Sid Khullar, a member of the Endowment Committee at Church of the Advent in Walnut Hills since 2022, said that before joining the committee, he didn’t know what an endowment was, let alone that the Church of the Advent had one.
As it turned out, however, over the church’s long history, many parishioners had contributed to the endowment, and the parish’s operating budget is supplemented each year by a percentage of the income and growth from these gifts.
It can be challenging for churches to invest their endowments in a socially responsible way, but the Corporate Social Responsibility Committee, a subcommittee of the Episcopal Church’s Executive Council, provides guidelines for socially responsible investing. The Episcopal Church’s Investment Policy Statement (IPS) prohibits it from investing in companies that benefit from human rights violations, make sizeable revenue from fossil fuels, or manufacture or sell tobacco. The policy also prohibits investing in military contractors and for-profit prisons.
In 2022, the diocesan convention took things a step further, passing a resolution (R2022-08) that urged diocesan institutions and congregations to divest from fossil fuels and reinvest in clean energy, using resources from the Commission on Creation Care and Environmental Justice to guide its approach. And at the recently concluded General Convention, both the House of Bishops and House of Deputies passed Resolution A029, which asks all institutional investors to follow the Episcopal Church in divesting from fossil fuel industries.
After he became priest-in-charge at Church of the Advent last summer, the Rev. Daniel Carlson learned that roughly 3.24% of its endowment was invested in fossil fuels, and set out to begin a discussion about socially responsible investing. “Not everyone was initially excited about the discussion,” he said. “But everyone put any hesitations aside and researched, studied, listened to each other, and thoughtfully decided to make the change.”
After hearing from members of the Diocesan Creation Care and Environmental Justice Commission, the vestry directed the church’s endowment committee to complete a portfolio review with their investment managers.
Jocelyn Cunningham, who has served on the committee for more than 25 years and has an extensive background in the financial services industry, admitted that she was initially concerned about the impact of divesting from certain economic sectors. She said her greatest concern was the subjective nature of socially responsible investing and potentially lower returns. Others wondered whether this change aligned with what other religious organizations were doing and if it would create additional complexity for Bahl and Gaynor, the parish’s investment managers.
However, Derrick Kihembo, associate portfolio manager at Bahl & Gaynor, offered reassurance. “Better returns and investments aligning with values do not have to be mutually exclusive,” Kihembo said.
The endowment committee discovered that of Advent’s roughly $5 million portfolio, only two stocks were invested in petrochemicals, three in defense, and one in organizations whose practices raised human rights concerns, Cunningham said. The three-person endowment committee — Cunningham, Khullar, and Tracy Monroe — voted to divest from these companies completely by Easter Sunday of 2024.
“We are one step closer to putting our money where our values are and thus bringing about a New Earth!”, Khullar wrote in an April 2024 congregational newsletter.
Asked what advice she would offer other congregations reviewing their investments, Cunningham said, “Just look at the investments and ask, ‘How big of a deal is this? Do our investments lean heavily upon these concerning companies? In most cases, it’s a resounding ‘no.’ Just do the analysis. Be thoughtful. Then, decide.”
Monroe, a longtime member of the endowment committee who has worked in planned giving for more than 17 years, says donors seek charities who use money in a way that aligns with their values. “Not only in the faith-based space, but more and more in other spheres, donors are looking very closely at how organizations embody their core values, and this includes how they generate resources to create meaningful and lasting impact.”
“I am very proud of the congregation here at Church of the Advent in Walnut Hills”, Rev. Carlson said. “We have a long history of changing, adapting, and growing in new ways over the last century and a half. This work demonstrates that thoughtfully responding to a changing world remains a core trait of our community.”
if you are interested in hearing more about realigning your congregation’s endowment investments, email the Diocese of Southern Ohio’s Creation Care and Environmental Justice Commission at ccej@diosohio.org.
—Kyle Väth
photo of Sid Khullar by Jacob Taylor
