Contributions and partners' accounts

Partners in the Ethical Investment Group (EIG) contribute between $150 and $900 a quarter, a rate that has remained unchanged since the club was founded. Contributions are made to partners’ individual accounts, which have pro rata shares (“units”) in EIG’s portfolio.  Administrative costs are charged back to each partner’s account annually.

Oversight and administration

As a partnership, in which all partners have equal decisional rights, EIG does not have a Board of Directors. Its activities are overseen by an Executive Committee, which may consist of between three and seven members, including Treasurer and Secretary, who are elected at each Annual General Meeting.  In addition to its oversight function, the Executive Committee carries out general administrative tasks for the group.

Investments

Investments are handled by two committees:

• The Equities Trading Committee (ETC) is responsible for all publicly-traded investments. Its functions comprise: researching new stock investments, including suggestions from other EIG partners; drafting and distributing to the partnership proposals of potential new investments, for voting on their approval; coordinating with the Executive Committee to determine the amount of capital available for such investments; and making purchases and sales in accordance with the results of partners' votes.

• The Community Investment Committee (CIC) is responsible for all community investments, targeting in particular financially disadvantaged individuals or groups. Investments include microcredit lending, small capitalization issues,  investment in cooperative enterprises and purchase of various types of bonds: green, social, sustainable and community.  Both before and during the term of an investment, the CIC is in regular communication with the organization in question. The process of researching, proposing, and making investments is the same as for the ETC.

Non-investment activities

In addition to the two investment committees, other EIG activities are handled by:

•  The Shareholder engagement working group, which formally communicates with enterprises - primarily with companies of which EIG is a shareholder - to highlight important issues concerning their social and environmental responsibility and impact.

  • The Communications and Outreach working group, a loosely structured group driving internal and external communications and coordinating outreach to the general public and to other groups concerned with responsible investment.