One Compass Advisors — a subsidiary of the Presbyterian Foundation — serves as investment advisor to the Funds and oversees a group of sub-advisors. They include:
- Wellington Management Company, LLP, based in Boston, is manager of the core equity portfolio of New Covenant Growth Fund.
- Capital Guardian Trust Company manages the Growth Fund’s foreign satellite portfolio.
- Santa Barbara Asset Management manages the large-cap growth satellite portfolio of the New Covenant Growth Fund.
- Sound Shore Management, Inc., based in Greenwich, Conn., is the manager for the Growth Fund’s value satellite portfolio.
New Covenant Funds are sponsored by the Presbyterian Foundation, which was created by the Presbyterian Church in 1799 and has endowment assets dating back to 1821. In 1999 the Foundation decided to convert its common trust funds to SEC-registered mutual funds, creating the New Covenant Funds. The funds screen potential investments for gambling, alcohol and firearms.
Anita Clemons, chief investment officer for the Presbyterian Foundation, says there are about 720 companies in New Covenant Funds’ portfolio and about 100 companies on a restricted list. Of the stocks they hold they are active shareholders, aggressively filing and co-filing resolutions.
“The restricted list is where you’ve given up,” she says. “You have no voice left if you don’t own the company. That’s always a last resort for us, to put something on the restricted list. We would rather have a seat at the table and dialogue with the company.”
New Covenant has filed resolutions with the giant toymaker Mattel asking for reports on product safety, which it agreed to do and with First Energy to prompt the utility to issue a report on climate change. It co-filed a resolution that would have required the energy company Conoco-Phillips to set a target on the reduction on the greenhouse gas emissions.