About 18 months ago, we moved the financial reserves of the church, our investments, to a new investment manager – Epworth Investments. One of the main reasons that we chose Epworth was because of their track record in ethical investing. Whilst many investment managers claim to be ethical, we believe that with Epworth we have someone looking after the financial resources of the church with both a rigorous approach to ethics, and a strong track record in financial management. This enables us to feel confident that we are living out our vision of “Being Love” in this area of church life as well.

Since moving to Epworth, the Investment Team (a sub-committee of the Vestry) have met with Epworth’s Chief Responsibility Officer and Head of Client Relations every six months, to review the portfolio from a performance perspective, and from an ethical perspective.

Epworth has its roots in the Methodist Church and invests according to Christian Ethics. Their website has lots of information about this but one key area that guides their investment choices are the 7 Ethical Pillars, and that is the focus for this news post.

The Ethical Pillars are guided by God’s call to care for people and planet, and informed by the Methodist tradition of equality, fairness, individual responsibility, and societal care. The pillars are linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Epworth supports the utilization of the SDGs, but feel that without a robust theological underpinning, they risk being misused by corporations or organizations attempting to appear ethical. By linking the theological pillars to the SDGs, Epworth develops a common industry voice whilst better embedding theology into engagement action.

The Ethical Pillars are:

Please take a look at Epworth’s website (epworthim.com) and if you would like any more information on this area of church finances, I would love to hear from you!

Katherine Burnett, Finance Director, Katherine.burnett@stmungos.org