CONTENT

• CEO Martin Palmer reflects on how FaithInvest is building a team that holds the worlds of faith and finance in dynamic tension
• Welcome to Mat Jensen who joins our Membership Team
• New Member Platform and Member Launch event
• Upcoming events

Wednesday March 3 – Webinar: COP26, Divestment & Investment 

Friday March 5 – Conference: Faith-driven investing: Walk the talk: Asia focus

Tuesday March 9 – Webinar: Managing financial assets and investments

Tuesday March 23 – Webinar: Creating Faith-Consistent Investment Guidelines

Thursday April 15 – Webinar: Wisdom 

• Impact Management Project survey on using standards

Martin Palmer reflects on how FaithInvest is building a team that holds the worlds of faith and finance in dynamic tension 

Dear friends,

FaithInvest, as its name implies, brings together two worlds which often seem far apart – the worlds of the major faiths and of finance. The reason we do this is very simple. While many people think the main role of faith is to preach, we know they are also major stakeholders in the planet and its people. 

As well as owning a great deal of land, and running 50% of all schools and around a third of all medical centres or hospitals worldwide, the faiths also together comprise a significant investment bloc in the global stock markets. It is this stakeholder role that Faithinvest addresses and to help us do so, we are building a team which holds both these worlds – faith and finance – in dynamic tension. We're also holding discussions and developing partnerships with faith and secular organisations. 

Conferences and webinars

One partnership we are delighted about, and which is already yielding fruits, is with the Geneva Agape Foundation. Together with our other partners the World Council of Churches and the World Evangelical Alliance, we co-host the very successful annual Faith-driven Investing Conference. This year the conference took place online and was split into two events. The first on January 15 had a Europe-Africa focus and was very successful, attracting 150+ participants.

The second conference, Walk the Talk: Asia focus, will be held on March 5 and we're delighted that UNIAPAC is also involved. Despite the early start for those of us not on India time, judging by the last event, it will be well worth attending – and recordings of all the sessions will be available to watch online afterwards.

Two more important webinars coming up next month are: Managing financial assets and investments on March 9 and on Creating your own Faith-Consistent Investment Guidelines on March 23. See below for more details on all these events.

New models 

As, God willing, the pandemic retreats, there is an urgent need to bridge ancient divides and overcome the silo worlds that have led to the dramatic collapses – of societies, economies and environment – that we have witnessed in recent years. We need to create new models and partnerships, and pool resources and ideas, to meet the challenges facing us and to create a fairer, more equitable and just world. Faithinvest is, perhaps, one of the harbingers of this sort of future. But it can only do so with your active engagement. We look forward to the next steps on this journey. 

New Member Portal and first Member event

• Member Portal: On top of our focus on one-to-one private banking-style interactions and larger-scale events, we've been developing our Member Portal (as we mentioned in our December newsletter) and are very excited to announce that it will go live in early summer. This will be a key tool in our efforts to support members to shift capital into faith-consistent investment opportunities, and will act as:
  • A place where members will safely interact with each other online and contribute to areas of interest;
  • The main place where we, as the Membership team, will facilitate and adminster Member Work Groups on topics such as creating a Manager Database, looking at Commingled Vehicles and creating interesting investment opportunities.
  • If you are interested in finding out more about the Portal and Membership, do get in touch at membership@faithinvest.org.

• Member Event: As you know, our planned programme of events last year had to be rapidly rethought and taken online due to the pandemic. One of the casualties was our Member Launch event which we had hoped to hold in person. Given the ongoing uncertainties around travel, we have decided to hold it online in JUNE this year – look out for more information coming soon.

Mathew Jensen joins our Membership team

Faith Long-term Plans programme – now the biggest environmental initiative ever launched by the faiths

Our Faith Long-term Plans programme, organised in conjunction with the International Network on Conservation and Religion (INCR) and WWF's Beliefs and Values Programme, has sparked huge interest among faith groups. The programme is now the biggest and most ambitious environmental initiative ever launched by the world's religions.

All major faiths are involved, including Baha'i, Buddhist, Christian, Daoist, Hindu, Islamic, Jewish, Shinto and Sikh traditions, as well as key interfaith organisations such as Religions for Peace and the Interfaith Rainforest Initiative. The Plans will be announced ahead of the UN's COP26 Climate Conference, and will be rolled out over the next seven to 10 years. 

Join the movement of faiths using their assets, investments and influence to create a better world for people and planet!

WEBINARS AND EVENTS

Wednesday 3 March 2021, 7pm GMT

COP26, Divestment & Investment in a Just and Green Recovery

FaithInvest's Lorna Gold is the keynote speaker at this Scottish Churches' webinar which considers how churches in Scotland can support a just and green recovery. Both the Church of Scotland and Scottish Episcopal Church will be discussing fossil fuel divestment this year and the webinar will launch the Scottish Churches' COP26 Pledge.

Speakers:

• Chair: Fiona Buchanan, Campaigns & Advocacy, Christian Aid Scotland
• Lorna Gold, Director of Movement Building, FaithInvest
• Very Revd John Conway, Provost, St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh
• Seonaid Knox, Former clerk to the Church of Scotland Youth Assembly
• Alejandro Aleman Tremino, Climate Change Officer, Centro Humboldt (a Christian Aid partner), Nicaragua 
• James Buchanan, Bright Now Campaign manager, Operation Noah

Friday 5 March 2021, 9am-5pm IST / 3.30am-1pm CET

4th Faith-based Investment Conference: Walk the Talk – Asia focus

This year the annual Geneva-based, faith-driven investment conference moved online and split into multiple events to accommodate different time zones. The first very successful event was in January and focused on Africa. This second Walk the Talk conference on Friday March 5 focuses on Asia. It is organised by Geneva Agape Foundation, FaithInvest, UNIAPAC, World Council of Churches and the World Evangelical Alliance's Business coalition. For more information and to register, click below.

Tuesday 9 March 2021, 2pm GMT

Developing your Faith Long-term Plan: Financial Assets & Investments

Faith groups constitute a significant investment bloc on the global stock markets. How can they align their values to their management of their financial assets and investments? Join us for what promises to be a lively and informative discussion. Speakers include:

• Suzanne Ismail, Head of Networking and Engagement for Quaker Peace and Social Witness, Quakers in Britain
• Dr Vinya Ariyaratne, President of Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement, Sri Lanka
• Nigel Savage, President and CEO, Hazon, US

Thursday 15 April 2021, 2pm GMT

Developing your Faith Long-term Plan: Wisdom

Many faith groups and secular organisations recognise that the environmental crisis is as much a spiritual issue as a practical one. How can faiths address this? Speakers include:

• Darin Lamar Jones, Center for Earth Ethics, US
• Dekila Chungyalpa, Director, Loka Initiative, University of Wisconsin-Madison, US
• Rev Dr Joshtrom Isaac Kureethadam, Coordinator of Ecology and Creation, the Vatican's Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, Italy
• Dr Zhou Jinfeng & Linda Wong, China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation, China

Can you help improve impact measurement standards?

 Impact measurement and management is a focus for values-aligned investors. FaithInvest collaborates with organisations such as the Impact Management Project around these topics, and invites interested parties to do the same. If you are able to help, please complete the survey (see below) and do also forward this link to others who you think might be willing to share their perspectives.

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