People debating Nike’s Kaepernick ads are missing an opportunity: Using shareholder activism to make their voices heard.

Sportswear company Nike has received both praise and condemnation for its decision to make former NFL quarterback and racial justice advocate Colin Kaepernick the face of its 30th anniversary “Just Do It” campaign. Many astute commentators have already noted that Nike, as a giant, publicly traded corporation, is laser-focused on making profits and maximizing value for its shareholders. From making political donations to Republicans and Democrats in roughly equal amounts to simultaneously sponsoring both Kaepernick and the league that has allegedly colluded to keep him off the field, Nike has shown that it is an equal opportunity offender–spreading its bets around for the higher purpose of making money for company owners. One of the narratives being pushed in the now-politicized world of business is that companies must take a side on contentious issues. Doing so cements their reputations as either “good” or “bad” to many consumers, depending on their perspectives; they may then support or boycott products accordingly. So, is Nike good or bad? Conservatives can find much to dislike about the company’s recent decision to give Kaepernick a more high-profile role in its ad campaign. Liberals can find fault with Nike’s failure to live up to internationally recognized labor

September 11, 2018 No Comments

Why the Dakota Access Pipeline could mean trouble for banks

In North Dakota, thousands of tribal leaders and activists are camped along the Cannonball River by the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation to resist the construction of the $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL). Once complete, the pipeline is expected to carry 570,000 barrels of oil per day from the Bakken and Three Forks oil fields in North Dakota to Illinois. Opponents, chief among them the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, argue that the project threatens supplies of drinking water and has already destroyed sacred sites, including burial grounds. The tribe recently filed a lawsuit against the Army Corps of Engineers, which is responsible for the federal lands the pipeline will cross and which granted permits to Energy Transfer Partners, the Texas-based energy company sponsoring DAPL. Recently, after a federal judge denied the request to halt construction, the Obama administration overruled the decision. But the move is only temporary. In addition to pursuing justice through legal means, a new potentially powerful strategy to combat construction was announced on September 3 during a rally at the encampment. Beginning that day, protest organizers launched a two-week call for action against the financial institutions bankrolling DAPL. It was recently revealed that more than two dozen

September 14, 2016 No Comments

How to make your portfolio “fracking-free”

As the 2016 presidential campaign gets into full swing, voters across the country have an opportunity to hear directly from the candidates on important issues. Neither of the two major political parties has taken a coherent, ethically rigorous stance on hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” But there are other ways for the ecologically conscious to make their voices heard on this issue, including voting with their pocketbooks. Fracking, which involves using a highly pressurized mix of water, sand, and toxic chemicals to unlock oil and natural gas from shale rock buried miles underground, is recognized by experts as dangerous. Fracking can cause methane leaks (a greenhouse gas that’s much more harmful than carbon dioxide) and seismic activity and can set water ablaze. And if methane, flammable water, and earthquakes weren’t bad enough, other problems with fracking include excessive water consumption, waste management issues, and air pollution. Thanks to fracking, the United States is now the world’s leading producer of oil and natural gas, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). EIA estimates that total U.S. gas production from 2012 to 2040 will increase 56 percent, with natural gas from shale as the leading contributor. The shale gas share of total

August 24, 2016 No Comments

Why Azzad didn’t invest in private prisons

When the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it would stop contracting with for-profit prison operators, Azzad’s investment team remembered why we chose not to invest in private prisons. At Azzad, we follow internationally accepted criteria for Islamic investing: avoiding interest, leverage, alcohol, tobacco, gambling, and pork products. We also implement selected additional social justice screens that we believe are in line with the universal faith imperative to protect people and the environment. For example, we don’t invest in weapons producers or companies practicing the devastating drilling practice known as fracking. Sometimes we hear from clients about these additional screens. “The traditional screens are already strict,” they tell us. “Why do you add more?” The answer is two-fold: because we believe it’s the right thing to do and we believe doing the right thing pays off in the long run. Yesterday we saw a great example of this when the DOJ made its announcement, dealing a major blow to the for-profit prison industry. Here’s the background. In May 2015, a REIT (real estate investment trust) company called Corrections Corporation of America (NYSE: CXW) passed Azzad’s financial ratio screens. CCA is one of the biggest players in the private prison

August 22, 2016 No Comments

Azzad finalizes gun-free investing policy

FALLS CHURCH, Virginia, Dec. 8, 2015 – Azzad Asset Management, investment advisor to the Azzad Funds, announced today that it will formally refrain from investing in companies that manufacture the weapons that have been used in mass shootings and other gun violence in the United States. The firm’s investment committee identified three companies in particular that benefit from the sale of assault weapons: Smith & Wesson (ticker: SWHC), Sturm, Ruger & Company (ticker: RGR), and Olin (ticker: OLN). Both Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger & Company manufacture versions of the assault rifle used in the latest mass shooting in San Bernardino, California. Olin is an ammunition producer. Azzad has not previously invested in these companies and therefore cannot divest from them, but the investment committee has now explicitly prohibited portfolio managers from purchasing shares of the aforementioned companies. “Investors have the ability to enact social change, and that’s part of our mandate at Azzad,” said Azzad Vice President and investment committee member Jamal Elbarmil. “Socially responsible mutual funds have an obligation on behalf of their shareholders to stop financially supporting companies that help enable the gun violence that has gripped our nation for too long.” A recent statement by Boston-based

December 18, 2015 No Comments

Johns Hopkins event promotes Islamic finance, SRI

On Tuesday, February 25, a group of government officials, academics, professionals, and students crowded into Rome Auditorium at 6:00 pm on the Washington, DC campus of Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. They were there to hear panelists explore the interplay between Islamic finance and socially responsible investing, or SRI. The event, sponsored by the DC Interfaith Network and the Student Middle East and North Africa Club at Johns Hopkins University, aimed to demystify the sometimes misunderstood concept of Islamic finance and investing. “The original title of the event was, ‘Islamic Finance and Socially Responsible Investing: What we can learn from each other,’” said a representative from Azzad Asset Management, one of the expert organizations presenting at the event. “We prevailed upon the organizers to change the second part of the title to ‘An evening of dialogue and learning’ because Islamic finance is already part and parcel of SRI investing. Faith-based investing of many varieties has always been a part of the movement. It speaks to the important and long-standing tradition of social justice.” Indeed, modern SRI investing in the United States traces its roots to the Quaker and Methodist denominations of Christianity. But more generally, religion from its

March 10, 2014 No Comments