How do charities approach investing in line with their purpose and values?

The Charity Commission recently published a blog post that discusses how charities may approach investment in line with their purpose and values. They discuss the historic focus on gaining the best financial return without due concern to the specific charity’s aims and then look at how this can be done in line with charity’s’ aims and mission.

The Commission is seeking views by 31 March 2020 and Yoke has been invited to participate in this programme of work.

While the Commission will not be telling Trustees what conclusions they should reach when deciding how to invest their charity’s assets, they want the issue of responsible investment to be at the forefront of Trustees’ minds. They want to help charities to feel empowered and unlock any barriers that may prevent them from investing responsibly by offering modern guidance.

We suggest greater simplicity when charities consider investment. Instead of separating financial considerations such as total return and inflation protection, and then overlaying this with their ethical constraints, this should be combined into one investment policy. Responsible investment is now mainstream and no longer an option.

Yoke specialises in working with fund management firms who are imbedding ESG considerations into their investment processes and philosophies and we strongly suggest that charities should do likewise.