Trillium Asset Mgmt

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Trillium Asset Management is the oldest investment advisor exclusively focused on sustainable and responsible investing.

Joan Bavaria founded Trillium in 1982 to provide a space for clients to invest their money in alignment with their values. She is often referred to as the “Founding Mother” of Socially Responsible Investing. Under Joan’s visionary leadership, Trillium grew to become one of the largest SRI investment firms in the U.S. Joan was proud to use Trillium as an incubator to create organizations with impact. Our firm helped nurture US SIF, Ceres, SIRAN and Open MIC.

Following Joan’s death in 2008, Matt Patsky joined the firm as CEO, and committed to furthering her legacy.

In late 2014, Trillium completed its acquisition of the Portfolio 21 Global Equity Fund, a mutual fund that has been fossil fuel free since its inception in 1999.

perfect was the enemy of the good?

jeff c: op ed

http://www.trilliuminvest.com/op-ed-citizens-united-and-the-2012-election-bad-news-and-good-news/

By JEFFREY CLEMENTS

Make no mistake, the impact of the Supreme Court’s fiasco in Citizens United v. FECon the elections and our government was even worse than predicted. That’s the bad news. The good news is that the forces of reform, led by the growing movement for a 28th Amendment to the US Constitution, also made a forceful showing in November.

First, the bad news. There is a lot we will never know due to absence of adequate disclosure rules (the proposed DISCLOSE law went to the Senate to die in 2011). What we do know: Election spending came to at least six billion dollars, more than ever, anywhere in the history of humanity, to determine who won, who lost, and what the candidates talked about and what they did not talk about.

Here’s another number: 0.5%. One-half of one percent of people in America made up 80% of the political spending. A mere 149 donors made up 75% of the SuperPAC money raised from individuals (estimated to be a billion dollars). In total, only 2800 donors wrote huge checks to make up 98% of the SuperPAC money from individuals.

Is it any wonder that sober, serious people such as Bill Moyers, or Jim Leach, an Iowa Republican who served in Congress for thirty years, are now using words terms as “oligarchy” and “plutocracy” to describe the post-Citizens United system?

The proper metaphor for money in politics is not “speech” but “power.” That is why global corporations exploited Citizens United without reservation. Monsanto and other corporate giants spent $46 million to smother a GMO-labeling initiative in California. Chevron contributed $2.5 million into Speaker Boehner’s SuperPAC to hold a majority for the climate deniers and obstructionists. Saudi interests used the American Petroleum Institute and huge stakes in international corporations such as News Corporation (number 2 shareholder: Kingdom Holding Company of Saudi Arabia) to sway various election contests.

No campaign was too obscure. Chevron used a deceptive front group (“Moving Forward”) to funnel $1.2 million of the corporate oil giant’s funds into local city council races in Richmond, CA. Over a million dollars in a city council race in a community of 100,000: What’s that about? Chevron runs a refinery in Richmond that has long plagued the community and sent thousands to area hospitals after an explosion last August. Chevron also has a series of tax disputes and regulatory problems. Corporate control of the City Council may come in handy.

Yet there’s hope, a verb that environmentalist and writer David Orr defines as “a verb with its sleeves rolled up.” Most hopeful of all: The campaign for a 28th amendment to the US Constitution to reverse Citizens United and restore the Constitution and elections to the American people. While we need 2/3 of Congress and ¾ of the States to make the 28th Amendment part of the Constitution, the velocity of this campaign is striking.

On election day in Montana, 75% of the voters endorsed a ballot initiative calling for the 28th Amendment. The initiative, I-166, stated the policy of Montana clearly enough: (1) corporations do not have Constitutional rights; (2) unlimited spending in elections corrupts elections and government and contradicts the political equality of all Americans; and (3) the voters of Montana instruct their elected representatives to work for passage and ratification of the 28th Amendment.

Montana was joined by Colorado, where voters passed a similar call for the 28th Amendment by a similarly lopsided margin. That makes eleven states that now have passed resolutions calling on Congress to send a Constitutional amendment overturning Citizens United to the states for ratification. More than 120 cities and towns had the Constitutional amendment question on their ballots on November 6; it passed by huge margins in every single one. Seventy-three U.S. House members elected on November 6 have sponsored 28th Amendment bills in Congress, as have twenty-five Senators returning to Washington.

Thousands of business leaders (including Trillium CEO Matt Patsky) have joined this effort. Increasing numbers of religious leaders are joining the fight to overturn Citizens United and end gross political inequality. As Rev. Jim Wallis has said, “our national soul is at stake.”...

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Biographical Information

"Matt is a managing partner, CEO, and portfolio manager, and leads our Sustainable Opportunities strategy. He joined Trillium in October, 2009, and has over 25 years of experience in investment research and investment management.

"Matt began his career at Lehman Brothers in 1984 as a technology analyst. In 1989, while covering emerging growth companies for Lehman, he began to incorporate environmental, social and governance factors into his research, becoming the first sell side analyst in the United States to publish on the topic of socially responsible investing in 1994. As Director of Equity Research for Adams, Harkness & Hill, he built that firm’s powerful research capabilities in socially and environmentally responsible areas such as renewable energy, resource optimization, and organic and natural products. Matt was most recently at Winslow Management Company in Boston, where he served as director of research, chairman of the investment committee and portfolio manager for the Green Solutions Strategy and the Winslow Green Solutions Fund.

"Matt is currently on the Boards of Environmental League of Massachusetts, Shared Interest, and Pro Mujer. He recently served on the Boards of US SIF and Root Capital. Matt is a member of the Social Venture Network (SVN). He is a Chartered Financial Analyst charterholder and a member of the CFA Institute. Matt holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute."^[1]

Affiliations

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"Matt began his career at Lehman Brothers in 1984 as a technology analyst. In 1989, while covering emerging growth companies for Lehman, he began to incorporate environmental, social and governance factors into his research, becoming the first sell side analyst in the United States to publish on the topic of socially responsible investing in 1994. As Director of Equity Research for Adams, Harkness & Hill, he built that firm’s powerful research capabilities in socially and environmentally responsible areas such as renewable energy, resource optimization, and organic and natural products. Matt was most recently at Winslow Management Company in Boston, where he served as director of research, chairman of the investment committee and portfolio manager for the Green Solutions Strategy and the Winslow Green Solutions Fund.

Affiliations

Resources and articles

Related Sourcewatch

References

:{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:↑ Trillium Asset Management Matthew W. Patsky, organizational web page, accessed May 26, 2013.

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http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Trillium_Asset_Management

Trillium Asset Management Corporation

"Trillium Asset Management, LLC is the oldest independent investment advisor devoted exclusively to sustainable and responsible investing (SRI). We believe that environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors play an integral role in the investment process, which can lower portfolio risk and help identify the best-managed companies. For investors seeking ethical and mission-related investing strategies, Trillium is a leader in shareholder advocacy and public policy work." ^[1] "Trillium was founded in 1982 by visionary Joan Bavaria. Originally named Franklin Research & Development, the company was started to provide a space for investors to match their money with their values. Under Joan’s leadership, Trillium grew to become one of the largest SRI investment firms in the US. She was often referred to as the Founding Mother of this field, Socially Responsible Investing. Joan was proud to use Trillium as an incubator to create organizations with impact. From within our walls we helped nurture US SIF, Ceres, SIRAN and Open MIC. After Joan’s death in 2008, Matt Patsky joined the firm as CEO, and committed to furthering Joan’s legacy." ^[2]