The financial performance of ESG strategies remains a central concern for the fiduciaries stewarding these institutions’ capital. This report provides an update on the state of the research, highlighting studies that have explored the financial performance of a variety of sustainable investing strategies. The bottom line? A growing body of evidence from academics and practitioners shows that sustainable investing strategies, in general, perform as well or better than traditional approaches.
For the first time, this report provides a collection of real-world cases of college and university endowments implementing sustainable investment strategies and meeting their financial performance targets.
The 11 schools reviewed in the IEN report are: Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ (with BlackRock); Becker College, Worcester, MA (with HIP Investor); California State University, Long Beach, CA (with Graystone Consulting); College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, ME (with Cambridge Associates); Hampshire College, Amherst, MA (with Prime Buchholz); North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC; Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI (with Global Endowment Management); Unity College, Unity, ME (with Spinnaker Trust); University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH; University of California, Oakland, CA; and Warren Wilson College, Swananoa, NC.
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Co-Authors:
Georges Dyer, Executive Director, Intentional Endowments Network
Alice DonnaSelva, Managing Director, Intentional Endowments Network
Hannah Bowen, Network Manager, Intentional Endowments Network
With input and feedback from case-study participants, including:
Jeff Mindlin, Arizona State University
David Ellis, Becker College
Garrett Ashley and Aaron Moore, California State University
Peter Tooher, Drew Landry, Sylvia Banda, and Tom Mitchell, Cambridge Associates
Darron Collins and Henry “Hank” Schmelzer, College of the Atlantic
Meredith Heimburger, Global Endowment Management
Ed Wingenbach, Tom Dybick, and Catherine Smith, Hampshire College
Paul Herman, HIP Investor
Libby George, North Carolina State University
Ian MacPherson, Kate Dumas, Valentina Dingle, and Chris Caseley, Prime Buchholz
Sara Lewis, Spinnaker Trust
Erik Gross, University of New Hampshire
Melik Khoury, Unity College
Anthony Rust, Warren Wilson College
We are very grateful to the following parties for making this report possible:
The Denver Foundation for its generous support for this report.
Members of the Intentional Endowments Network, whose support and engagement make this work possible.
See the full list of IEN members at www.intentionalendowments.org/network_members
Additional Financial Performance Resources: