Socially Responsible Leadership

The San Francisco State University Foundation is committed to providing socially responsible leadership. Whether looking after the fiscal interests of the University, raising funds to help students achieve their educational goals or taking steps to protect the environment, the Foundation is at the forefront of ethical leadership.

Socially Responsible Investing

At SF State, social justice and sustainability aren't just buzzwords. They're core values the University puts into practice every day, in the classroom and the community at large. So it's only natural for our work at the SF State Foundation to reflect those values, too. And it does, through SRI — socially responsible investing.

Socially responsible investing means weighing the environmental, social and governance impacts of specific investments when deciding what should be a part of an institution’s overall portfolio. In the past, the Foundation has acted on its commitment to SRI by choosing not to invest directly in tobacco company stocks or companies or countries with known civil or human rights violations. More recently, we took a bold new step that put us at the forefront of SRI nationwide.

The Green Fund

As part of its commitment to socially responsible investing, the SF State Foundation is developing a $5 million “Green Fund” for donors interested in investing their long-term or endowed gifts in a carefully screened, socially responsible portfolio with an emphasis on environmental impact.

The Fund invests across U.S. and international equities and fixed income and alternative funds, including Breckenridge Sustainable Taxable Fixed Income Separately Managed Accounts (SMA), Parametric MSCI KLF 400 Index SMA, Parametric ACWI Ex-US ESG SMA, Trillium Asset Management Large Cap Core SMA, the Profit Social Equity Portfolio and Calvert Investments Mutual Funds. These funds screen the companies they include by a variety of “positive” factors (biodiversity protection, reduced carbon emissions and fair workplace practices, for example) and “negative” factors (avoiding investment in tobacco and civilian firearms, countries or companies with human rights violations or tar sands and coal operations).

 

Socially Responsible Investing

SF State Foundation Investment Policy Statement

Striking a Balance

The Presidency magazine, Fall 2013, American Council on Education