Ecumenical Partners

Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR)

ICCR is a leader in the corporate social responsibility movement. Its membership includes 275 faith-based institutional investors, including national denominations, religious communities, pension funds, endowments, hospital corporations, economic development funds and publishing companies. ICCR and its members urge companies to be socially and environmentally responsible. Each year ICCR-member religious institutional investors engage over 150 companies through dialogues and shareholder resolutions on major social and environmental issues. The combined portfolio value of ICCR’s member organizations is estimated to be $110 billion. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) was a founding member of ICCR over thirty years ago.

Ceres

Ceres (formerly the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies) is the leading U.S. coalition of environmental, investor and advocacy groups working together for a sustainable future. It is also a community of forward-looking companies that have committed to continuous environmental improvement by endorsing the Ceres Principles, a ten-point code of environmental conduct. Ceres provides a common ground where groups with widely different backgrounds, assumptions, and visions find concrete solutions to today’s challenges. Recently, Ceres has pioneered the concept of sustainable governance for corporations, and helped to coordinate ground-breaking shareholder advocacy on the risks associated with climate change. Ceres also sponsors an annual conference on leading-edge issues.

National Labor Committee (NLC)

Founded in 1981, the National Labor Committee is a human rights advocacy group dedicated to promoting and defending the rights of workers to improved working conditions, fair pay, equitable treatment and the right to organize, particularly in off-shore plants where workers, usually young women, are very vulnerable. The NLC produces detailed educational reports on working conditions and abuses in factories providing clothes, toys, shoes and other products for leading U.S. companies. The NLC also coordinates highly-visible grass-roots campaigns with a history of success. These have included the Gap’s decision to accept a pilot-project of independent monitoring of its codes of conduct, Liz Claiborne’s agreement to develop a comprehensive code of conduct for its off-shore contractors, reform of USAID’s programs to give tax-breaks to companies moving jobs out of the U.S., and the Kathy Lee Gifford/Wal-Mart agreement to cleanup factories producing goods designed by Ms. Gifford.

Caniccor

Caniccor provides research and analysis for socially responsible investors, particularly regarding banking and financial institutions. Formerly known as the California-Nevada Interfaith Committee on Corporate Responsibility, Caniccor's board is composed of representatives from religious and socially responsible investing organizations. Based in San Francisco, Caniccor assists MRTI with issues such as community reinvestment, predatory lending, international debt and access to capital. Caniccor helps coordinate regular dialogues with banks such as Citigroup, J.P. Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Washington Mutual and Bank of American/Fleet Boston.

Comission On Religion in Appalachia (CORA)

CORA is a regional mission strategy of church cooperation and partnership with community groups to work together to address the needs of the region, including the structural causes of injustice in Appalachia. CORA’s witness lies in its commitment to ecumenical involvement in community ministry. CORA members emphasize justice alongside charity and service, and work to empower Appalachian neighbors by:

• Supporting fair employment practices and land ownership/taxing policies;
• Highlighting the struggles of women and minorities in the region;
• Giving voice to victims of environmental and other health-related issues;
• Supporting both issue-advocacy groups and locally directed cooperatives working for institutional change and economic alternatives.

Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras (CJM)

CJM is a tri-national organization dedicated to supporting the struggles of factory workers, particularly along the U.S. — Mexico border, for fair wages, decent treatment, better working conditions and freedom to organize. CJM’s board is composed of representatives from Mexican, Canadian and United States organizations of women, labor, religious, social investors, human rights advocates and health and safety professionals. Based in San Antonio, CJM celebrates over 15 years of work on behalf of justice in very difficult circumstances.

Social Investment Forum

The Social Investment Forum is a national non-profit membership organization promoting the concept, practice and growth of socially responsible investing. It provides comprehensive information, contacts and resources on the subject, and monitors trends in the field.