The Socially Responsible Investment Committee has responsibility to advise the Investment Committee on how best to live up to UUA values in our Common Endowment Fund. This committee uses a consultant, Sustainalytics, to analyze the top thousand companies in the United States on the basis of their Social, Environmental, and Governance practices. The ratings they provide form the foundation of SRIC’s ranking and exclusion decision-making process.
Early in 2016 a number of companies were specifically excluded from the Common Endowment Fund based on their enablement of human rights abuses. Hewlett Packard was one of these. Recently, Hewlett Packard split into two companies, HP (HPQ) and Hewlett Packard Enterprises (HPE). Because HPQ is not involved with enabling human rights abuses, in the Middle East or anywhere else, HPQ has now been removed from the UUA’s list of excluded companies.