Putting Faith First
More and more Christian funds are forcing companies to take notice. In addition to shunning companies that fail to operate according to christian values, some funds are purposely buying into companies in order to have more leverage in influencing corporate behavior. A couple of Catholic funds that I would like to highlight are the Ave Maria Mutual Funds and Aquinas Funds. Both of these funds operate according to Catholic principles but take different approaches to working with “offending” companies.
Ave Maria mutual funds takes the approach of staying away, or divesting from companies connected with abortion or pornography, or that offer their employees non-marital partner benefits. This approach allows an investor “the opportunity to invest in accordance with the Church’s teachings.” This fund is more appropriate for the investor who is looking for a financially sound investment that does violate the core teachings of the Catholic Church.
On the other hand, Aquinas Funds takes a more aggressive, or activist role. Aquinas purposely uses it’s invest in companies to attempt to influence behavior. I would describe this type of company as more of a tool for someone who is looking for a sound financial investment while also looking to use their invest to promote Catholic values.
Which one is more effective in influencing behavior? It depends…on the company and on the individual investor. If you are comfortable in the short-term with supporting a company that does not always exhibit Catholic values in order to achieve long-term behavior changes, go with a fund like Aquinas. Or if you would like to entirely avoid supporting this type of organization, go with Ave Maria. I do not currently have an investment in either of these funds so I really am in no position to rank one over the other. But at this point in my life, I think that I would go for the long-term behavior change. I am getting more and more uncomfortable sitting on the sidelines instead of trying to make a difference myself.
What do you think??
Discussion Area - Leave a Comment