Socially Responsible Investing (SRI)

Socially responsible investing (SRI) refers to financial contributions into investment vehicles designed to combine the traditional investment philosophy favoring profit maximization with a values-based component seeking nonfinancial benefits. Such nonfinancial benefits are often referred to as social returns. These social returns vary in scope but can be broadly defined as company policies and actions that enhance a socially responsible investor's specific environmental, religious, or social values. These enhancements may or may not have any impact on the profit-maximization component of the socially responsible investment and may actually cause a socially responsible investment to decrease in value. Socially responsible investing is the common term for this practice in the United States but the concept is also referred to as “ethical investing,” primarily in the United Kingdom, ...