The Sierra Club – an American environmental pressure group with 700,000 members – has teamed up with Forward Management to offer its members and other Green enthusiasts mutual funds. The Sierra Club Funds will select securities for potential investment based on environmental and social criteria established by the Club.
“The Sierra Club has a history of exploring innovative ways to effect positive change for our planet,” gushes Carl Pope, Executive Director of the Sierra Club. “With the introduction of the Sierra Club Funds, we are helping people use their investments to protect our air and water, our health and natural heritage. These Funds let citizens hold corporations more accountable and give businesses incentive to take their responsibility to the environment seriously. People who don’t want to financially support companies that ignore the environment and, as a result, put our country and communities at risk, can now embrace investment opportunities that reward companies that share the vision and values of the Sierra Club.”
The Sierra Club says its funds are the first to be endorsed by an environmental organization “It is rare that a mutual fund family and its investors are passionate about what they are investing in,” says J. Alan Reid, President of Forward Management. “The Sierra Club Funds allow people to invest in our planet’s future. But it’s really even more than that – it’s an opportunity to unite your personal, social and financial interests. That is how we want to reward our investors.”
What’s the catch? It is that the Funds will also help to support the Sierra Club. Forward Management has agreed to pay the Sierra Club a fee for its aid in identifying securities that meet the Club’s social and environmental guidelines. The Sierra Club will use the revenue to support objectives that include safeguarding wildlands, curbing urban sprawl, protecting national forests and “working to stop” global warming.