inward. There are a lot of difficult and challenging questions about the nature of wealth, where it comes from, and 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, but we also need to look inward and be willing to challenge ourselves and one another. CUE: Has the Social Investment Forum considered setting 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, and asks members to subscribe to certain disclosure and honesty requirements. What the forum does not do is evaluate members. The only mechanism we have now is the reports of other members. Certainly over time we hope to refine those processes. I think it is very important. CUE: 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 surprised 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 Socially Responsible Credit Card Would you like to help stop the arms race and feed the hungry every time you say, "Charge it"? It's now possible. The managers of Working Assets Money Fund have established the Working Assets VISA card. When someone signs up for a card, $2 of the $22 annual fee goes to nonprofit organi2»tions such as Sierra Club, Oxfam, and Amnesty International. Each time you use your card, 5^ goes to the same groups. The interest rate is 17.5 percent. The Working Assets Money Fund is a money market account that avoids investing in firms that manufacture weapons or pollute the environment. Shareholders were surveyed to find out what other financial services were desired. The number one response was a credit card. Although some of the Working Assets board members felt that they should be creating ways to save money rather than spend it, the shareholders got what they wanted. For more information, contact: Working Assets, 230 California St., San Francisco, CA 94111; 415/ 989-3200 (collect). 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 exercise 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. # SRI Around the World SRI is not confined to the United States. Canada has two SRI mutual funds. The Solidarity Fund of the Quebec Federation of Lahore invests in Quebec companies with good labor records. Vancouver City Savings Credit Union, Canada's largest credit union, opened its Ethical Growth Fund in January, 1986, using five social criteria. The Canadian Social Study Group (246 Queen St., Ottawa, Canada, KIP 5E4) has a directory of Canadian organizations involved in social investing. Great Britain has an array of mutual funds, community lending banks, and a venture capital fund for social investors. The Stewardship Unit Trust was the first mutual fund and excludes companies in South Africa or those involved in arms, tobacco, alcohol and gambling. It was started in 1984 by the Friends' Provident Society Insurance Company in Dorking, Surry. The Financial Initiative in Salisbury, Wiltshire, is for investors wanting to support the start up of "humanely and ecologically worthwhile" ventures. The Ethical Investment Research and Information Center (9 Poland St., London, WIV 3D6) publishes a quarterly newsletter on ethical investing in Great Britain. Australian investors can participate in August Investments in Sydney, the first company there to use ethical criteria. The Southern Cross Capital Exchange was modeled after coimnunity banks in Germany and Great Britain and lends to a variety of "ethical projects." Page 7
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