Our Teams
The Dwight Hall Socially Responsible Investment Fund is comprised of three key branches:
Portfolio, Shareholder Engagement, and Community Investment.
Portfolio
At DHSRI, we manage part of Dwight Hall’s Endowment. In this regard, we are first and foremost an endowment. The long-term preservation of, and return on, capital is always a focal point of our team’s mission. To this end, our portfolio’s broad diversification strategy takes after that laid out by David Swensen of the Yale Investments Office.
With over $200,000 in assets under management (AUM), our portfolio targets an allocation of 35% domestic equity, 30% foreign equity, 25% alternatives, and 10% fixed income.
Another focal point of our portfolio is social responsibility. Every investment we consider is closely examined with a lens of investment opportunity and corporate responsibility. By actively screening for companies and funds at the forefront of socially responsible investing, our portfolio is in line with Dwight Hall’s commitment to being a center for public service and social justice.
In 2020, DHSRI engaged in the first-ever Intentional Endowments Network SIILK Corporate Engagement Competition focused on ESG investment analysis and ideas for shareholder engagement strategies that aim to improve a company’s financial and sustainability performance.
Shareholder Engagement
The shareholder engagement team communicates with investor relations representatives from companies in which DHSRI owns shares to improve these companies’ corporate responsibility standards.
In the past, the DHSRI shareholder engagement team has spoken with executives from ExxonMobil and Merck Pharmaceuticals and has attended Exxon’s Annual General Meeting for the past three years. In 2020, DHSRI added McDonald’s Corporation and Amazon.com, Inc to its mission driven portfolio.
To date, DHSRI is the only student-run fund to co-file a shareholder resolution with a public company and is the only student-run fund to be a part of the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility, a leading investment activism nonprofit.
In an average shareholder engagement meeting, members will spend time brainstorming and researching how to change corporate practices in a manner that progressively influences policy.
Community Investment
The DHSRI Community Investment (CI) team is DHSRI’s youngest team, operating with a focus on challenges and opportunities in the Greater New Haven Area.
Our mission is to address systemic challenges in New Haven by directing Yale students and resources toward philanthropy and educational initiatives in the region.
CI members will work on grant making to New Haven nonprofits and financial literacy programs at New Haven schools.
