If asked, I suspect you'd rank among the roughly 84% of Americans who'd withdraw their money from stocks that do business with companies supporting genocide. You're probably also among the 88% who don't want their mutual funds investing in such companies. Unfortunately, many of us just don't know enough about this issue to take action.
The statistics above come from Investors Against Genocide, which monitors companies and mutual funds with investments connected to genocide around the world. The site's prime targets are four oil companies operating in Sudan, most notably PetroChina (NYSE: PTR ) .
From an investing perspective, PetroChina has rapidly growing revenue, and the tantalizing business of offering fuel to a massive population and quickly developing economy. But its operations in Sudan deliver revenue to the government there, supporting its genocidal policies.
What can you do?
To take action, you might decide to just divest any holdings in PetroChina. That's what Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-B ) did in 2007, pleasing many current and would-be shareholders. Buffett even put a shareholder proposal to divest up for a vote when he didn't have to; SEC officials agreed it was worded vaguely enough to disqualify it. Buffett's a shining example of a manager who listens to and cares about shareholder concerns.
Unfortunately, other companies still invest heavily in PetroChina. Citigroup (NYSE: C ) recently held $55 million in PetroChina stock, according to Yahoo! Finance. If you like Citigroup as an investment, but you don't like its connection to the ongoing violence in Darfur, you could urge the company to divest.
If you'd rather not stop there, consider urging companies to commit to genocide-free investing in general. Such a pledge would oblige the businesses you own to carefully consider the ramifications of their own ventures in areas far beyond Darfur.
Mutual funds may also have ties to unwelcome investments. Recently, the Unitarian Universalist church moved 2,800 retirement accounts from Fidelity to privately held TIAA-CREF, because Fidelity wasn't divesting from investments tied to Sudan. If if more organizations follow suit, the migration could be good news for shareholders of fund provider T. Rowe Price (Nasdaq: TROW ) , which has also taken a strong anti-genocide-investing stance.
No matter how you go about it, your portfolio can prosper without the help of genocide-linked investments. Plenty of compelling stocks and funds can serve you well, while helping you sleep at night.
What's your stance on socially responsible investing? What do and don't you invest in? Let us know -- leave a comment below!
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