Church funds growth

Tuesday, 1 October, 2002 - 22:00
“It has been going into property and the churches have been very secretive about how much money they have.”

In what is perhaps a reflection that the Christian investor lobby can no longer be ignored, Glebe Asset Management managing director and the founding chairman of CCSRI, David Andrews, was recently appointed to the board of the Ethical Investment Association.

Mr Andrews said working together with other Christian funds was essential to get noticed and be effective.

“We then get an audience, we get a hearing with the companies. If we do it individually the company is likely to say ‘so what?’,” Mr Andrews said.

He said his own organisation, Glebe, was already focused on areas such as product safety, staff treatment and advertising policies.

“We feel that some companies have expressed themselves in ways that are not good,” Mr Andrews said.

“We can influence that by bringing Christian values into the marketplace.

“Until now the market has not really been catering for it.”