Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility

The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) is a coalition of 275 faith-based institutional investors. Founded in 1973, the organization advocates for corporate social responsibility

Corporate social responsibility

Corporate social responsibility is a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model...

and files shareholder resolutions and engages in dialogue with corporate management on issues such as global warming

Global warming

Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...

, human rights

Human rights

Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

, corporate governance

Corporate governance

Corporate governance is a number of processes, customs, policies, laws, and institutions which have impact on the way a company is controlled...

, and other social and environmental concerns. When it was founded in the 1970s, ICCR was considered the leader of the socially responsible investing

Socially responsible investing

Socially responsible investing , also known as sustainable, socially conscious, or ethical investing, describes an investment strategy which seeks to consider both financial return and social good....

(SRI) movement. Now it is one of the more prominent of dozens of organizations pursuing SRI.

Members of ICCR

ICCR members are faith-based institutions such as the Unitarian Universalist Association

Unitarian Universalist Association

Unitarian Universalist Association , in full the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations in North America, is a liberal religious association of Unitarian Universalist congregations formed by the consolidation in 1961 of the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of...

, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is a mainline Protestant denomination headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA officially came into existence on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three churches. As of December 31, 2009, it had 4,543,037 baptized members, with 2,527,941 of them...

, and Catholic Healthcare West

Catholic Healthcare West

Catholic Healthcare West is a California-based not-for-profit public benefit corporation that operates hospitals in California, Arizona, and Nevada. As such, it is exempt from federal and state income taxes...

. Most of the members are orders of Catholic religious women (nuns). However, secular organizations such as Domini Social Investments also participate.

Corporate Targets

In any given year, members of ICCR file shareholder resolutions at hundreds of American corporations. The most prominent companies include Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...

, Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...

, Pfizer

Pfizer

Pfizer, Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceutical corporation. The company is based in New York City, New York with its research headquarters in Groton, Connecticut, United States...

, and Gap.

It also sponsors the EthVest database on shareowner resolutions.

In the 1980s, ICCR was prominent in the disinvestment from South Africa

Disinvestment from South Africa

Disinvestment from South Africa was first advocated in the 1960s, in protest of South Africa's system of Apartheid, but was not implemented on a significant scale until the mid 1980s...

campaign in protest of Apartheid.

Issues of Concern

Shareholder resolutions span a wide range of issues. In recent years, the most active issues have included executive compensation

Executive compensation

Executive pay is financial compensation received by an officer of a firm, often as a mixture of salary, bonuses, shares of and/or call options on the company stock, etc. Over the past three decades, executive pay has risen dramatically beyond the rising levels of an average worker's wage...

(21 resolutions in 2003), corporate political contributions , and global warming

Global warming

(42 resolutions in 2007).

External links

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