How to Find Socially Responsible Funds

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By deepthinkin
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Socially Responsible Funds change lives

So you’re a staunch environmentalist, or perhaps very careful in your daily life to adhere to the sanctions of your particular religious belief, or maybe you’re a political animal and live accordingly, does your mutual fund research reflect your life outlook?
A recent news article indicated that people are investing in mutual funds are looking for ways align their money with their moral and/or political beliefs. So much so, that for every $11 there is $1 sunk into socially responsible funds. The bonus is that these funds are working rather well for investors. Here’s how to find socially responsible funds.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Internet connection
Desire to make a difference

Step 1

When investing in mutual funds, know the most common filters used to identify a socially responsible fund: tobacco, environmental rating, human rights, equality issues, alcohol, gambling, and weapons. You can add those filters any religious or moral ideals your may have, such as animal testing. These filters weed out funds that produce or deal with any of those factors. In the case of environmental, companies with poor records would be excluded from being deemed socially responsible.
Step 2

Add Social Funds.com to your mutual funds research – This is one of the top rated personal finance sites dedicated to socially conscious investing. Here you will find news, headlines, and guides including Community Investment. Link is located in the resource box below.
Step 3

Visit Social Investment Forum – Very liberal minded with emphasis on advancing environmental and social investing. Your mutual fund research is aided with fund performance charts, trend reports, and more that can be found at this site. Link is located in the resource box below.
Step 4

To find socially responsible funds with a Christian slant, visit Crosswalk.com – This site contains more than just financial information for investing in mutual funds, it also has job postings, bible search and more for the Christian Community. Link below.
Step 5

Amana Mutual Funds Trust adheres to Islamic law and avoids investment in financial companies. As such, investing in mutual funds here weren’t affected by the sudden downturn of stocks that invested in mortgages and other financial debt. See resource box.
Step 6

Domini Social Investment has a list of 400 carefully screened companies that are deemed socially responsible funds. Domini is focused on being part of the global solution. Link below
Step 7

We hold the world in our hands

The world is in our hands, lets treat it kindly together, one dollar at a time.