Endowment Value: $14 million (May 2017)

Unity College is a private college with a student body of 700 located in Unity, Maine. The Spinnaker Trust and an Investment Committee, composed of three members of the board of Trustees, manages the endowment. Unity College is known as “America’s Environmental College” and is a founding member of the Intentional Endowments Network.

In 2012, the Unity College Board of Trustees voted unanimously to fully divest from fossil fuels, making them the first institution of higher learning in the United States to do so. A report released by UC’s finance officials showed that the college’s investment portfolio had exceeded performance expectations following the decision to divest. “Divestment has had no negative effect on our endowment portfolio,” said former Unity College President Dr. Stephen Mulkey, a leader in the growing campus divestment movement. “Divesting from fossil fuels is not a concession that means you automatically have a lower rate of return over the long run,” said Mulkey.

In 2020, Unity College was featured in the Intentional Endowment Network’s case study on ESG investing. The study revealed that schools employing ESG investing practices saw the same or better returns as schools employing a traditional approach to investing. Read the full study here.

Unity College is a participant or member of the following Initiatives & Commitments: 

• AASHE STARS: Yes, Gold
• ACUPCC: Yes, Carbon Neutral by 2025
• Billion Dollar Green Challenge: Yes
• CDP: Yes
• Committee on Investor Responsibility: Yes
• Divestment Goal: Yes, full
• INCR: No
• Montreal Carbon Pledge: No
• Sustainable Investment Fund: Yes, Green Revolving Fund
• Sustainable Investment Policy: Yes
• Principles for Responsible Investment: No

Other Sustainable Investing Practices:

• 2 Myths About Unity's Divestment From Fossil Fuels That Have Been Proven False
• Unity College Sustainability
• Unity College: Sustainability Principles

The New School is a private research university located in New York City, New York. The endowment is managed by the New School’s Office of Investment, Treasury Operations, and Risk Management.

In 2009, the board of trustees established the Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility (ACIR). The role of the ACIR is to advise the board of trustees on ESG issues related to The New School’s endowment and to develop ESG investing principles related to human rights, labor practices, environmental protection, equity, diversity, discrimination, and corporate disclosure. In 2012, The New School adopted the Sustainability Proxy Voting Guidelines, which established standards against which the Investment Committee could evaluate its investments.

In 2015, The New School not only became one of the largest universities to divest from fossil fuels, but it also has plans to reshape its entire curriculum to focus more on climate change and sustainability through a multi-pronged approach to issues related to university facilities, curriculum, food services, and other areas.

The New School is a participant or member of the following Initiatives & Commitments: 

• AASHE STARS: Yes, Silver
• ACUPCC: Yes, Climate Neutral by 2040
• Billion Dollar Green Challenge: No
• CDP: Yes
• Committee on Investor Responsibility: Yes
• Divestment Goal: Yes, full
• INCR: No
• Montreal Carbon Pledge: No
• Sustainable Investment Fund: No
• Sustainable Investment Policy: Yes
• Principles for Responsible Investment: No

Other Sustainable Investing Practices:

• The New School Sustainability
• The New School Divests Fossil Fuel Stock and Refocuses on Climate Change (February 2015)

Endowment Value: $52 million (January 2019)

Hampshire College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts. The college's endowment is managed by the Trustees of Hampshire College.

Hampshire College was among the first colleges to adopt SRI policies in the 1970s, and it was the first to divest from South Africa to protest apartheid. In 2011, Hampshire began incorporating ESG principles into its investment strategy by adopting an investment policy that emphasized positive screening and active investment in companies that aligned with Hampshire’s mission. This new policy led Hampshire College to become the first college to divest from fossil fuels.

Hampshire College’s Policy on Environmental, Social, and Governance Investing acknowledges that because of the long-term risks certain business practices pose, consideration of ESG principles is part of the college’s fiduciary duties. Read the full policy here.

In January 2019, College President Miriam Nelson announced the College’s intention to find a long-term strategic partner to merge with and ensure a “thriving and sustainable future”, citing both financial and enrollment hardships as a small, under-endowed liberal arts college.

In 2020, Hampshire College was featured in the Intentional Endowment Network’s case study on ESG investing. The study revealed that schools employing ESG investing practices saw the same or better returns as schools employing a traditional approach to investing. Read the full study here.

Hampshire College is a participant or member of the following Initiatives & Commitments: 

• IEN Founding Member (2016)
• AASHE STARS: Yes, Gold
• ACUPCC: Yes, Carbon Neutral by 2032
• Billion Dollar Green Challenge: Yes
• CDP: No
• Committee for Investor Responsibility: No
• Divestment Goal: Yes
• INCR: No
• Montreal Carbon Pledge: No
• Sustainable Investment Fund: Yes, Sustainability Revolving Fund (SURF)
• Sustainable Investment Policy: Yes
• Principles for Responsible Investment: No

Other Sustainable Investing Practices and News:

• President’s Strategic Partnership Announcement  (January 2019) 
• Hampshire College Case Study (November 2017)
• Hampshire College Amends Investment Policy to Exclude Prison Industry (November 2015)
• How Hampshire Invests (April 2015)
• Hampshire Sustainability

Endowment Value: $144.4 million (June 2019)

Pitzer College is a private college located in Claremont, California. About 1,000 students attend the college. From innovative, green buildings to food waste initiatives, Pitzer College is a model of sustainability in the modern era, a fact that earned it 7th place the 2018 Princeton Review Guide of 399 Green Colleges.

In 2014, Pitzer adopted several responsible investment practices such as considering ESG factors in portfolio manager selection and monitoring, establishing a sustainability fund as a subset of its endowment holdings, and divesting from fossil fuels (making Pitzer the first college in Southern California to divest from fossil fuels). Don Gould, trustee and chair of the investment committee at Pitzer College, published an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education outlining their rationale for divesting from fossil fuels. In this article, he shares responses to some of the most common concerns regarding divestment, including fiduciary duty, financial performance, the impact on fossil fuel companies, the hypocrisy of continuing to use fossil fuels after divesting, sacrificing returns, and politicizing the endowment.

In 2017, Pitzer College became the founding investor to the first-ever global equity index that is both ESG-focused and fossil fuel-free. According to the press release, “the fund is designed to help endowments, foundations and other nonprofit organizations meet their Responsible Investment goals.”

Pitzer College is a participant or member of the following Initiatives & Commitments: 

• IEN Member (2017)
• AASHE STARS: No
• ACUPCC: Yes, Carbon Neutral by 2050
• Billion Dollar Green Challenge: No
• CDP: No
• Committee for Investor Responsibility: Yes
• Divestment Goal: Yes, full
• INCR: No
• Montreal Carbon Pledge: No
• Sustainable Investment Fund: Yes
• Sustainable Investment Policy: No
• Principles for Responsible Investment: No

Other Sustainable Investing Practices:

• Passive ESG Strategies Webinar (November 2017)
• Fireside Chat: The Pitzer College Story - IEN Bay Area Roundtable (September 2017)
• Pitzer College and BlackRock Launch First Ever ESG-Focused, Fossil Fuel-Free Global Equity Index Fund (September 2017)
• Pitzer to Divest 99% of Endowment (April 2014)
• Pitzer Sustainability 

San Francisco State University is a public university located in San Francisco, California. It is a part of the California State University system. The endowment is managed by the San Francisco State University Foundation, which is an organization dedicated solely to philanthropy. 

In 2013, after working with student activists, the SF State Foundation voted unanimously to divest from all coal and tar sands companies, becoming the first public university and the first school on the west coast to do so. It also committed to researching the possibility of divestment from all fossil fuel companies.

In 2015, the SFSU Board was in the process of allocating $5 million to establish a green fund, as well as establishing a $500,000 student-managed investment fund. The goal of the student-managed fund is to expose students of different academic backgrounds to SRI investing. The SF State Foundation also calculated the carbon footprint of its portfolio and will measure the change in its footprint over time.

In 2016, SFSU partnered with IEN to host the Intentionally Designed Endowments Forum to promote conversation on endowment investing by bringing together campus decision-makers such as presidents, trustees, CFOs, CIOs, and others from campuses in California and the region.

San Francisco State University is a participant or member of the following Initiatives & Commitments: 

• IEN Founding Member (2016)
• AASHE STARS: Yes, Silver
• ACUPCC: No
• Billion Dollar Green Challenge: No
• CDP: No
• Committee for Investor Responsibility: Yes
• Divestment Goal: Yes, coal and tar sands
• INCR: No
• Montreal Carbon Pledge: No
• Sustainable Investment Fund: Yes
• Sustainable Investment Policy: Yes
• Principles for Responsible Investment: No

Other Sustainable Investing Practices:

• Agenda for Forum on Intentionally Designed Endowment at SFSU, co-hosted by IEN, August 2016
• "SF State Strengthens its Commitment to the Environment" April 2014
• San Francisco State University Sustainability

Resources from SFSU:

• Vice President for Advancement, Robert J. Nava, Speaks at International Seminar on Higher Education Innovation (2016)
• Socially Responsible Investing: Lessons from the Field, Trusteeship (2014)

Stanford University is a private university located in Stanford, California with approximately 17,000 students. The Stanford Management Company (SMC) and Board of Trustees oversee the endowment. Stanford is currently one of only six higher education institutions to earn the highest rank in the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS), due to its significant efforts to integrate social and environmental awareness into its curriculum, operations, and investments.

Since its adoption of a statement on investor responsibility in 1971, Stanford has recognized its responsibility as an investor and has periodically outlined and updated policies to guide its commitment to responsible investment in a contemporary context. The SMC’s Ethical Investment Framework was adopted in 2018 to govern and complement Stanford’s existing statement. According to the framework, investment decisions are guided based on the understanding that businesses are far more likely to endure and generate sustainable returns on investor capital when they behave with due regard for the welfare of their stakeholders and the communities in which they operate. Stanford currently has a Special Committee on Investment Responsibility (SCIR) of the Board of Trustees as well as Investment Responsibility and Stakeholder Relations (IRSR) office to review proposals submitted by the community and function as an ad-hoc, issue-based fact-finding committee responsible for research and campus engagement where needed.

As such, Stanford’s efforts to address environmental, social, and governance issues through investment has manifested in adopting a climate change proxy voting guideline to support resolutions for companies to analyze levels of greenhouse gas emissions and develop plans to reduce and/or eliminate them. Stanford has adopted policies that preclude owning specific companies with operations implicated in Sudanese human rights abuses, the tobacco industry, and companies whose principal business is coal mining for electricity.

In 2018, Stanford committed $10 million over a 10-year period to develop an expanded platform of educational and research opportunities for students and faculty with interests in responsible investing and governance.

In June 2020, the Stanford Board of Trustees reported a major reduction in the university’s fossil fuel investments. Less than 1.5% of the university’s endowment is now exposed to the fossil fuel industry and the university’s endowment has no direct holdings in the top 100 oil and gas companies. In addition, the Board of Trustees stated that the university would be accelerating its transition to efficient energy sources in hopes of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

Stanford University is a participant or member of the following Initiatives & Commitments: 

• AASHE STARS: Yes, Platinum
• ACUPCC: No
• Billion Dollar Green Challenge: No
• CDP: No
• Committee for Investor Responsibility: Yes
• Divestment Goal: Yes, coal only
• INCR: No
• Montreal Carbon Pledge: No
• Sustainable Investment Fund: No
• Sustainable Investment Policy: Yes
• Principles for Responsible Investment: No

Other Sustainable Investing Practices:

• Commitment to at least Net Zero GHG emissions in the endowment by 2050 (June 2020)
• Letter to the university community from Board of Trustees Chair Jeff Raikes on investment responsibility (December 4, 2018)
• Frequently asked questions on investment responsibility
• Statement on Investment Responsibility (Adopted 1971, as amended through 2018)
• Stanford Management Company: Ethical Investment Framework
• Investment Responsibility Stakeholder Relations (IRSR)
• Sustainable Stanford

Endowment Value: $30.3 million (June 2019)

Humboldt State University is a part of the California State University System located in Arcata, California. The Humboldt State University Advancement Foundation (HSUAF) oversees the endowment and uses negative screening to reduce its investments in harmful industries. 

In 2013, students approached the HSUAF at an associated students meeting to advocate for divestment from fossil fuels. In response, the HSUAF took many steps to advance its tradition of environmental sustainability. The Social and Environmentally Responsible Offset Policy (SEROP) was adopted in April of 2014, making HSU the first state University in the US to commit to full fossil fuel divestment. That same year, the HSUAF decided to direct 10% of its portfolio to green funds and explored creating a “Green Challenge,” allowing for another 10% of the portfolio to be shifted to green funds for every $500,000 donated to the endowment.

In 2016, the HSU Office of Sustainability published a comprehensive Climate Action Plan that outlines more than 50 action items to achieve its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050. HSU also became a Charter Signatory for the Campus Climate Commitment, which encompasses the goals of achieving both carbon neutrality as well as improving community resilience.

Humboldt State University is a participant or member of the following Initiatives & Commitments:  

• IEN Founding Member (2016)
• AASHE STARS: No
• ACUPCC: Yes, Carbon Neutral By 2050
• Billion Dollar Green Challenge: No
• CDP: No
• Committee for Investor Responsibility: Yes
• Divestment Goal: Yes, partial
• INCR: No
• Montreal Carbon Pledge: No
• Sustainable Investment Fund: Yes
• Sustainable Investment Policy: Yes
• Principles for Responsible Investment: Yes

Other Sustainable Investing Practices:

• Humboldt State University Foundation Expands Social and Eco-Conscious Investing (2019)
• Humboldt Sustainability
• Climate Action Plan (2016)
• Humboldt State University Helps Lead Push for Fossil-Free, Greener Investing