FaithInvest news & events

Have you registered for Faithful Finance?

A friendly reminder that our new online course begins on February 28, and we're seeing strong interest! Faithful Finance: An Introduction to Aligning your Investments with Faith Values is the first live-taught online course aimed specifically at faith-based organisations and suitable for all religious traditions. 

It's aimed at demystifying faith-consistent investing and will equip participants with the knowledge and tools needed to align their investment policies and strategies with their deeply held faith values. See our short video on the training below, or click the button to find out more about it.

'People of faith are in a key position to change the narrative and rewrite the future'

That was the message that came through loudly and clearly at the grassroots events involving faith and civil society groups in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in which FaithInvest CEO Dr Lorna Gold took part. And what wonderful and inspiring events they were! 

More than 60 people representing 40 organisations gathered at the Belfast Campus of Ulster University for an event entitled Join the Dots Together on Friday January 12 to discuss how they can explore a joint approach for addressing environmental challenges. They included representatives from the Catholic Church, Church of Ireland, Methodist Church and Presbyterian Church; the Inter-Faith Forum; organisations such as the Mothers' Union, Trocaire, Tearfund, Knights of St Columbanus; and civil groups such as the Corrymeela Community, Fridays for Future and Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful.

Lorna spoke passionately about the role of faith groups in tackling the climate crisis, saying: 'People of faith are in a key position to change the narrative and to rewrite the future.' 

One of the few signs of hope at the recent COP28 climate conference in Dubai was the faith community coming togther in the Faith Pavilion, she said: 'It was a fantastic new opportunity for bringing faiths together and discussing a whole myriad of issues from biodiversity to food systems change.' 

Impact product design project seeks participants!

FaithInvest is pleased to be jointly participating in an impact product design project led by the FIIND Impact Foundation.

FIIND, an Amsterdam-based impact investing non-profit, has launched a grant-funded project to design and build a faith-consistent impact investing fund, and is seeking to assemble a group of faith-based asset owners (FBAOs) to help co-design it. 

Maarten Toussaint, FIIND COO, says: 'The goal of the initiative is to design a product that reflects the faith values and investment criteria of faith-based asset owners who share a common desire to create a better world – for people and planet.'

Interested? Click below for more information and to register your interest. 

Our top performing research posts in 2023

In 2023, FaithInvest provided you with weekly insights to a variety of research being conducted in the area of faith-consistent investing, nearly 70 posts in all, posted to the Our Network page on the website. 

As we begin 2024, we've looked back at the previous year to provide an 'all star review' of our ten most popular posts, which touched on everything from artificial intelligence, to divestment, the use of OCIOs, and much more, all from a perspective of faith-consistent investing.

We believe these posts are worth a second look, and hope you find them valuable. And we look forward to providing you with more insights to research relevant to faith-based asset owners in 2024!

Send us your investment policies & guidelines!

Did you know that FaithInvest offers faith-based organisations the chance to submit their Investment Policies and Guidelines (IP&Gs) for a free, confidential assessment of the extent to which they are aligned with their faith values?

Our recent Good Intentions 2023 report found that 45% of faith-based asset owners studied made no mention of their faith in their IP&G, and of the 55% who do specifiy a faith role, there is a wide range of the extent to which these principles are pursued. 

Mathew Jensen, Director of FCI Programmes at FaithInvest, says, 'While all major faiths have statements about their beliefs, teachings and values in terms of social principles, environmental beliefs, and other areas of focus and activity, we find that many have yet to articulate and fully integrate these values in their investment practices.' 

Yet this 'front door' language is essential to any organisation intending to pursue faith-consistent investing, he adds: 'We can help with an initial, confidential, free assessment of your IP&Gs.' Interested? Send us an email by clicking below.

Job opportunities at Operation Noah

Exciting changes at our friends at Operation Noah, the UK-based ecumenical Christian charity campaigning on climate change! First, congratulations to Clare Fussell, the newly appointed Campaign Director for Operation Noah.

Now they are looking for a part-time, self-employed fundraising officer for 14 hours a week, as well as new trustees. 'We are particularly keen to hear from people who have a background in human resources or fundraising.'

Check out all our FCI posts

The Investment Solutions team posts each week on topics related to faith-consistent investing. The posts are a valuable source of comment, insights
and research relevant to faith-based asset owners. To see them, click HERE.

Join the FCI Interest Group!

As a Network Subscriber you're eligible to join our FCI Interest Group and obtain a complementary analysis of your faith organisation's Investment Policy and Guidelines, as described above. Reach out to us HERE.