Background and origins
About
The FCI Collaboratorium grew out of a series of initiatives focusing on faiths, values and investments, some going back decades. In recent years, those initiatives have been given added impetus by a landmark 2017 meeting on Faith in Finance, and by the decision of Dutch philanthropic organisation Porticus to launch a Faith-based Investing Programme in 2019.
Why work with faiths?
Faith institutions are significant asset owners. According to Iyad Abumoghli, Director of UNEP's Environment Programme's Faith for Earth Initiative:
'They are the third largest economic power on Earth. They own trillions of dollars in investment.'
Faith groups are also values-driven organisations. Every faith groups has beliefs, values and teachings that guide their activities. They should be a natural fit for ethical, faith-based and impact investing that aligns with environmental, social and governance (ESG) or socially responsible investing.
At the same time, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have a funding gap of nearly $4 billion annually. Many faith groups support the aims of the SDGs, such as ending poverty, feeding the hungry, protecting the environment and achieving social justice for all peoples.
This project sets out to support faith groups to mobilise their investment capital to tackle social and environmental challenges. It does so by addressing some of the challenges and obstacles facing faith-based investors seeking to align their investments with their values.
How the FCI Collaboration came about
The FCI Collaboratorium comprises eight partner organisations that have all been working in different ways with faith groups on how they invest. The aim of the Collaboratorium is to explore how, through working together, the individual organisations can be more than the sum of their individual parts.
Some of our partner organisations have been working on this issue for many years; for example, the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility was founded more than 50 years ago. But the movement gained an added boost in recent years by two key events: the landmark Faith in Finance meeting in Zug, Switzerland, in 2017 and the decision by the Dutch philanthropic organisation Porticus to focus on faith-based investing in 2019.
01
Faith in Finance
meeting, 2017
The Faith in Finance meeting in Zug, Switzerland in 2017, was organised by the Alliance of Religions and Conservation and involved representatives of 50 faith traditions, investment houses, foundations and the UN. It focused on how faiths can use their financial assets to support environmental and sustainable development for a better world.
The meeting resulted in The Zug Guidelines which outline for the first time the investment priorities for dozens of traditions from eight of the world's major faiths (Buddhism, Christianity, Daoism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism and Shintoism) and the ethical rationale that lies behind them. This landmark meeting also led to the foundation of FaithInvest, one of the organisations in the FCI Collaboratorium, after participants unanimously agreed a new alliance was needed to accelerate faith-consistent investing.
02
Faith-based Investing
programme, 2019
In 2019 Dutch philanthropy Porticus launched its Faith-based Investing Programme to support faiths to mobilise their investment capital to tackle social and environmental challenges. Porticus wanted to amplify the faith voice and values to 'jump-start' the conversation about the purpose of business; it believes business can be a force for good but recognises that short-term approaches and accelerating consumerism are draining the Earth's resources.
While many faith groups were already values-driven investors, when it came to the wider ecosystem, Porticus assessed that the problem was not enough demand and not enough supply. A number of organisations, including those involved in the FCI Collaboratorium.
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2019-2022:
The vision
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Faith-consistent investing is widely accepted by faith groups and a ‘trademark’ that all asset managers are aware of.
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Faiths articulate the purpose of their capital through faith-consistent investing policies that state the goals for their impact, aligned to principles such as transparency, accountability and equity.
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Faith groups significantly increase their values-based investing / responsible investing and are a leading global engine for driving social and environmental change.
04
2023: The FCI
Collaborative
After a process of consultation and discussions by all the partners, it was agreed that the faith-consistent investing movement had grown significantly and was fast becoming widely accepted by faith groups. However, all felt that more needed to be done in three key areas to strengthen the FCI movement and better support faith groups to move assets into values-based investing. Those areas are:
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Education & Training
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Product Design
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Impact Measurement and Management
A collaborative approach was considered the best way to address these key areas, and the eight partners proposed a total of 14 projects. Click below for details.
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Let’s work together