-:a social investment profe8sional organization. What I look for in the future is the establishment of credentials in the field. The credentials are, first, that they must have adequate financial analytical training. Second, the person also has to have commensurate social skills. I simply do not believe that any old MBA in finance can become a social investment counselor. That person also has to have a track record in social commitment. Without bOth social and financial skills, a person is not a qualified social investment manager. RAIN: Will SRI have an impact beyond an individual's investments being "clean"; will it have a social impact? Bavaria: The South Africa situation has been impacted by the divestiture movement. There is not much question that it suprised us. These things have a natural energy, and at some point they take off. I think that what has happened because·of South Africa is that people are much more aware of the way corporate America acts in other countries. You can see the research beginning to broaden to the Third World. Are corporations abusing or taking advantage or are they supporting the local economy? Domini: Money is power. The investment of money can become the exetcise. of power. The first woman who chained herself to the courthouse door didn't get the vote. She didn't get the respect of her family-. She didn't get anything. It takes a lot of people to make a major social change. It takes people doing it from all directions. It takes people who are willing to chain themselves to the courthouse door, build shanty towns on campuses, work through the court system, a shareholder action group, a divestiture group, direct investment-whatever it takes--a multi-pronged approach is needed to create social change. o o
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