Monday, October 12, 2009 – Friday, October 16, 2009
Each week, the Twitter “Social Enterprise of the Day” talks about a new facet of the social development sector. For the week of October 12- 16, 2009, we were inspired by an article in the Green Money Journal (which we follow on Twitter) and have highlighted five funds that are investing in socially and environmentally responsible organizations. Combining the goals of social responsibility and financial prosperity, these funds offer investors new avenues to participate in the conservation of global resources.
According to a Wall Street Journal article by Anna Prior entitled ”The Price of Green”, “green investing is a subset of socially responsible investing, where fund managers and other investors typically use a set of screens to weed out the stocks of companies that don’t meet certain criteria, usually relating to environmental, social and corporate-governance issues.” However, due to the nature of these funds, you are buying by investing. You are not injecting cash into socially responsible enterprises, but rather indirectly impacting them by buying a small stake from another investor. While there are a fair number of funds that have jumped onto the green bandwagon, their sustainability in the long run has been questioned by the experts. They seem to have impressive runs while they last, but once they’re on the decline, they lose their edge very quickly. Regardless of the downside, there’s no questioning the value attached to investing in organizations that are socially and environmentally responsible and are innovating to battle the problems of depleting resources in this day and age.
On Monday, October 12, 2009 we spoke about the Appleseed Fund that is managed by value investors who seek to generate long-term market-beating returns by investing in quality, undervalued companies screened for social and environmental responsibility. The Integrity Growth and Income Fund was featured on Tuesday, October 13, for investing in companies working on ways to resolve fossil fuel scarcity and to develop the middle class in emerging economies, while remaining loyal to issues such as social justice, the environment, and animal rights. The Wells Fargo Advantage Social Sustainability Fund was our “Social Enterprise of the Day” for Wednesday, October 14. 
The fund employs a two-pronged approach to its investment strategy: the fund’s managers use an inclusive screening process to invest in companies that have positive traits related to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors, in addition to avoiding stocks in sectors such as alcohol, tobacco, gambling, or weapons manufacturing based on traditional sustainable and responsible investing (SRI) screens. Responding to the global demand for new sources of fresh water, the which we featured on Thursday, October 15, seeks to invest in fresh water solutions that include conservation, recovery, and advancing technology. Calvert Global Water Fund, 
We wrapped up the week by featuring Pax World Global Green Fund, which invests in companies that work on developing technologies in alternative energy and energy efficiency, pollution control and prevention, and waste technology and resource management.
