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Dear Fellow
Shareholders:
In this year of
tough economic news and a hard-fought presidential campaign, calls for change
are in the air. This represents, I think, more than dissatisfaction with
American progress. It reflects also a determination that government should
once again take up its historic role of promoting the common good and its
obligation to regulate corporate conduct.
That would
certainly be a welcome development.
In the meanwhile
it has been up to social investors like you to make change happen.
Many of the
issues being aired during this interesting campaign season are ones we social
investors have been talking about for years. We look closely at how companies
use lobbyists and campaign contributions to maximize their political
influence, at the social costs of for-profit healthcare that leaves so many
behind, at companies’ responses to climate change, and at the profound impact
of government contracts and tax incentives on crucial matters of war and
peace, energy development and human capital.
In this year’s
Semi-Annual Report, we report on issues of basic human dignity. On behalf of
our shareholders, we encourage companies to use their influence to help end
the genocide in Darfur, to protect freedom of expression, and to provide safe
conditions and fair pay to workers in the far-flung factories that make the
products we use every day.
Your commitment
to social investing makes all the difference on these and many other
important issues. The progress we make is slow, and requires long-term
commitment. As Martin Luther King said, ‘‘the arc of the moral universe is
long, but it bends toward justice.’’
This has been a
difficult period for investors. Over the past six months, stock markets are
down across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, a decline precipitated in part by the
U.S. housing slump and the credit crisis that came in its wake. A primary
reason for the collapse of the subprime lending market is that unscrupulous
mortgage lenders made loans — often with deceptive terms — that people could
not afford to repay. Then they bundled those unsustainable mortgages into
securities with unrealistically high credit ratings.
Domini research
has long focused on predatory lending, and we do our best to avoid companies
that practice it. We sounded the alarm a decade ago. Our commitment to
community development investments demonstrates and supports a better way to
serve low-income people. This, in a nutshell, is why what we social investors
do is so important, for people and the planet. A groundswell of change is
building, and your investments are a part of it.
We are honored
that our shareholders share this vision, and continue to place their trust in
us.
Thank you, as
always, for your decision to invest with Domini.
Very truly yours,
Amy Domini
amy@domini.com
1046
09252
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