We’d like to extend our thanks to our panelists and attendees on today’s Vote Your Values with As You Vote webinar! IEN Members and registrants of the webinar will be able to receive a recording of this overview of As You Sow’s proxy voting system as soon as it is available.

If you haven’t done so, please register for our workshop on unconscious bias on October 6 at 1 PM ET! This highly interactive workshop will explore our biases in hiring and belonging with Demetriouse Russell, CEO of Venn Diagram Partners.

We’re also hosting a webinar on investing in a shifting food supply system on October 11! Register for this in-depth conversation hosted by IEN and VegTech Invest to explore the inefficiencies in the food supply system that contribute to food insecurity.

In this week’s news, Brunel University divests from fossil fuels, the University of Utah moves its net-zero emissions target date up a decade, and the Connecticut pension system allocates $300M to diverse managers.

Read more

We were thrilled to join many of you at our first in-person event in two years, our Institutional Investor Roundtable at the Nest Summit Campus, a part of Climate Week NYC! Keep an eye out next week for a recap of our panels and highlights from the day’s conversations.

We are also excited to announce the launch of our Sustainable Retirement Plans Pledge with the support of Second Nature and The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE)! The Sustainable Retirement Plans Pledge gives universities the opportunity to review the offerings in their retirement plans and assess the availability of sustainable options.

In this week's news, SFSU reveals updates its racial and climate commitments, Federated Hermes ends its support of an anti-ESG organization, and the Walton endowment aligns its investments with its mission.

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There’s only one week left until our Institutional Investor Roundtable at the Nest Summit Campus on September 22! The generosity of our sponsors has given us the opportunity to allow a few universities and colleges to register free of charge using the code AssetOwner100. We hope to see you there!

You can view the agenda for the roundtable here, and learn more about our speakers and next-level conversation hosts here. We’d also like to extend a thank you to our roundtable lead sponsor Federated Hermes, our gold-level sponsor Impax Asset Management, and our silver-level sponsors Breckinridge Capital Advisors, Impact Shares, and Schroders.

In this week’s news, NACUBO releases a report about student-managed investment funds highlighting IEN’s SIILK Network, the Universities of Washington and Hull divest from fossil fuels, and Harvard’s research into its ties to slavery lead to questions for the university and the descendants of those it enslaved.

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IEN is thrilled to announce that Derrick Johnson, CEO and President of the NAACP, will be our keynote speaker at our Institutional Investor Roundtable on September 22nd, a part of Climate Week NYC! Asset owners are invited to register for free using the code ‘AssetOwner100’.

We also have a number of other learning opportunities coming up, including a webinar on the proxy voting platform As You Vote, the third installment in our unconscious bias series, and our in-person 2023 Higher Education Climate Leadership Summit. We hope you can join us for our virtual and in-person gatherings!

In this week’s news, BlackRock responds to a letter from 19 Republican state attorneys general, the UK proposes climate risk disclosures for local government pension schemes, and demonstrators push Indiana University to divest from fossil fuels.

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We’re offering comped registration to asset owners who wish to attend our Institutional Investor Roundtable at the Nest Summit Campus on September 22nd, a part of Climate Week NYC! Please reply to this email if you or someone from your institution is interested in attending.

If you’re interested in participating in the 2023 Student Corporate Engagement Challenge, now is the time to indicate your interest! Participating students will receive a variety of benefits, including access to mentorship and networking opportunities, free and discounted registration to educational workshops and industry events, presentation opportunities, and multimedia interview opportunities.

In this week’s news, Nell Minow pens a response to 19 Republican attorneys general’s letter to Larry Fink, Phenix Capital releases its August 2022 Impact Report, and Western Oregon University makes tuition more affordable for Native American students.

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We’re inviting IEN Members to join the quarterly meeting of our JEDI working group on September 6, 2022 at 1 PM ET. Members will hear from our 2 new JEDI working group co-chairs, and we have a presentation with resources on approaches to DEI in investing from Bhakti Mirchandani and partners. The link to the Zoom meeting can be found here. You can also reply to this email to be sent a calendar invite by a member of our team.

We’re excited to announce the results of IEN Member Mercer’s 2022 Global Not-for-Profit Survey are live. Our Executive Director, Georges Dyer, was the author of the foreword. You can read the results, which detail the views of non profit investors around the world on a number of topics, in a report here. Georges was also featured in a podcast on the results that can be heard here.

In this week’s news, The University of Central Lancashire divests from fossil fuels, BlackRock voices concern over a new SEC greenwashing rule, and the University of Utah receives a $20M gift for a new climate center.

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There is still time to register for our Climate Risk Lunch & Learn with MSCI this Monday, August 22nd at 12 PM ET! Join Ariel Nicholas and the MSCI team as she explores some of the solutions that several of the world’s leading institutions have leveraged to minimize climate risk and capture solutions-based opportunities. 

We’d also like to remind you that our 2023 Higher Education Climate Leadership Summit Call for Content is now open! Be a part of the planning process by sharing your ideas for people or topics that should be included in our largest annual event. And we hope you’ join us at our roundtable at the Nest Summit in NYC on September 22, 2022, as a part of Climate Week NYC! Learn more and register here.

In this week’s news, IEN released a new report on Warren Wilson College’s shareholder engagement work, Rose Bruford College became the 96th in the UK to divest from fossil fuels, Idaho State University committed to a carbon-neutral campus, and the Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law.

Read more

 

Keynote: Derrick Johnson, President & CEO, NAACP

Learn more:

• View the highlights
• Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Working Group

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Panel: San Francisco State University — New IPS + Renewed Commitments to ESG 

Learn more:

• View the highlights
• To learn more about IEN's Investment Governance Working Group, please contact Harrison Ungar at [email protected].

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Panel:  Climate Justice & Net Zero Portfolios — Driving the Just Transition

Learn more: 

• View the highlights
• Net Zero Endowments Initiative
• Leading with Justice: Net Zero Investing & Conversations on Climate Justice

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Panel: ESG in Retirement Plans — the Sustainable Retirements Pledge

Learn more:

• View the highlights
• Sustainable Retirements Initiative
• Sustainable Retirement Plans Pledge

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Investing in a Shifting Food Supply System: Addressing the Inefficiencies That Contribute to Food Insecurity

November 16, 2022

Political instability, poverty, limited access to adequate housing or employment are some of the factors that contribute to food insecurity around the world. Join IEN and a lineup of speakers from VegTech Invest, Project Drawdown, The Good Food Institute, the FAIRR Initiative, and Barclays for a discussion on the inefficiencies that contribute to food insecurity. This virtual, hour-long conversation also explored how investing in shifting the global food supply system to be more efficient can help to address our current inefficiencies and positively impact food insecurity.

Participants learned:

• Why our current food supply system is responsible, at least in part and in addition to political strife, for current food inefficiency and current and future food insecurity
• How businesses in the alternative proteins, plant-based innovation, and food tech sectors are addressing food insecurity
• What investible technologies are being developed to address food insecurity and food independence
• How emerging and current investable technologies will be applied evenly across countries and economic tiers

Our moderator Elysabeth Alfano, CEO of VegTech Invest, was joined by panelists Sharyn Murray of the Good Food Institute, Maria Lettini of the FAIRR Initiative, Matt Spence of Barclays, and Paul West of Project Drawdown. 

Recording:

 

 

Speakers:

 

 

 Elysabeth Alfano, CEO, VegTech Invest

 

 

 

 

 Matt Spence, Managing Director, Head of Food Technology and Alternative Protein, Barclays

 

 

 

 

 Maria Lettini, Executive Director, FAIRR Initiative

 

 

 

 

 Sharyn Murray, Investor Engagement Manager, Good Food Institute

 

 

 

 

 Paul West, Senior Scientist, Ecosystems and Agriculture, Project Drawdown

 

 

 

Resources: 

Paul West slides

The national security case for lab-grown and plant-based meat.

The 2021 State of the Industry: Cultivated meat and seafood

The State of the Industry 2021: Fermentation for alternative proteins

2021 State of the Industry: Plant-based meat, eggs, and dairy

Industry Update: Alternative seafood

• Investors may join GFI's Investor Directory to get inbound deal flow from alternative protein companies 
• GFI’s Company Database allows investors to explore companies in the alternative protein sector and see which are raising rounds via our Fundraising Database
• Sign up for our Quarterly Investor Newsletter for investment data and analysis, research, and tools, as well as a list of venture capital funds focused on alternative proteins that are fundraising,

Leverage the GFI & FAIRR Alternative Proteins ESG Reporting Frameworks to assess and monitor the ESG characteristics of any company manufacturing alternative proteins. Simply download the framework and accompanying technical guide and request that your portfolio companies or investment prospects report via the appropriate framework.

 

CLIMATE WEEK ANNOUNCEMENT: COLLEGES PLEDGE SUSTAINABLE RETIREMENT PLANS FOR FACULTY & EMPLOYEES

Arizona State, Lewis & Clark, Chatham University Among Colleges Endowments Committing to Sustainable Retirement Plan Options with Renewed Focus on Climate and Social Justice

Read more

IEN’s Sustainable Retirement Plan pledge, drafted in support with Second Nature and The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), establishes that university “employees deserve a range of sustainable investing retirement fund options that consider environmental, social, and governance factors, consistent with the goals of reducing risk, protecting capital, and enhancing financial returns.”

Please contact Chris Walker at [email protected] if you’re interested in learning more about the Pledge, and visit the Sustainable Retirements Initiative page to find out more about this work.

 

Read the Pledge

 

Sign the Pledge

Pledge Signatories

Are you interested in deploying capital into the regenerative agriculture space?

New IEN member, Regenerative Food Systems Investment (RFSI), is hosting their annual Forum in Denver, CO on October 12^th & 13^th.

The RFSI Forum will bring together 300+ investors, capital activators, and critical stakeholders to drive increased investment in regenerative agriculture and food.

Join us to gain unparalleled information, tools, and connections to support successful investment into regenerative food and agriculture systems.

Register to join us at the event here, and use code IEN for a special discount for the IEN community!

 

September 29, 2022

1 PM ET

Join us for a brief presentation on a new ESG aligned proxy voting service -- As You Vote, to hear examples of colleges and universities currently using the service and the impact they're having through their votes, and to ask questions and engage in conversation on next steps.

Shareholder voting is underutilized among higher education endowments, despite the fact that it is a viable way to make an impact. Proxy voting allows investors to influence corporate policy on a host of issues, including racial equity, climate justice, CEO pay, gender equality, and political spending.

To raise awareness around the importance of proxy voting and encourage it among endowments, the Intentional Endowments Network has partnered with As You Sow, Confluence Philanthropy, and Broadridge to launch As You Vote. As You Vote is a rules-based ESG proxy voting system hosted on Broadridge’s ProxyEdge platform.

Join Andrew Behar, Ben Linthicum, Daniel Stewart, Jaylen Spann, and Nico McCrossan to explore how the platform works and hear Linthicum, McCrossan and Spann illustrate use cases for endowments, foundations, and other asset owners looking to vote their values.

Recording:

View the Slides

For more information on As You Vote, please refer to the following presentation:

Speakers:

 

 Andrew Behar, CEO, As You Sow

 Learn more about Andrew

 

 

 

 Ben Linthicum, ESG Advisory Committee Chair, Warren Wilson College

 Learn more about Ben

 

 

 

 Daniel Stewart, Energy & Climate Program Manager, As You Sow

 Learn more about Daniel

 

 

 

 Jaylen Spann, Head of Research and Development, Whistle Stop Capital

 Learn more about Jaylen

 

 

 

 

 Nico McCrossan, ESG Analyst, ASU Enterprise Partners

Learn more about Nico

 

 

 

We’ve opened registration for our Roundtable at the Nest Summit, taking place during Climate Week onSeptember 22, 2022. This convening will be an opportunity for deep conversations with your peers and leaders in the field. Register today!

We’re also excited to announce that we’re starting to develop the program for the 2023 Higher Education Climate Leadership Summit and are looking for your ideas on topics and speakers to include. Use this form to respond to our Call for Content!

Finally, we’re hosting a learning cafe on mitigating climate risk with MSCI on Monday, August 22 at 12 PM ET! Register here to join Bruce Kahn, Ariel Nicholas, and members of their team in an informal, lunchtime conversation that will explore the strategies of leading institutions to mitigate climate risk.

In this week’s news, Australian Pension fund NGS Super divests from fossil fuels and one of the most significant pieces of climate legislation in U.S. history is enacted

Read more

 

The Intentional Endowments Network will be joined by the following speakers at the Nest Summit Roundtable on September 22, 2022:

 

 

 Derrick Johnson, President & CEO, NAACP

 Learn more about Derrick

 

 

 

 

 Miguel CuUnjieng, Associate Director for EOS, Federated Hermes

 Learn more about Miguel

 

 

 

 Neda Nobari, Chair, San Francisco State University Foundation Board 

 Learn more about Neda

 

 

 

 

 Jeff Jackanicz, President, San Francisco State Foundation

 Learn more about Jeff

 

 

 

 Lazaro Tiant, Investment Director – Sustainability, Schroders

 Learn more about Lazaro

 

 

 

 David Finegold, President, Chatham University

 Learn more about David

 

 Marvin Owens, Chief Engagement Officer, Impact Shares

 Learn more about Marvin

 

 

 Dorien Nunez,Co-Founder and Director of Research, The OMNIResearch Group

 Learn more about Dorien

 

 

 

 Dinah Koehler, Senior Advisor, Ecolumix

 Learn more about Dinah

 

 

 

 Mike Pearce, Managing Director in Cambridge Associates

 Learn more about Mike

 

 

 Angela Outlaw-Matheny, Director of Investment Staff & Diverse Manager Equity at Crewcial Partners LLC

 Learn more about Angela

 

 

 

 

 Roberta Lobo, Director at Nuveen, a TIAA company

 Learn more about Roberta

 

 

 

 Mark Campanale, Founder and Executive Chairman of Carbon Tracker

 Learn more about Mark

 

 

 

 

 Pedro Henriques da Silva, Impact Investment Professional at Global Endowment Management

 Learn more about Pedro

 

 

 

 

 Jeff Gitterman, Partner, Gitterman Wealth Management

 Learn more about Jeff

 

 

 

 David Loehwing, Vice President, Sustainable Investing at Impax Asset Management LLC

 Learn more about David

 

 

 

 

 Ian Monroe, President and Chief Investment Officer, Etho Capital

 Learn more about Ian

 

 

 Bob Van Heuvelen, Principal, The Vogel Group

 Learn more about Bob

 

 

 Bahiyah Yasmeen Robinson, CEO & Founder, VC Include

 Learn more about Bahiyah

 

 

 

 

 Taun Toay, Senior Vice President Chief Financial Officer, Bard College

 Learn more about Taun

 

 

 

 Ethan Powell, Founder, Impact Shares

 Learn more here

 

 

 

 Moya Connelly, Chief Operating Officer, Etho Capital

 Learn more about Moya

 

 

 

 

 

 Max Messervy, Head of Sustainable Investment, Americas, Mercer

 Learn more about Max

 

 

 

 

 Kirsten Spalding, Senior Program Director, Investor Network, Ceres

 Learn more about Kirsten

 

 

 Cara Early, Senior Investment Strategist, Breckinridge

 Learn more about Cara

Impact Summit America 2022

Register

The Intentional Endowments Network is excited to announce its strategic partnership with Impact Summit America 2022, hosted by Phenix Capital. Impact Summit America is an annual institutional investor conference that brings together thought leaders and pioneers in the impact investing space. The one-day Summit will cater to the needs of institutional investors through a mix of interviews, keynote speeches, panels, workshops, and Chatham House-rule sessions.

 

The program will also include a networking space, in which asset owners are invited to share knowledge and best practices, co-create, learn from their impact pioneering peers and grow their global network. The Impact Summit will include InvestorConnect Sessions, an efficient system of speed meetings created especially for asset owners to learn more about available sustainable strategies, across all asset classes, impact themes & SDGs.

Georges Dyer, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Intentional Endowments Network, will be one of the Summit's moderators on September 28th, 2022 at the Yale Club of NYC. Learn more and register above.

 

 

We invite you to join the third webinar in our unconscious bias series on August 17, 2022 at 11 AM ET. This interactive workshop will foster a conversation about impediments to hiring for diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging and more importantly how to mitigate against our inherent biases.

There is also still time to register for our learning café with the Southern Reconstruction Fund (SRF) on Monday, August 8! Join SRF to learn about their efforts to grow Black and brown fund managers through FundONE and their first major initiative, the FundONE Prize.

In this week’s news, the NYC Comptroller criticizes BlackRock’s fossil fuel holdings, a Cambridge University student examines how its ties with arms and fossil fuel companies abandon the global majority, and JPMorgan Chase invests in a fund to boost Latino entrepreneurs.

Read more

We invite you to join us on August 8th at 12 PM for a learning cafe with the Southern Reconstruction Fund! More details and a link to register can be found here.

Thank you to those who were able to join us for Tuesday’s webinar on decarbonizing the maritime industry and global supply chain with EnTrust Global. Registrants and IEN Members can view the recording here.

Sponsorship opportunities are available for our upcoming Nest Summit Roundtable on September 22nd, a part of Climate Week NYC, and for our 2023 Higher Education Climate Leadership Summit. Please contact Georges Dyer for more information on sponsoring either of these events.

In this week’s news, The University of Northampton divests from fossil fuels, Wellcome Trust sells shares in a number of fossil fuel companies, and Senators Chuck Schumer and Joe Manchin appear to reach a deal on a significant bill with implications for U.S. emissions targets.

Read more