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More for Mission member, Needmor Fund, presents virtues of sustainable equity screens in a volatile market

 Lisa Hagerman, Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

Sarah Stranahan, Needmor Fund Board Member, tells a “Tale of Two Foundations”(PDF) in which the Needmor Fund did 4.5% better (annual return as of 10/31/08)  compared to another traditional foundation—that is not a mission investor. 

Sarah’s theory that in a down market or a bull market their screened equity managers have a consistent quality bent investing in:

“Companies with good environmental policies, good employment policies and good corporate governance that tend to have management that is ethical, cautious, unwilling to incur large debt, willing to defer immediate gain to protect the company from future risk, and slow to capitalize on short term trends that do not increase long term value.” 

While ultimately investment performance depends on strategic asset allocation and a rigorous investment philosophy, the “Tale of Two Foundations” suggests that disciplined equity screens tend to outperform in volatile markets. 

The “Tale of Two Foundations” also reports that over the five year period the Needmor Fund outperformed the traditional foundation by only .4%. Sarah goes on to say in a recent Responsible Investor article: Why are we trying to prove that we are as good as the dominant markets?  The dominant markets have failed dismally and that the time is now for systemic reform. See the full article in Responsible Investor, Systemic reform is the only course for ‘decimated’ investors.   

posted 10:25AM 01/27/2009 by Lisa Hagerman

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