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Values-Aligned Investing - United Church Funds

Aligning Your Investment with Your Values

As a ministry of the UCC, we believe faith-based investing should align with the principles of the UCC. To accomplish this, we use a multilayered strategy that leverages corporate engagements, exclusionary screenings and proxy voting to influence companies, improve the world in which we live and deliver better long-term performance.

UCF partners with faith and values-based peer investors to push companies in our portfolios to be more sustainable and responsible. We do this through the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility, ClimateAction 100+ and other shareholder activism organizations.

UCF also develops and co-files shareholder resolutions for a vote at the Annual Shareholder Meeting and engages corporate management in dialogues via calls, meetings, and investor letters.

As a faith-based institutional investor, we favor securities of companies that demonstrate a commitment to promoting human health and dignity, environmental integrity and moral responsibility.

To ensure that the investment funds we offer continue to align with UCC teachings and the resolutions of General Synod, our screening policy excludes investments in companies with the following interests or characteristics:

  • Firearms
  • Weapon Production
  • Private Prison Operation
  • Alcohol
  • Gambling
  • Coal Extraction
  • Oil Production via Tar Sands
  • Tobacco
  • Negative Environmental or Greenhouse Impact
  • Human Rights Violations, including in occupied territories

Click here to download and learn more about the complete list of UCF’s exclusionary screens.

We use proxy voting guidelines to encourage responsible corporate citizenship in the companies in which we invest. These guidelines represent our stance on environmental, labor and equality issues and demonstrate faithful stewardship of our investments.

Proxy voting enables UCF to have a substantial impact on protecting the financial performance and maximizing the long-term sustainability of the companies in which we invest and to deliver added value to our clients.

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Economic Leverage

We use stock ownership to engage corporations in dialogue and promote shareholder action towards more sustainable, socially responsible activities.
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Beyond Fossil Fuels

We lead the way in excluding certain companies paired with shareholder activism around climate issues by engaging in discussions and co-filing shareholder resolutions to effect meaningful change.

Supporting Sustainable Capitalism

As one of the leaders in values-driven, responsible investing, UCF aims to make sustainable capitalism possible. Through shareholder activism and collaboration with key players on the global justice issue, we help companies forge new pathways toward responsible and sustainable operations – and create more opportunities to deliver greater long-term value to investors.

Over the last two years, there has been a spectacular increase in investments focusing on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors. Accordingly, UCF has prepared a report that examines the recent explosion of ESG investing universally and how UCF has participated in and contributed to that growth on behalf of its clients.

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News

UCF Responds to Congressional Inquiry Over Responsible Investing

Reps. Jim Jordan and Thomas Massie requested information from UCF and other investors about their climate strategies, warning that collective emission reduction pledges might breach antitrust laws. In a written response, UCF defended its involvement with Climate Action 100+, emphasizing its commitment to both ESG goals and transparency. Read more.
NewsResponsible Investing

AIG Announces Climate Plan After UCF Shareholder Engagement

Following a 2024 shareholder resolution by UCF and a group of other responsible shareholders, including Green Century Funds and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A), American International Group has announced that it will publish a roadmap explaining how it will fulfill its climate goals and address climate risk. Read more.
News

UCF Stands Firm in Fighting Plastic Pollution

UCF has filed a shareholder resolution – in collaboration with As You Sow – urging ExxonMobil to confront its role in the production of single-use plastics. This resolution resulted in a lawsuit attack launched by ExxonMobil to silence shareholder voices. Click to read more.
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