Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 77.06
Liaison Laura Bain
Submission Date June 22, 2021

STARS v2.2

Furman University
PA-9: Committee on Investor Responsibility

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 2.00 Laura Bain
Associate Director of Sustainability Assessment
David E. Shi Center for Sustainability
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Does the institution have a formally established and active committee on investor responsibility (CIR) or equivalent body?:
Yes

The charter or mission statement of the CIR or other body which reflects social and environmental concerns or a brief description of how the CIR is tasked to address social and environmental concerns:

The Investment Sub-committee has approved language in the Investment Policy (see attached) and has discussed in multiple meetings the investment process as it relates to impact and ESG. This will involve additional diligence research (specific to ESG factors within the investment process) on external investment managers. Multiple managers in the portfolio include ESG as an integral part of the process.


Does the CIR include academic staff representation?:
Yes

Does the CIR include non-academic staff representation?:
Yes

Does the CIR include student representation?:
Yes

Members of the CIR, including affiliations and role:

There are faculty and student representatives appointed to attend the Investment sub-committee meetings, in addition to the finance and investment staff representation. There are six members on the investment committee, three of whom are members of the Board of Trustees. The two non-board, adjunct members are chosen because of their experience and/or expertise. A full list and bios of the Board of Trustees can be found on the University’s website.


Examples of CIR actions during the previous three years:

Furman has initiated a process, through its external consultant, to study and ascertain how each external manager integrates both DEI & ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) factors into their firms’management and investment processes. From an ESG perspective, there is a ranking system as well.As an extension of the aforementioned project, we inventoried each external manager’s UN Global Compact compliance, carbon intensity, exposure to highest emitting companies, percent of power generation from renewables, and exposure to fossil fuels. This exercise will continue to be honed and improved over time. For the DEI exercise, we attempted to measure ownership and investment team composition from a minority and female perspective.


Website URL where information about the institution’s committee on investor responsibility is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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