Investing in change: Nora Nash, shareholder activist

Sister Nora Nash of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia works for the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, which combines the investing assets of more than 300 institutions for a combined portfolio of more than $110 billion. Together these institutions use their resources to try to encourage corporate responsibility on issues of human rights, environmental justice and corporate governance. In addition, ICCR invests in community development organizations and gives small grants to projects all over the world.

How did ICCR get started?
The organization was founded in 1971 when members of the clergy questioned whether churches were profiting from apartheid in South Africa and from investments related to the Vietnam War. ICCR led the movement for divestment from South Africa and pressed companies to consider their role in it.

How does ICCR decide what companies to invest in?
Every year we strategize to set priorities. What are the major issues that we will work on? This year the issues are human rights, the ethics of supply chain businesses, human trafficking, hydraulic fracturing, environmental justice and financial and corporate governance.