Funds Group: Boston Trust and Walden Funds
Management Company: Adviser-Boston Trust Investment Management, Inc. Sub-adviser-Walden Asset Management
Funds Affected: Walden Asset Management, Walden Equity, Walden International Equity, Walden Midcap, Walden Small Cap and Walden SMID Cap
Sustainable Investing Strategy: ESG Integration, Exclusions, Shareholder Advocacy, Proxy Voting
Summary:
The Walden funds incorporate written environmental, social, and governance (ESG) guidelines in the selection of individual securities and in portfolio construction. The funds also seek to strengthen ESG performance and accountability of portfolio companies through proxy voting, shareholder engagement and public policy advocacy. In selecting stocks, the adviser favors investment in companies and institutions it deems to have relatively strong ESG records and seeks to avoid those with inferior ESG performance relative to peers. After investing in a company, Walden may also choose to pursue shareholder engagement to encourage stronger corporate responsibility and accountability.
Walden researches, evaluates and seeks to promote corporate responsibility in five areas: products and services, workplace conditions, community impact, environmental impact, and corporate governance. In each of the five areas identified above, and notwithstanding other investment considerations, Walden favors companies judged to demonstrate best practices relative to peers, improvement over time, robust management systems, and accountability through standardized public reporting and responsiveness to shareholders.
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