UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST ASSOC BOARD OF TRUSTEES VOTED UNANIMOUSLY TO MOVE MONEY FROM FIDELITY TO TIAA-CREF

If you had a choice to invest your money in a company that helps fund a genocide or one that has consciously chosen not to invest their clients' money in a country that commits genocide....which would you prefer?

I moved my money years ago, when this question was brought to my attention by Eric Cohen of Investors Against Genocide

Now, we have this great news ~

UUA Moves Retirement Plan from Fidelity to TIAA-CREF

Source: www.uua.org

May 21, 2010

(Boston) The Board of Trustees of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) voted unanimously on May 20, 2010, to secure the services of TIAA-CREF as the new recordkeeper for the Unitarian Universalist Organizations Retirement Plan. The transition of the UUA’s roughly 2,800 retirement accounts (a total of $178 million in investments) to TIAA-CREF will begin this fall, ending a ten-year relationship with Fidelity Investments.

The change in companies was spurred by a growing commitment by the UUA to genocide-free investing coupled with its disappointment in Fidelity’s persistent refusal to consider human rights in their investment choices.

UUA President Rev. Peter Morales said, “We are morally bound to consider the impact of our financial decisions. We couldn’t continue to watch passively as money we earned through religious service was directed to companies profiting from a genocidal regime. As clients of Fidelity, we tried to create change from within, but after four years, it became clear that Fidelity’s position on investing in the Sudan hadn't changed one iota.”

Beginning in 2007, the UUA tried unsuccessfully to persuade Fidelity to divest in companies with ties to the Sudanese government, particularly two giant Chinese oil companies, PetroChina and Sinopec.

The UUA was an early member of the Save Darfur Coalition and has worked closely with Investors Against Genocide in their “Fidelity Out of Sudan” campaign. The UUA’s concern for the situation in Darfur dates back to 2005, when Rev. William Sinkford, president of the UUA from 2001-2009, visited refugee camps in Chad and met with survivors of the genocide.

“The Unitarian Universalist Association is a leading example that Americans, once they become aware, are overwhelmingly opposed to being financially connected to genocide,” said Eric Cohen, co-founder and chairperson of Investors Against Genocide. “Fund managers, such as Fidelity, who resist making a commitment to genocide-free investing, should see that UUA’s action reflects a competitive marketplace in which customers have clear, mainstream alternatives that are genocide-free.”

The change in recordkeepers is the culmination of the UUA’s two-year search and discernment process. After a broad request for proposals, the organization narrowed the choice to proposals from two firms, Fidelity Investments, the UUA’s current recordkeeper, and TIAA-CREF. Five broad issues were considered: recordkeeping and administrative capacity, investment performance and fees, customer service, ease of transition, and compatibility with the mission of the Unitarian Universalist Association.

Tim Brennan, the UUA’s Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer, believes that TIAA-CREF is clearly more aligned with the denomination’s values, but he explained that he would not have supported the switch unless the due diligence process demonstrated that TIAA-CREF could deliver outstanding performance, value, and customer service.

“We have a fiduciary responsibility to our retirement plan participants,” Brennan said. “We are committed to protecting the savings of our ministers and employees, and I’m confident that TIAA-CREF will do an outstanding job.”

Brennan noted that there were striking differences between Fidelity and TIAA-CREF in the area of mission compatibility. At the institutional level, the UUA has long been a shareholder activist in investments held in the organization’s own endowment fund.

The UUA’s Committee on Socially Responsible Investing works to make corporate policies more just and inclusive. For example, as part of its shareholder advocacy efforts the UUA sponsored eighteen shareholder resolutions on various subjects in 2008 and 2009, only five of which were supported by Fidelity. By contrast, TIAA-CREF, a leader in socially responsible investing, supported seventeen of those eighteen UUA-sponsored resolutions.

TIAA-CREF’s commitments include the full range of environmental, social, and governance issues as expressed through its record of corporate engagement, social screening of investments, and community investing. Most importantly, earlier this year TIAA-CREF sold all of its holdings, worth $58 million as of September 30, 2009, in four companies tied to the genocide in Darfur. This decisive action earned the praise of Investors Against Genocide and convinced the UUA that TIAA-CREF was the best choice to manage the organization’s retirement plan.

“Our unanimous decision to form a new partnership with TIAA-CREF reflects our shared core values of justice, peace, and compassion,” said Morales. “This is an opportunity to live our faith and extend our influence in the world with our combined financial resources.”

From Reuters:

Unitarian group moves $178 million from Fidelity
May 21, 2010

Unitarian group drops Fidelity over Sudan
May 21, 2010

UUA moves retirement plan to TIAA-CREF, from Fidelity, to be genocide-free

Source: investorsagainstgenocide.net/UUAleavesFidelity

On May 21, 2010, Unitarian Universalist Association's Board of Trustees announced their unanimous decision to end their 10 year relationship with Fidelity and move their $178 million retirement accounts to TIAA-CREF.

• Read UUA's press release, below, or at the UUA website here.
  
  The change in companies was spurred by a growing commitment by the UUA to genocide-free investing coupled with its disappointment in Fidelity’s persistent refusal to consider human rights in their investment choices.
  - UUA press release
  
  “We are morally bound to consider the impact of our financial decisions. We couldn’t continue to watch passively as money we earned through religious service was directed to companies profiting from a genocidal regime. As clients of Fidelity, we tried to create change from within, but after four years, it became clear that Fidelity’s position on investing in the Sudan hadn’t changed one iota.”
  - UUA President Rev. Peter Morales
  
  “The Unitarian Universalist Association is a leading example that Americans, once they become aware, are overwhelmingly opposed to being financially connected to genocide. Fund managers, such as Fidelity, who resist making a commitment to genocide-free investing, should see that UUA’s action reflects a competitive marketplace in which customers have clear, mainstream alternatives that are genocide-free.”
  - Eric Cohen, Chairperson, Investors Against Genocide
• Unitarian group drops Fidelity over Sudan, Reuters, May 21, 2010

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TWO WRONGS ~ GENOCIDE AGAINST DARFURIS AND OUR LACK OF ACTION TO STOP SUDAN'S WHOLESALE SLAUGHTERING

Without one, you can’t have the other ~

Perpetrators and those who do nothing to stop genocide.

Within the last week, I have been receiving emails with links to recent news in Darfur, Sudan and Chad.

The genocide is five years old and again it has stepped up in its slaughtering. And what has our country done other than call it a genocide?

And why wouldn’t that be the case, when the perpetrators are clear that the world is going to stand by? A genocide flourishes when there is no accountability. And there has been absolutely no accountability. So the license has been granted to Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to continue to fund the Janjaweed and coordinate the genocide upon the Darfuris with the money made from selling Sudan’s oil to Chinese companies, which are funded by investment companies including United States ones.

Some investment firms are guilty of putting Americans' mutual funds into companies that are knowingly help fund the Darfur genocide.

Learn how you personally can divest from companies who are funding genocide.

Help take action with others to stop the madness of paying for a current genocide ~ in Darfur.

Today, I received the email text found below from an organization dedicated to ending genocide. Anyone can join these young people. And you can also check out the organization that works together with STAND. And for reports from the ground check out Stop Genocide Now.

Throughout the past year, STAND has seen many victories. We've passed robust legislation in Congress, raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for civilian protection, and made Darfur a key issue for our politicians. However, the genocide continues. Just three days ago the Sudanese government bombed and killed at least 200 civilians, forcing some 12,000 Darfuris to flee to the nightmare that is Eastern Chad.

This is incredibly frustrating for me, and I know it frustrates you too. But, instead of quitting, instead of relenting, instead of sticking with conventional thinking, we've decided to step up our efforts. STAND is going to do everything in our power to end the genocide in Sudan. We want to break down the wall of apathy and inaction, and break through to achieve the ultimate success and end the atrocities in Sudan. If we work together, we can and will do it.

So get ready. Because this semester, the students are paving the way in this movement. We're going to step it up to make sure our government steps it up, as well.

In his State of the Union address two weeks ago, President Bush gave genocide half a sentence: "America is opposing genocide in Sudan and supporting freedom in countries from Cuba and Zimbabwe to Belarus and Burma."

Simply "opposing genocide" is not enough. The President can, and must, do much more to stop genocide. That's why, this semester, STAND will be focusing our Spring Campaign on the President's legacy on Sudan. He and his administration have one year left in office, one year in which they can take a number of steps necessary to ending the first genocide of the 21st century. Using the acronym SEAL, we're asking President Bush to Stick to his promises, Enforce UNAMID, Apply an All-Sudan Solution, and Lobby China. Click here for more information on the campaign.

Every week, check the website and you'll find an action of the week that you can take to stop genocide and participate in this campaign. Click here to see how your chapter can take action this week!

Throughout the semester, students across the country will be hosting events and taking actions that demand that the President fulfills these asks. Click here to sign on to the asks and get started with the campaign!.

And tonight, at 8pm and 11pm EST, we will be going over the campaign on a National Conference Call! We'll get a detailed update on the ground and then discuss the Executive Legacy Campaign asks and how you and your chapter can take part. At the end of the call, you can ask questions, comment, or put forth your ideas! Just dial 1-712-432-2600 and then enter 661121 at 8pm or 11pm EST.

Get pumped, because this semester, we are stepping it up! Join us!

-Scott Warren

Student Director, STAND, Brown University '09

Won't you help stop a genocide?