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April 24, 2000
Annual Conference Offers Inspiration for Social Investors
The fourth annual "Making a Profit While Making a Difference" conference provides a wealth of
information for both high-net-worth individual and institutional investors.
SocialFunds.com --
In the growing industry of socially responsible investing, it is rare to find all of the issues,
innovations, and developments addressed under one roof. "Making a Profit While Making a Difference:
How to Reduce Risk in Your Investment Portfolio" will be one of these rare occasions.
 The fourth annual "Making a Profit While Making a
Difference" conference will be held from May 10-12, 2000, at the Marriott World Trade Center Hotel,
in New York. This annual gathering for investors interested in mission-based investing offers a
time- and cost-efficient way to explore socially responsive investment choices.
The 2000
conference is sponsored by Calvert Group, Capital Missions Company, State Street Corporation, and
six other companies involved in socially responsible business or investment. Capital Missions
Company (CMC), which fosters networks of business leaders for solving social problems profitably,
first created the "Making a Profit While Making a Difference" in 1997.
"When Capital
Missions planned its first 'Making A Difference' conference four years ago, our conference
management partner told us it was impossible because institutional investors were rejecting social
investing," said Susan Davis, President of CMC. "Over the last four years, institutional investors
have truly come to the table, giving social investing new legitimacy."
Highlights of the
conference include a keynote speech by the Honorable Philip Angelides, State Treasurer of
California, on social investing as public policy. Ben Cohen will tell the story of the sale of Ben
& Jerry's to Unilever, and Amy Domini, founder of Domini Social Investments and Co-Creator of the
Domini Social Index, will share her views on "Social Investing: The Global Challenge Ahead."
Concurrent workshops during the conference will address important innovations in environmental
investing, shareholder advocacy, social venture capital, social screening, and community
development. Tough issues such as genetically modified organisms, corporate governance, and the
challenges of investing in emerging markets will be addressed.
Exhibit fairs at "Making A
Profit While Making A Difference" will offer the diverse services of investment managers, community
development financial institutions, and many other conference sponsors. A new addition will be a
special pre-conference "dot com" social venture fair, featuring internet-based social venture
companies and other innovators in social venture capital.
"I see several breakthroughs for
this year," said Davis. "First, Social Investment Forum is championing the idea that social
investors place 1 percent of their assets in community development and I believe this concept will
take hold. Second, various website initiatives to be showcased at the conference will make it
dramatically easier for mainstream investors to participate in social investing."
"Finally, the industry's preeminent social investors have begun meeting to design a new
financing template so that companies are not forced by the public markets to abandon their social
missions," continued Davis. "This group was stirred to action by the recent purchase of Ben &
Jerry's by Unilever. Their self-organizing is heartening because it shows that challenges to the
industry's values simply stimulate a higher level of resources being brought to that challenge."
Along with the "SRI in the Rockies" conference in the fall, this conference is one of the
two important forums for progress in the socially responsible investment industry. "Making A Profit
While Making A Difference" will be a valuable opportunity for investment managers, foundation
treasurers, pension fund managers, and private investors to get abreast of recent developments in
this fast-growing field.
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SRI World Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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