SharePower Responsible Investing

Registered Principal

Our Company

SharePower Responsible Investing Inc. is a different kind of independent financial company. Collectively owned by all member advisors and support staff, we serve our clients, not a Wall Street firm, hedge fund or insurance company. Our mission is to bring socially responsible investing strategies to individuals, families, small businesses and nonprofits who wish to align their investments with their values. We believe that the best investment program meets the needs of each client, contributes to a just society, and promotes a healthy planet. We are one of very few financial firms in the US that has committed to the United Nations Global Compact, a pledge to commit our resources to further human rights, labor rights, environment and social justice.

Socially Responsible Investing

Simply put, "socially responsible investing" has been described as the act of applying social and ethical considerations to investment decisions. But whose social and ethical considerations? The investor primarily concerned with peace and justice issues might oppose investing in clean energy stocks that contract with the military. The investor primarily concerned with labor rights would be aghast at many of the non‐union companies found in otherwise progressive portfolios. Who gets to decide what is "socially responsible"?

SharePower advisors have historically taken the position that the investor's own views should be paramount in deciding what is "socially responsible" in their portfolio. At the same time, many clients look to us for guidance and ask us to help craft the most responsible and proactive portfolios possible.

No one company can legitimately dictate what ethics and social responsibility means for all. Fortunately, we already have a blueprint forged by virtually all of the cultures of the world. That blueprint is contained in three documents: The United Nations Charter, the United Nations Global Compact and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Between these three documents are declarations of universal goals common to all mankind that offer the closest thing to a universal definition of social responsibility there is. SharePower Responsible Investing is active in each of the three components of socially responsible investing:

SOCIAL SCREENING AND PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT:

We identify investment opportunities that have a positive impact in their communities and in the world, while avoiding investments in companies that are contrary to our clients’ personal and social values.

SHAREHOLDER ADVOCACY:

We help our clients leverage their investment assets with other investors to advocate for and shape corporate behavior through proxy initiatives and shareholder/management dialogue.

COMMUNITY INVESTING:

As a way to help disadvantaged communities grow and thrive, we can direct a small percentage of our clients’ investments to communities, development banks and small businesses that lack access to traditional financial markets.

Cambridge Investment Research

To build a better financial services firm, we wanted to align with the best independent broker/dealer. We investigated broker/dealers the same way we investigate socially responsible companies to invest in. After a comprehensive two year search evaluating the professional capabilities, social and environmental profiles of the largest and most capable independent broker/dealers in the US, Cambridge Investment Research stood out above the rest. A remarkably clean and exemplary regulatory record showed us that Cambridge lived and breathed their stated corporate goals: Commitment, Integrity, Flexibility, and Kindness. No other financial firm we know of strives for kindness as a corporate mission, and Cambridge’s record and conduct shows the talk is walked every day. Cambridge was voted by our peers as the best broker/dealer in the US for several years running.¹

¹Investment Advisor magazine, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2010, 2008, 2007, Division IV; 2003, Division III. A broker‐dealer becomes eligible for this honor only after a minimum of 10% of its producing rep‐advisors cast valid ballots. The ballots rate the broker‐dealer in 15 different categories defined by Investment Advisor as relevant challenges and concerns.

Broker‐dealers receiving the highest marks in each of four are declared Broker‐Dealer of the Year. Results are based on experiences and perceptions of participants surveyed in June of each of the years listed. Experience may vary. This recognition is not representative of investment performance or returns of rep/advisors. Visit advisorone.com.