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Watch Helen Young Hayes tell the story of one of the hardest times in her faith—a time when she wasn’t hearing clearly from God—and the decision she had to make in this time.
Her story of having a full-time job while staying committed to her husband and children is valuable for anyone struggling to balance work and family.
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When we talk about investing, it’s easier to define what you don’t want to do. But it’s not just about avoiding the bad, right?
Watch this video to learn about Business 360—a framework where you can look at how businesses engage with various stakeholder to make sure that you’re investing in ethical and positive organizations.
We’re so excited to finally launch the Faith Driven Investor podcast. Over the next several weeks, we’ll feature episodes tailored for fund managers, investors, business owners, and pastors who believe God owns it all and who care deeply about how we steward our investments for financial return and gospel-centered transformation. If that sounds interesting to you, tune in today.
This week’s episode features Henry Kaestner of Sovereign’s Capital and Aimee Minnich of Impact Foundation. Together they discuss the faith driven investing movement, what God has been and is doing, and what the future of this movement looks like.
As you listen, we hope you get as excited about the launch of the new Faith Driven Investor website and podcast as we are. Our hope is that both of these resources will help you on both your spiritual and professional journey. Check out the links below to see the rest of the site and don’t hesitate to let us know what you think! As always, we’re relying on you, our community, to make these resources the best they can possibly be.
Useful Links:
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— by Christian Investment Forum
There are two commonly asked questions when the Christian Investment Forum introduces our mission of “Advancing the Awareness and Use of Biblically Responsible Investing“. They are “What is BRI?” and “Why should BRI be used?”. This article presents information from the Christian Investment Forum to educate advisors on the topic, and provide knowledge that can increase the confidence of advisors in the opportunity to embrace BRI.
The definition of Biblically Responsible Investing (BRI) used and promoted by the Christian Investment Forum (CIF) remains purposefully broad. While there are some examples of the term BRI being narrowly used for only a specific set of criteria for investing, the use of the term BRI by the Christian Investment Forum is broad and is interchangeable with other similar terms used by investors who incorporate Christian faith into the investing process. Those include Faith Integrated Investing, Morally Responsible Investing, Stewardship Investing, Values Based Investing, and others.
In this broader scope, Biblically Responsible Investing is a term used to describe an approach to investing assets in a way that is in alignment with the investor’s faith and Biblical beliefs. The definition that CIF uses is as follows:
“Biblically Responsible Investing, or BRI, applies Christian values to investment decision making by incorporating moral and social principles into traditional financial analysis. BRI provides a platform for the faithful stewardship of God’s gifts on the basis of our shared Christian faith. BRI seeks to invest in and own companies that best represent those Christian values.”
By defining BRI as an approach that seeks to align investments with the investor’s faith and Biblical beliefs, BRI is by definition a personal process. While Christians share core foundational beliefs, it is also true that on many topics personal faith will lead Christians to differing opinions and more importantly differing priorities. This makes it difficult to place a simple label or definition on what BRI is and what it is not, or how it is applied into the investment decision making process. In this sense, BRI is an approach to investing, one that is explicit in incorporating Christian values on social, environmental, and governance issues into the investment decision-making, management, and engagement activities. In our view, BRI is not a certification process or method to quantify performance.
As the Christian Investment Forum defines it, BRI is not a legalistic concept or practice, it is a motivation. Simply said, the heart of BRI is the heart. No one can act as judge to certify one portfolio as BRI and another as not BRI certified.
But what does that really mean? It means BRI is about “doing all we can do to give God our best”. BRI is about loving what God loves, and seeking to own and profit from companies that align with that love. Conversely, it is about avoiding companies that conflict with that love, or are more aligned with our sinful nature. In practice, that often means not investing in companies that profit significantly from things such as addictive behavior, abortion and pornography, and abusive practices toward God’s physical or human creations. And it is also about finding and investing in companies that positively impact their communities, the environment and our society.
In practice, BRI becomes a more complex process of setting values, priorities, and appropriate thresholds to develop a clear approach to investing. It also requires detailed levels of information and transparency so that the values, priorities and thresholds can be objectively measured and managed.
After the question “What is BRI?”, the next question is often “Why is it important?”.
At CIF, we hope all Christians will begin to embrace BRI….to see it as a necessary part of putting God above ourselves and the possessions that we steward for him. We believe there are persuasive reasons to use BRI, and they include both moral and economic reasons.
Following the definition used for Biblically responsible investing earlier, BRI is a process and not a standard. It is about integrating Christian faith into investing. As such, it seems difficult to believe there is any other approach to investing that meets our Christian values. The alternative would be to actively avoid incorporating our Christian values into this part of our lives, to compartmentalize investing from other activities, to leave our faith for Sunday only. To leave investing out implies it is not important to God, or that investing is more important to us than God is.
Using BRI is not an either/or question. BRI does not replace the need to be Christian in other parts of our lives, or in other ways in which we use money (earning through work, spending wisely, and giving it generously). If the goal is to seek to fully integrate Christian faith into our lives, then each area of our lives needs attention to successfully integrate. Being generous with your time and treasures is wonderful, but it doesn’t give permission to lie, cheat or steal in other parts of your life. So while the goal is full integration and interconnectedness, that obliges us to strive to be better in each unique area, to do all we can do to give God our best.
With that perspective, investing must be considered separately from earning, spending and giving. Investing in a way that puts God above ourselves, that aligns with Christian faith, and meets our
responsibility to be good stewards of what God has provided, are the critical components. Being a Christian investor is not about meeting some arbitrary test, or favorably comparing to others in a holier than thou way. It is about keeping perspective on priorities, and continuing to strive to steward what God has given us in a way that honors him and our Christianity.
A commonly held belief today is that investing, particularly through the many layers of mutual funds, ETFs and other financial products, is not direct ownership in a business. It is easy to see why that thinking exists.
Investing has long been artificially divorced from its basic purpose, which is supplying capital to support businesses
Most investors are trying to profit from the market itself, rather than from any productive and intrinsic value of the underlying companies
A widely accepted view is that low cost, low fee products like ETFs or passively managed index funds are preferred investments, once the concept of investing is divorced from its primary purpose
Investing has become commoditized and depersonalized
Most people, and even some of their financial advisors, don’t know what companies they
actually own
Despite this, by investing in equities you do become the legal owner of the stock of the company issuing the equity, even if that stock was purchased in the market and not directly from the company. Legal ownership is not affected by the flow of the money used to buy the stock, whether it goes to the company directly, or to the owner of the stock who sells it.
Ownership confers responsibility whether that ownership is direct ownership of a small business, or being a small owner in a large corporation. By becoming an owner, an investor sanctions and benefits from the activities and practices of the company.
Thus, as a steward of God’s assets it is appropriate to do everything we can to do our best, understanding we can never be perfect, to manage those assets in a way that honors God, is not contrary to his commands, and is not against our Christian faith and values.
One concern often raised about BRI is that it violates Fiduciary Duty. Fiduciary Duty is simply the legal duty to act solely in another party’s (presumably the investor client) interests. Whether a client investor is Christian or not, the approach of incorporating values into investing is now accepted as meeting reasonable fiscal and fiduciary responsibility. Those held to the highest standard on fiduciary responsibility through ERISA laws are allowed to incorporate social or value screens into their investment decision making, as long as it is part of proper financial analysis, due diligence, and an established investment plan. Incorporating Christian values into equity selection is not a replacement to the professional financial analysis that is required, and only adds to the investment decision making process.
15 years ago there were no more than 5 mutual funds that described themselves as BRI focused. Today there are many different mutual fund options from those that incorporate Christian values into their investing. Funds are now available in most of the core investing categories, with over 70 funds in 28 categories available from members of the Christian Investment Forum. The performance of these funds, based on ratings from firms such as Morningstar and Lipper, closely align with the performance of industry averages and the full universe of investment options.
Separately managed accounts are also available, as are portfolios designed by Chartered Financial Analysts. Model portfolios are available that only use BRI funds, while other portfolios may include BRI funds along with non-BRI funds. The greater number of fund options and fund managers available today decreases the risk of manager bias or poor diversification.
Research has shown that the vast majority of investors want their investments to align with their faith and values. With about 78% of the U.S. population identifying as Christian, the majority of the total population then would like to align their investments with Christian values. This viewpoint is growing with the next generation of Millennials reaching their core investing years. Millennials are even more committed to an integrated view of their work, money, and beliefs. What most investors don’t know is the wide availability of investment products that can meet this desire, and the performance of those products. Most investors still rely on wise financial counsel in how their money is managed, and don’t know how to ask for their money to be managed in this way. By engaging on this topic, an advisor can form even stronger relationship bonds with clients.
Research is now also consistently showing that using BRI criteria in investing does not have a negative effect on performance. Instead, research is suggesting that the relationship tilts more heavily towards out-performance. A recent report by Mercer Research reviewed 36 academic studies on the relationship between using BRI like criteria in the investment process (they use the term ESG – environment, social, governance). They found, as Figure 1 highlights, that 83% of the studies concluded that the relationship was neutral or positive.
The point of these findings is that market opportunity exists for those advisors confident enough to present the data to investors, and to open the conversation in the same way the advisor opens conversations about inheritance, giving, debt, and other topics that are critical to providing wise counsel.
The moral reasons for using BRI – aligning with faith and being a good steward – are the primary reasons to incorporate BRI into a practice. The economic reasons provide comfort that investing in BRI funds is as justifiable as investing in non-screened funds from a purely professional financial management perspective. Whether investing in BRI funds or non-BRI funds, we all know that past performance does not predict future returns. However, research is suggesting that using BRI has had a neutral or positive effect on performance. Investors are increasingly saying the alignment of their investments is important to them, even if they are not sure how to ask how.
Given all of these factors, the question about using BRI should not be WHY? It should be WHY NOT!?!
This article was originally published here
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Our friends at Impact Foundation recently took a trip to Ethiopia, and this is Part 1 in the series of things they learned and found there. For more in this series, visit their website.
— by Impact Foundation
“Jobs, not aid, are the most urgent need of these starving people,” I thought. We crouched on the dirt floor of a twelve-foot diameter grass hut in the Omo River Valley of Southern Ethiopia. Twenty-one hours away from the capital city live the Kara, Hammar, and Benna tribes—people who use cell phones to communicate but whose ways are otherwise unchanged from those of their ancestors who settled the region thousands of years ago. Picture the most remote tribal images you have seen in a National Geographicmagazine, and you are likely thinking of these people groups.
We sat in that hut listening to Ari, a member of the Kara tribe, describe the effects of a government program to dam the Omo River for flood control and to provide hydroelectric power to parts of the region. The dam ended the practice of planting crops in receding flood waters. Plus, the dam changed the chemistry of the river making the water muddy, undrinkable, and unfishable.
In the first few years after the dam was completed, these problems were manageable because a Turkish company opened a 25,000-acre farm that employed many people from the local tribes. It also operated an irrigation pump to bring fresh water to the villages. Unfortunately, all than ended 18 months ago when the company hit hard times in their corporate office and left the region abruptly.
Ari described how since then people have been starving, and entirely dependent upon bags of sorghum that an aid group intermittently delivers. While he talked, Ari’s wife sat with us, occasionally dipping into a plastic bucket of mud-colored liquid. As she drank, she became more and more disengaged.
“Do people use the sorghum to make hooch?” asked one member of our group. The answer was vague but we later got more of the story from our host, Lale a man born in the Kara village and who later attended boarding school, ultimately obtaining a college degree in the US. As the only member of his tribe to ever have traveled abroad for schooling, he is one of only a handful who are college educated. Lale explained that his friends spend most days drunk. Without fishing, farming, or a job to fill their days, there is little reason to do anything else.
Lale, who lives in a nearby city, and another member of the Kara tribe during our visit to the village.
As hard as it was to watch the scene inside the tent, it was heart-wrenching to watch the children outside the tent. Little ones with distended, undernourished bellies, clamored for attention but many adults were too affected by alcohol to give it. Instead of learning farming, fishing, and household management practices that have been passed through generations, the kids are learning from these elders how to survive on handouts.
We will never “charity” our way back to sustainability for the Kara, Hammar, and Benna people. Worse, as people become dependent on the charity’s aid it threatens their way of life as they lose ancient skills in a single generation. Our time in the hut demonstrates in miniature what is happening all over Africa due to war, genocide, AIDs, drought, corrupt governments, and too much aid.
Charity or government aid is critically important component of emergency response to crisis, such as genocide, famine, war, and mass displacement. The question becomes at what point should the focus appropriately shift from aid and emergency relief to investment and economic development.
Carried too far, aid can create dependency and cause more problems. Many good books have been written to elucidate this cycle, like When Helping Hurtsand Toxic Charity,but our new favorite is Social Impact Investing: A New Agenda in Fighting Povertyby Kim Tan and Brian Griffiths. Through data from the United Nations and the World Bank, the authors point out the inverse relationship between the volume of aid dollars and economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa. In other words, the more aid that is sent, the worse various economies fare. We cannot sustainably overcome poverty with aid.
There are bright spots in Ethiopia, though, where large-scale business is making a difference in driving back extreme poverty and ills of too much aid. The next blog posts in our Ethiopia Series will highlight the transformational work of Verdant Frontiers: “What Does it Take to Find Success” and “Understanding the Verdant Model”
This article was originally published here
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Last week, God brought together 150 leaders shaping the Faith Driven Investor community to discuss what God is doing and how we might work together. One of our friends, Mats Tunehag led us in a prayer that was an adaptation of a well known prayer by St. Patrick. We thought it might be an encouragement and a great way to recalibrate as we start off our week.
— by Mats Tunehag
On March 17 many people around the globe celebrate St. Patrick. He was a human trafficking victim in the 5th century, who became a missionary to the people and land (Ireland) where he was a slave.
Let me share a well-known prayer by St. Patrick, and customize it to a prayer for faith driven investors: (the original is in bold and italics)
Christ with me, as I invest for the common good and God’s glory
Christ before me, as I steward the wealth entrusted to me
Christ behind me, as I evaluate opportunities near and afar
Christ in me, as I invest time, treasure and talents in others
Christ beneath me; He is the foundation
Christ above me, He is the owner of it all
Christ on my right, Christ on my left, He is the Lord of the marketplace
Christ when I lie down, and rest from my work
Christ when I sit down, in my office chair
Christ when I arise, enthusiastic or weary
Christ in the heart of every person who thinks of us, and our vision
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of us, and our work
Christ in every eye that sees us, young and old, rich and poor, countrymen and foreigners
Christ in every ear that hears me speak about our products and services
Glory be to God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, forever and ever.
Amen!