Sustainable & Responsible Investments Report
Fiscal Year 2023
The Amherst College Office of Investments and Investment Committee are committed to a dynamic and ongoing process of inquiry, analysis and engagement with Amherst’s investment partners around environmental, social, and governance considerations.
Portfolio Update
$3.3b
Value of the Amherst College endowment for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023
100%
Percentage of the College’s managers with whom the Investments Office has engaged about sustainability
40
Proxies voted in alignment with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles
0
The portfolio has no direct holdings in fossil fuel companies
Cash Equivalents 3%; Real Estate 0.2%; Natural Resources 4%; Public Equity 30%; Private Equity 46%; Absolute Return 12%; Fixed Income & Credit 5%.
Existing Manager Engagement
Amherst currently partners with 35 active investment managers, spanning a range of asset classes. The Office of Investments and Investment Committee are committed to meaningfully engaging with our managers. The College continues to have thoughtful dialogue with its managers around the issue of sustainability.
The Office of Investments is also deeply committed to incorporating the College’s values around diversity, equity, and inclusion in the management of the endowment. In 2023, the Office of Investments continued its process of engagement with its partners on their DEI efforts and initiatives, aiming to increase the diversity, equity, and inclusiveness of the office, portfolio, and investment world.
Sustainable & Responsible Investment Efforts
- The College engages prospective investment managers in dialogue during the due diligence process to understand their approach and commitment to integrating ESG and DEI considerations into their investment process. Amherst looks to invest with managers who thoughtfully and consistently incorporate ESG factors into their investment diligence and process.
- The College consistently evaluates and votes shareholder proxies in alignment with ESG principles, advocating for corporate accountability with respect to social, ethical, environmental and governance issues.
Proxy Voting
The College continues to use the voting rights attached to the shares of companies in which it invests to promote the principles of sustainable and responsible investment, utilizing research from ISS for all proxies before casting votes in alignment with these principles. In FY 2023, the College voted a total of 40 proxies for directly held stocks within the portfolio.
Voting Categories: Shareholder Rights and Defenses 2%; Auditor Related 16%; Board of Directors Related 22%; Capital/Corporate Structure 3%; Compensation Issues 35%; Political Contributions/Lobbying 5%; Labor/Human Rights/Consumer 11%; Climate Change/Environment 6%.
Of these, 22 proxies included various shareholder proposals for a wide range of issues, including reporting on lobbying payments and political spending, reporting on employment diversity, and revising and adopting human rights policies.
There were 50 shareholder proposals specific to ESG issues, including setting sustainable sourcing targets and reporting on respecting indigenous peoples’ rights, which the College voted in favor of.
Memberships & Other Engagement
| Name | Purpose | Participation |
|---|---|---|
| EIRIS (Conflict Risk Network) | A network of institutional investors, financial service providers and related stakeholders calling on corporations to fulfill their responsibility to respect human rights and to take steps that support peace and stability in areas affected by genocide and mass atrocities. | Member since 2009 |
| Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR) | Ceres’ INCR provides a forum for investors to share information, intelligence, experiences and strategies on integrating climate and other ESG factors into investment decision making. | Member since 2015 |
| ISS | ISS researches and provides recommendations for proxy voting in alignment with social and responsible investment principles. | Partner since 2007 |
| IADEI | An open organization of institutional allocators (largely endowments & foundations) working to address the issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion in their respective offices and portfolios, and in the investment industry at large. | Participant since 2021 |