9 Socially Responsible Investment Firms Earning You Ethical Returns
Can you maximize your investment while delivering positive social value?
Yes! You can knock those two birds courtesy of socially responsible investment firms.
Gordon Gekko mentality is increasingly being eschewed in favor of Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing. Several types of socially responsible investment funds and ethical investing apps are now available to help you make your money work for more than just you.
Assets for impact investing exceeded $16.6 trillion in 2020, but many of us lack the financial expertise and time to research exactly where our money is going. Thankfully, these companies provide a hands-off expert-guided means for you to invest in a more equitable future.
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The Best Socially Responsible Investment Firms Creating A Positive Impact
With Aspiration you decide how much fees to pay and those fees are donated to nonprofits that support climate action.
Specializing in women’s wealth management, Ellevest’s Impact Portfolio helps support ESG and women-led businesses with a mix of low-cost EFTs and mutual funds.
Employee-owned Castlefield makes investing easy for UK readers with a single strategy and portfolio funds screened against ten positive investment themes, including Environmental Management, Health and Wellbeing, and Sustainable Supply Chains.
The Full List Of Ethical Investment Firms
1. Aspiration
*See superscript hyperlink for disclosures
Ethical Investments: Only one fund offered, as either a regular taxable investment account or Traditional IRA, which invests in companies and organizations that have been carefully analyzed for ESG performance and those that are “poised for growth”.
Fees & Minimum Amounts: $10 account minimum (+$1 for subsequent investments in the IRA); $0 custodial fee on taxable accounts and $15 for IRAs;
Risk & Returns: No tax-loss harvesting.
The Aspiration1 Redwood Fund ensures “[e]very Aspiration community member plays a role in supporting organizations that are making the world a better place” by investing in industry leaders in sustainability across a variety of sectors.
Providing top-notch transparency, their website discloses exact percentages of funds directed toward different industries and what companies are funded within each one so you can do your own research, too. Aspiration’s Redwood Fund does not fund oil or fossil fuels in any way.
Additionally, your choice of Pay What Is Fair fees are donated to nonprofits that support climate action, such as the American Forests’ REPLANT program which aids reforestation efforts in areas devastated by wildfires
2. Betterment
Ethical Investments: The curated socially responsible investment portfolios consist of low-cost and custom-built diversified EFTs that support Climate Impact, Social Impact, or Broad Impact (both).
Fees & Minimum Amounts: The Digital plan is $4/month or an annual 0.25% fee (depending on your household balance), with no minimum amount required. For a 0.65% fee and a minimum investing balance of $100,000, the Premium plan gives you phone/email access to a Certified Financial Planner™.
Risk & Returns: Risk allocation is moderated using auto-adjusted allocation and rebalancing. Automated and optimized tax strategies help you save and earn more money over time.
As one of the best socially responsible investment firms for beginners, award-winning Betterment offers a hands-off, advisor fee-free way to invest.
Their socially responsible portfolios are tailored to your financial goals and automatically adjusted as better funds become available. It’s easy to withdraw and move money, and free tax-loss harvesting is available.
Check out their Climate Impact portfolio if you’re wondering how to invest in carbon credits.
3. Ellevest
Ethical Investments: The Ellevest Impact Portfolio supports a mix of low-cost EFTs and mutual funds, including stocks, bonds, and alternative funds. More than half are from ESG and women-focused funds.
Fees and Minimum Amounts: Membership costs $12 a month. Additional fees charged by funds range from 0.13% to 0.19% per year for Ellevest Impact Portfolios. No minimum investment or balance is required for basic portfolios although some range from $1-$240. Private Wealth Management Accounts are available if you have over $1,000,000 to invest.
Risk & Returns: Risk is calculated based on your financial goals and timelines. While tax minimization strategies are offered, tax-loss harvesting is not.
New York-based Ellevest is the #1 investing platform built by women for women to support women-led businesses. Viewing investing through a gender-based lens, all portfolio projections consider the gender pay gap, career breaks, and women’s lifespan estimates.
To ensure your finances create a positive impact, opt for the Ellevest Impact Portfolio which invests over half in companies supporting gender equality, climate justice, racial equity, and more.
4. Empower
Ethical Investments: Mutual funds, traditional and diversified low-cost ETFs, individual equities and fixed-income securities. Empower’s Socially Responsible Personal Strategy supports companies committed to ESG performance. Note their other investment offerings are less ethical.
Fees & Minimum Amounts: Fees are based on the value of your assets. For the first $1 million, the advisor fee is 0.89%. The fee is as low as 0.49% if you have more than $10 million to invest.
Risk & Returns: Strategies including Smart Weighting™ and ongoing rebalancing are used to maximize return and reduce risk.
With Empower’s Social Responsible Personal Strategy, exclusive and inclusive filters mean that controversial industries (energy, tobacco, gambling, small arms, adult entertainment) aren’t included, while those that support sustainability, renewable energy, diversity, and board independence are.
They’re not only an ethical place to invest but also to work. Committed to diversity and inclusion, they have Business Resource Groups that include: Aspiring Latinos Moving Ahead, Black Organization for Leadership Development, Women’s Empowerment Network, PRIDE, and Network of Asians Making Strides at Empower.
Inclusive healthcare, paternity and maternity benefits, adoption assistance, mental health benefits, and paid volunteer hours support their team.
5. EarthFolio
Ethical Investments: Tailor-made portfolios based on a broad range of sustainable mutual funds and ETFs.
Fees & Minimum Amounts: To open an account, you’ll need a minimum investment amount of $25,000, and an annual advisory fee of 0.50% is charged. Additional charges from the underlying mutual funds range from 0.25% to 0.78% per year.
Risk & Returns: Time-tested strategies are used to find the best level of risk/return for each investor, but they don’t offer tax-loss harvesting.
Managed by ethical funding specialist Blue Marble Investments, EarthFolio is the only online advisory service that exclusively invests in funds deemed “Sustainable” or “Responsible”, with twenty years of experience in the industry.
Portfolios are assessed by various ESG criteria: Conservation, Clean Tech, Equality & Diversity, Human Rights, Fair Labor, Animal Welfare, Non-Violence, Corporate Governance, Healthy Living, Community Development, Fossil-Fuel Free, and Shareholder Advocacy.
6. SVX
Ethical Investments: SVX offers advisory services, education, portfolio management, and an investing platform.
Fees & Minimum Amounts: The minimum amounts required vary between projects.
Canada-based SVX acts like a nonprofit matchmaker between ethical investment funds and people seeking financial returns. They focus on Canadian private market securities in the clean tech, health and wellness, food, housing, community real estate, and social inclusion sectors—to name a few.
Investment opportunities change regularly and are not always open. If you’re interested, complete an accreditation process and if SVX agrees that it will meet financial goals, funds will be held in the trust until the campaign closes and the investment is finalized.
Previous projects include support for the YMCAs of Québec, a women’s empowerment fund, student loan offers, and solar farms.
7. Castlefield
Ethical Investments: Castlefield’s sustainable fund range includes single strategy and portfolio funds configured to deliver a specific investment objective. Funds are positively screened against ten Positive Investment Themes and negatively screened to ensure no company gets more than 10% revenue/operating profit from sin sectors.
Fees & Minimum Amounts: Sustainable fund charges vary, typically around 0.81% to 1.18%. The Real Return Fund has a 1.86% charge.
Risk & Returns: Detailed information is available for each sustainable fund, including a risk and reward profile.
Castlefield is “the thoughtful investor.” They work closely with UK-based individuals, businesses, and not-for-profit investors to determine what “ethical” and “responsible” investment means to them—making them one of the most personalized socially responsible investment services.
Their BEST responsible investment approach uses four main assessment criteria: Business & Financial, Environmental & Ecological, Positive Social Influence, and Transparency & Governance.
They’re employee-owned and signatory to the Women in Finance Charter, which aims to achieve gender balance in the financial industry. Fifty percent of senior management roles are filled by women.
8. Ethex
Ethical Investments: Ethex offers a range of investment opportunities, including bonds, community shares, and withdrawable shares to fund grassroots community projects and ethical businesses.
Fees & Minimum Amounts: The minimum investment amount varies for each opportunity. Current open projects have a minimum investment amount of £250.
Risk & Returns: The offer document for each opportunity covers the risks for individual investments, and Ethex outlines the general investment risks on its website. Each investment opportunity lists the forecasted returns. For current projects these range from 4% to 7%.
One of the best impact investing platforms in the UK, Ethex helps you “put your money where your mouth is”.
In the past decade, the not-for-profit organization has helped around 25,000 conscious investors raise £120 million for over 200 projects, including affordable housing, sustainable farming, ethical finance, renewable energy, and more.
You can browse current (and past) investment opportunities and then sign up for an account to proceed. Potential investors must complete an Investor Appropriateness Test as part of the sign-up process to ensure they understand and accept the investment risks.
Ethex also received an Ethical Consumer Best Buy label for its Innovative Finance ISAs (IFISAs).
9. Australian Ethical
Ethical Investments: Australian Ethical has 12 managed fund options, 7 ethical super options, an EFT, and retirement options.
Fees & Minimum Amounts: Management and performance fees vary by fund with a detailed breakdown provided in each Product Disclosure Statement. The minimum investment for the retail class is $1,000 ( or $500 with a regular investment plan) and $25,000 for the wholesale class. The EFT has a management fee of 0.69% per year and a 15% performance fee.
Risk & Returns: Detailed information, including the risk profile, is provided for each sustainable fund.
Australian Ethical is one of the largest online ethical investment companies in Australia. Their rigorous ethical assessment ensures that 100% of their investment options support a better future for people, the planet, and animals.
Their Ethical Guide provides detailed information about how decisions are made so you can be confident that your money only supports companies working for the greater good.
The high-ranking Certified B Corp donates 10% of profits to the Australian Ethical Foundation, which supports organizations addressing climate change. To date they’ve supported over 30 charities with a total of $9 million.
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This was super helpful! I tried to open a US OpenInvest account but i can’t seem to find an option to do so on the website. Am I missing something?
Glad it was helpful Sumita! I’m not sure – I’d suggest reaching out directly to their support team who’d do a better job than I could.
I’m looking for a socially responsible, reputable investment firm that will assign a broker who can manage my portfolio and interact with me and my accountant.I don’t want an on-line account.
I need to leave my current firm because of their decision to ignore my account.
Sincerely,
Edwin Krales
Hi Edwin, great to hear you’re looking for a socially responsible investment firm. I’m afraid we’ve only really covered online options here so wouldn’t be much help for you. Perhaps your accountant knows of a good in person option in your area?