Who benefits from Summit’s Advocacy?

Summit does incredible work behind the scenes through the 3rd party advocacy groups we support. Our clients expect us to show the results of the Catholic investment strategies we implement; likewise, Summit is committed to providing proof of the positive impact our behind-the-scenes social advocacy has both locally and globally.

Summit’s impact investing initiatives are global in scope

It’s easy for those living in developed countries to forget that an institution as abhorrent as slavery still exists in some parts of world, or how some U.S. corporations indirectly benefit from 21st century slavery through contracts with foreign businesses. In Brazil, as many as 40,000 people remain enslaved. Roughly1,200 of those slaves work in the charcoal industry, which directly supports the pig iron and steel industries. Nucor Corporation, the largest steel producer in the U.S. and purchaser of Brazilian pig iron used to manufacture steel, was moved by our affiliate to require Brazilian suppliers to certify that no slave labor was used to manufacture pig iron sold to Nucor. Additionally, to help eradicate the use of slavery in the Brazilian charcoal industry as a whole, Nucor now financially supports ICC (Citizens Charcoal Institute), which has successfully rescued 4,200 charcoal workers from slavery to date.

Coercive labor is also actively perpetuated by some foreign governments. To address this, our affiliate successfully lobbied Macy’s to pledge never to knowingly purchase cotton from Uzbekistan. As citizens of the largest exporter of cotton in the world, Uzbekistani children and adults are forced by their government to fulfill the backbreaking, painful job of harvesting the nation’s cotton by hand. After Macy’s decision, 170 other retailers made the same pledge, including Nike, Wal-Mart, and Gap, Inc.

Catholic investments protects human rights here at home and abroad

Human trafficking and Child Sex Tourism (CST) is an organized, multi-million dollar industry that operates in the U.S. and abroad. Oftentimes, black market sex trafficking businesses utilize hotel chains around the United States to facilitate sexual exploitation, especially during high-profile events like the Super Bowl. To combat these pervasive human rights violations, our affiliate convinced the Wyndham Hotel Group to draft a Human Rights Policy including specific provisions addressing CST. Wyndham hotels now trains staff to recognize and prevent exploitation, and coordinates with police and the FBI to combat the sex trafficking industry. Today, over 1,200 hotels participate in this effort including Wyndham, Marriott, Choice Hotels, Starwood, Best Western, and Hyatt.

In further support of catholic values, our affiliates have encouraged U.S. healthcare corporations, like Tenet Healthcare, to maintain and enforce a pro-life policy throughout their chain of 80 hospitals and over 200 outpatient centers. After contacting Tenet’s medical ethics director and advocating for an overhaul of their management practices, our affiliate helped Tenet Healthcare to cease providing elective abortions and dispensing abortion inducing drugs in compliance with company management’s pro-life values.

These examples of impact investing success stories show that social advocacy can save lives here in the U.S. and around the world. With the transparency our case studies provide, clients can know for certain that working with Summit to grow their investment portfolios allows them to join a real effort in spreading catholic values and protecting human rights. Having to choose between building a better world and securing your financial future is no longer necessary when following our ethical investment practices.

Post from: Insights