Comic Relief, the UK charity that came under fire late last year over its investment policy, has become a signatory of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI) and declared it will avoid all investments in tobacco, arms and alcohol.
‘Public trust is the cornerstone of Comic Relief and we would be nothing without our many supporters to whom we have listened and will keep listening,’ Comic Relief chairman Tim Davie says in a note on the charity’s web site. ‘We now have an investment policy that is firmly in line with the ethos of the charity, at the same time as making sure that the money we raise can go further to change lives both here in the UK and abroad.’
The announcement follows a two-month independent review of Comic Relief’s investment policies that fielded five recommendations, including that the charity join the UN PRI, increase transparency of its investments, screen out investments that contradict its core mission, strengthen links between its investment committee and its trustees and use some of its capital – instead of just its income – on social investment.
The charity adds however that it is seeking to limit the number of blocks against potential investments after the review recommended it adopt ‘only a small number of absolute prohibitions’ in order to ‘avoid an excessive reduction in the universe available for investment’.
Comic Relief, which sponsors the national Red Nose Day and Sport Relief charity events and raises money for a variety of social goals, found itself embroiled in controversy last December when the BBC’s Panorama investigative journalism program revealed that it had invested millions of pounds in tobacco and alcohol companies as well as in weapons manufacturer BAE Systems.
‘The decision to exclude these areas results from an analysis examining controversial sectors against three criteria: Comic Relief’s vision of a just world, free from poverty, its grant-making program, and public opinion,’ the charity says in a press release. ‘These exclusions will be reviewed every six months.’
