“It’s great news that the Foundation chose to become a signatory,” says HSUAF Executive Director Craig Wruck. “It further underscores HSU’s long-standing commitment to responsible investing, an area Humboldt State is proud to be a leader in.”
The move is the most recent effort by the Advancement Foundation to ensure its financial portfolio is socially and environmentally responsible.
In spring 2014, HSU’s charitable foundation unanimously adopted the “Humboldt Pledge” – more formally known as the Social and Environmentally Responsible Offset and Mitigation Policy – to limit and closely track its holdings in a variety of industries, including companies directly or indirectly involved in fossil fuels. Later that year, HSU expanded its goal to include mutual fund investments. It’s a step that other organizations and universities have been hesitant to take because mutual funds typically offer a low-cost way to reduce risk, but they also include holdings in a wide variety of companies that investors don’t directly choose.
“I have to credit the students who helped make responsible investing a priority,” Wruck says. “Students first approached the Board about more responsible investing, and the board members and myself have been truly inspired by their understanding of the issues and commitment to making a difference.”
About the UNPRI
The UNPRI Initiative is an international network of investors working to incorporate responsible practices into investment policies. There are currently just over 1,400 signatories to the PRI worldwide managing nearly $60 trillion in investments. HSU joins the University of California, Harvard University, Simon Fraser University, the University of Ottawa, and the University of Victoria as higher education signatories in North America.
Learn more at www.unpri.org.