Dickinson College

Dickinson College
Endowment Value: $558 million (2021)
Dickinson College is a private college located in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. In 2006, Dickinson joined the Investure consortium, an outsourced chief investment office that serves the needs of a select group of prestigious colleges and foundations. In 2010, Investure created a Sustainable Series within its Global Equity Fund in response to requests made by clients. A joint effort with Investure produced a set of proxy voting principles so that Dickinson College can participate in shareholder engagement.
In addition to its relationship with Investure, the Dickinson Sustainability Investment Group (DSIG) advises the endowment board on ESG strategies and is responsible for providing a forum for the Dickinson community to raise and discuss questions regarding ESG investing practices. The most recent forum was held in October 2018 to discuss the college’s endowment structure and approach to sustainable investing.
In April 2020, Dickinson College became one of the first colleges in the country to achieve carbon neutrality. To achieve this goal, Dickinson reduced its carbon emissions by 25% from its 2008 levels and purchased carbon offsets. In addition, 65% of Dickinson’s electricity is provided by solar power.
Dickinson College is a participant or member of the following Initiatives & Commitments:
- AASHE STARS: Yes, Gold
- ACUPCC: Yes, Carbon Neutral by 2020
- Billion Dollar Green Challenge: No
- CDP: No
- Divestment Goal: No
- Committee on Investor Responsibility: Yes: The Dickinson Sustainable Investment Group
- INCR: No
- Montreal Carbon Pledge: No
- Sustainable Investment Fund: Yes
- Sustainable Investment Policy: Yes
- Principles for Responsible Investment: No
Other Sustainable Investing Practices and Resources:
- Sustainable Investments Task Force Recommendations
- Dickinson Initiatives in Sustainable Investing
- Recommended Proxy Voting Principles (Investure, LLC)
- Dickinson Sustainability
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Sustainable Investments Funds:
- Green Revolving Fund - a revolving loan fund established in 2014 to finance climate action plan projects
- Sustainability Global Equity Fund - $8 million of our endowment is committed to this sustainability fund, which is managed for use by Investure.
Pitzer College

Pitzer College
Endowment Value: $144.3 million (2021)
Pitzer College is a private college located in Claremont, California with a student population of about 1,000. From innovative, green buildings to food waste initiatives, Pitzer College is a model of sustainability in the modern era. Such initiatives have earned it a second place rank in 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: Yes, Silver
- ACUPCC: Yes, Carbon Neutral by 2050
- Billion Dollar Green Challenge: No
- CDP: No
- Committee for Investor Responsibility: Yes
- Divestment Goal: Yes, divestment from fossil fuels
- INCR: No
- Montreal Carbon Pledge: No
- Sustainable Investment Fund: Yes
- Sustainable Investment Policy: Yes
- 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)
- Sustainability at Pitzer
San Francisco State University

San Francisco State University
Endowment Value: $140.8 million (2021)
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, 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 Endowment 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, divestment from 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:
Harvard University

Endowment Value: $53.2 billion (2021)
Harvard University is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Harvard Management Company (HMC) manages the endowment, the largest college endowment in the world.
In 1972, Harvard established the Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility (ACSR) and the Corporation Committee on Shareholder Responsibility(CCSR). The ACSR considers shareholder resolutions and makes recommendations to the CCSR, which makes decisions on how Harvard should vote on those resolutions.
In 2013, Harvard established the Social Alternative Fund, managed separately from Harvard’s endowment and invested with special consideration given to social responsibility issues. In the same year, the Harvard Management Company created the position of Vice President of Sustainable Investing, who works to integrate sustainability principles into Harvard’s investment policy and acts as the liaison between the Management Company and other ESG-related organizations at Harvard. Kate Murtagh is the current Managing Director of Sustainable Investing and the Chief Compliance Officer of HMC.
In 2014, Harvard became the first organization in the United States to be a signatory of both the Carbon Disclosure Project and the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment. The Harvard Management Company’s sustainable investment approach outlines three methods of investing more sustainably, to read the full policy click here. The student body and campus organizations such as Harvard Undergraduates for Environmental Justice and Divest Harvard remain active in maintaining a dialogue on divestment from fossil fuels and unethical land usage such as the deforestation of indigenous lands in Brazil and overdrafting water in drought-stricken California.
In November of 2019, Harvard released an update to the school’s sustainable investment strategy. The update summarized Harvard’s work in recent years to further integrate sustainable investment into HMC’s investment strategy, including highlighting Harvard’s status as a signatory to the Ceres Investor Network, Climate Action 100+, and Principles for Responsible Investment.
In April of 2020, Harvard announced its plan for its endowment to go carbon-neutral by 2050, in accordance with goals set by the Paris Agreement. The commitment is the first of its kind made by an American university.
Harvard University is a participant or member of the following Initiatives & Commitments:
- AASHE STARS: No
- ACUPCC: No
- Billion Dollar Green Challenge: Yes
- CDP: Yes
- Divestment Goal: No
- Committee for Investor Responsibility: Yes: The Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility
- INCR: Yes
- Montreal Carbon Pledge: No
- Sustainable Investment Fund: Yes
- Sustainable Investment Policy: Yes
- Principles for Responsible Investment: Yes
Other Sustainable Investing Practices:
- Harvard Joins Climate Action 100+ (September 2019)
- Harvard Social Alternative Fund (2013)
- Harvard Sustainability
- Endowment Synopsis Video
- Harvard Shareholder Responsibility Committee
Yale University
Yale University
Endowment Value: $42.3 billion (June 2021)
Yale University is a private research university located in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest higher education institution in the United States and has a total student body of more than 12,000. Its endowment is managed by the Investments Office under the guidance of Yale’s Investment Committee and led by Chief Investment Officer David F. Swenson.
Yale was one of the first institutions to formally address the ethical responsibilities of institutional investors. In the 1970s, Yale established the Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility (ACIR) and the Corporation Committee on Investor Responsibility (CCIR) to address issues of socially responsible investing. The ACIR and CCIR recommend policy to the Yale Corporation, the university’s governing body, and implement approved policy.
In 2014, in response to pressure from the student group Fossil Free Yale, the CCIR and ACIR explored the possibility of fossil fuel divestment. As a result of this discussion, the CCIR adopted a proxy voting guideline on climate change, instructing managers to support “shareholder resolutions seeking company disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions, analyses of the impact of climate change on a company’s business activities, strategies designed to reduce the company’s long-term impact on the global climate, and company support of sound and effective governmental policies on climate change."
Climate change was officially announced as a consideration in Yale’s investment strategy in April 2016. In a letter to the ACIR, CIO David Swensen wrote, “the Investments Office approaches the climate change issue more broadly by considering any exposure with risk related to climate change and potential regulations aimed at reducing emissions.” Swensen also reported that after months of talking with Yale’s external investment managers about the potential risks associated with investments in coal and oil, around $10 million of the endowment has been removed from two publicly-traded fossil fuel producers.
Yale currently has a robust student-managed socially responsible investment fund. Established in 2016 and initially seeded with $50,000 from the Dwight Hall organization endowment, the fund’s main goal is to outperform standard investment benchmarks and maximize financial return while positively contributing to social impact areas including the environment, education, and employment.
Yale University is a participant or member of the following Initiatives & Commitments:
- AASHE STARS: Yes, Gold
- ACUPCC: No
- 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: No
Other Sustainable Investing Practices and Resources:
- Dwight Hall Student-Managed SRI Fund
- David Swenson's letter to the Yale Community: "Impacts of Investments Office Climate Change Letter" (April 2016)
- David Swenson's (Chief Investment Officer) letter to Investment Managers (August 2014)
- Student-led Dwight Hall SRI Fund files shareholder resolution with ExxonMobil (January 2016)
- Ethical Investment Policy - Yale Investments Office
- Yale Sustainability
- Yale Statement Regarding Endowment Investment Policy (August 2018)
- Update on Yale's Approach to CLimate Change and Investing | February 20, 2020
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College
Endowment Value: $2.90 billion (2021)
Swarthmore College is a private liberal arts college located in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. The college's Finance and Investment offices manage the endowment. The Board of Managers oversees the endowment.
Swarthmore students are among the first to establish a campus fossil fuel divestment campaign. In 2010, students established Swarthmore Mountain Justice to call on the administration to divest after witnessing mountaintop removal mining in West Virginia.
Although it has yet to fully divest from fossil fuels, Swarthmore does consider ESG factors, including making it a criterion in manager selection, engaging in dialogue with existing managers, and divestment from coal companies. Furthermore, Swarthmore has pledged to expand the environmental studies curriculum and improve on-campus energy efficiency. Its Committee on Investor Responsibility provides proxy voting recommendations on shareholder resolutions addressing social issues.
In 2015, the Board established a fossil-fuel free fund for donors that wish to contribute to Swarthmore’s endowment. Swarthmore currently has several environmental sustainability funds designated for green project grants, environmental studies scholarships, and internships.
In 2019, Swarthmore College was awarded an Excellence in Sustainability Award by the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO). NACUBO commended Swarthmore’s commitment to carbon neutrality by 2035 and its Carbon Charge Program, which creates an internal price on carbon emissions.
Swarthmore College is a participant or member of the following Initiatives & Commitments:
- AASHE STARs: Yes, Silver
- ACUPCC: Yes, Climate Neutral by 2035
- Billion Dollar Green Challenge: No
- CDP: No
- Committee for Investor Responsibility: Yes
- Divestment Goal: No
- INCR: No
- Montreal Carbon Pledge: No
- Sustainable Investment Fund: Yes
- Sustainable Investment Policy: No
- Principles for Responsible Investment: No
Other Sustainable Investing Practices and Resources:
- NACUBO Awards Excellence in Higher Education Finance, Sustainability (July 2019)
- Swarthmore College Sustainability
- Swarthmore Environmental Sustainability Commitments