WASHINGTON -- Spurred by a number of factors, socially responsible investments increased 18% while other investments under management edged up less than 3% between 2005 and 2007, according to a new report from the Social Investment Forum.
The SIF (www.socialinvest.org), which publishes the Report on Socially Responsible Investing Trends, is a national association of 500 members with the aim of encouraging integrating environmental, social and governance factors into investment decisions.
The report identified $2.71 trillion in total assets under management using one or more of the three core SRI strategies--screening, shareholder advocacy, and community investing. Today, nearly one out of every nine dollars under professional management in the United States is involved in SRI.
Assets in all types of socially and environmentally screened funds including mutual funds and exchange-traded funds rose to $201.8 billion in 260 funds in 2007, a 13% increase over the $179.0 billion in the 201 tracked in 2005. Meanwhile, assets in community investing institutions rose nearly 32% from $19.6 billion in 2005 to $25.8 billion in 2007.
Growing institutional investor demand and increased use in ETFs and other alternative investments such as venture capital, double- and triple-bottom-line private equity, have led to an increase in SRI, according to the report.
