Individual investors should expect their financial advisers to heed their ethical concerns, or else summon the moral courage to take their business elsewhere. To whom much is given, much is expected (Luke 12:48).
When it comes to employee-sponsored 401(k) or 403(b) plans—often restricted to a few mainstream mutual-fund options—an investor can pursue three different avenues: (1) Petition the Human Resources Department to include an "ethical fund" or "self-directed brokerage window" option. (2) Use ethical ratings programs like My Investigator to pick the least objectionable fund available. (3) Stop participating altogether in favor of other tax-deferred but self-directed retirement vehicles such as iras or variable annuities.
Evangelical churches, nonprofit organizations, and foundations should adopt official ethical guidelines for their retirement, endowment, and other investments, or risk undermining the integrity of their entire ministry by supporting the cultural problems they seek to remedy.
Christian universities, colleges, and seminaries can legitimize the ethics they teach by establishing ethical investing policies as well. In addition to portfolio screening, these institutions of higher learning can also pursue shareholder action by forming committees among students, professors and alumni to research and advise votes on the ethical resolutions of their endowment's corporate proxies.
Pro Vita Advisors assists investors in the filing of life-ethics shareholder resolutions.
Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility is an association of 275 Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Jewish institutional investors jointly advocating corporate ethical responsibility.