Around the Schools: Harvard Kennedy School

The Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University has announced that the Initiative for Responsible Investment (IRI) has joined the center.

The IRI serves as a platform for dialogue on fundamental issues and theories underlying how financial markets can promote creating wealth across the triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit. The IRI examines responsible investment across asset classes, and conducts research, convenes stakeholders, and catalyzes practical action on issues important to the responsible investment community.

The IRI, founded in 2003 with the guidance of Steve Lydenberg, chief investment officer at Domini Social Investments, is led by Director David Wood. Current research and projects include the practice and value of corporate social responsibility investing; alternative theories of investment across asset classes; and the roles of investment consultants.

As part of its programming, the IRI has helped create two parallel organizations. The Responsible Property Investing Center is a collaboration with the University of Arizona to stimulate new vocabulary, research, and investments in the field of responsible property investing, using research and education to build a community of practice around environmental and social investment strategies in the real estate industry. The IRI also hosts More for Mission, an association of foundations dedicated to promoting mission investing, which has the dual objectives of furthering social goals while earning financial returns. It also encourages other foundations to adopt such practices.

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