EVENTIDE ASSET MANAGEMENT has confounded the investment world with its success - ad it s pblically based principles.
51 not long ago, when reporters wrote about Robin John, the cofounder of Eventide (E)..a subtle snicker rumbled under the surface. one called him 'The Believer'; others pointed out the odd language on his Boston-based mutual Fund company's website: business as an 'ENGINE OF BLESSING' AND 'BIBLICALLY RESPONSIBLE INVESTING'.
theology as the foundation for picking stocks?
is this guy for real>
today the murmurs seem to have faded and for good reason. since its launch in 2008, E's flagship mutual fund (a pool of money professionally invested in stocks, bonds and other securities) the GILEAD FUND, HAS GIVEN SHAREHOLDERS A 13.70 % ANNUALIZED RETURN as of Sept. 30,2016, compared to 9.03% for the Standard and Poor's 500. to put that into perspective, an investor who put $10,000 into the fund at its launch would be worth $26,050 today. the Gilead Fund has been covered as a top performer by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, among other publications. over the past 3 years, media attention has helped E explode from $50 million in assets under management to nearly $2 billion.
but there's more to Robin John(J) than a focus on profit. challenging Miltons Friedman's declaration that the only social responsibility of business is to increase profits, J says, 'PROFIT IS ONLY THE BYPRODUCT OF A JOB WELL DONE'.
J, an evangelical living in dallas, is a leader in the growing field of biblically responsible investing, which applies christian theology and social concern to investment analysis. E, founded in 2008, has garnered attention because of both its results and its uniquely faith-filled investment philosophy, driven ultimately by Jesus' command to love your neighbor as yourself.
his journey to investing, however, was fraught with vocational doubt, uncertainty and a heart-wrenching journey to India, the land of his birth...
...I would pray for a calling to go into ministry, J recalls, but I didn't hear from God. so , because I didn't feel like I had a calling, I said, 'I guess I'll just make money and support those who do...
...J asked Kuruvilla (K) to pray with him, hoping for a sense of Go's call. they prayed once a week for 6 months. 'if God wants me to go into full-time ministry, that's what I'll do, J said, uncertain about working in ministry or business. together they started a house church and were joined by a Nigerian widow, Congolese immigrants and a few Harvard students eager to serve their community. soon after, Tim Weinhold (W) an entrepreneur and Harvard alumnus, visited the house church. getting acquainted after the service, K mentioned that he and some friends were thinking of starting a christian mutual fund.
'I know what a mutual fund is, said a skeptical W. who would eventually become director of faith and business for E. 'and I know what a christian is. explain to me what a christian mutual fund is.
after prayer and discussion, J and K cofounded Eventide Asset Management with the vision of 'INVESTING THAT MAKES THE WORLD REJOICE.
as the Great Recession began, the sun was setting on J's longing for a call to ministry. in response to J's question of whether to go into business or ministry, God slowly revealed His clear answer: 'BOTH'.
I'm confused, I confess on stage, as I interview John before an eager crowd at the Commons at Champa, a shared workspace in denver.
'what's the difference between
SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE INVESTING,
VALUES-BASED INVESTING and
BIBLICALLY RESPONSIBLE INVESTING? ...
conventional fund managers look for financial strengths in making investment decisions, J says.
the problem is that profitability is a lagging indicator.
it tells investors more about the past than the future.
moreover, it doesn't show how a business made that money, whether through quality products or oppressive business practices.
conversely, moral or ethical fund managers screen out the 'vice stocks'
-pornography, tobacco, weapons or abortion
-and then look for financial strengths.
'this is the typical approach of what we might label biblically responsible investing 1.0.
its a good star J says, but it doesn't go far enough, because business can HARM not just through BAD PRODUCTS but through BAD PRACTICES.
the Biblical word for these business practices if PLUNDER, says J, who cites biblical passages that emphasize God's concern for the poor: 'because the poor are plundered and the needy groan, I will now arise, says the Lord, 'I will protect them from those who malign them. Psalms 12.5
but instead of merely avoiding companies that plunder or extract value from a community..we llk for companies with an extraordinary ability to INNOVATE AND CREATE VALUE FOR ALL STAKEHOLDERS - CUSTOMERS, EMPLOYEES, SUPPLIERS, HOST COMMUNITIES, THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY. each of these 6 stakeholders, E believes, is a primary neighbor that business are called to serve. J dubs this POSITIVE VISION, 'biblically responsible investing 2.0.
the E philosophy, or E Business 360, is rooted in the biblical understanding that God's intent for business, investing and all vocations is to serve and, in turn, bless humankind. Weinhold, E's director of faith and business, points to verses like deuteronomy 8.18 - 'but remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth and so confirm His covenant, which He swore to your ancestors, as it is today' - to show that business is uniquely able to create wealth and provide for material needs.
business does this, according to W, by creating products that solve the material challenges of human existence and by making a profit, thereby enlarging human wealth to make those products affordable and accessible.
when deciding what businesses to invest in, E considers factors often outside of typical investment analysis such as
employees
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