At the same time, because CCLA is managing other people’s money they need to align portfolios with their clients’ visions and values.
Corah adds: “People really want to connect their values with their money. So this is where the alignment is where the miracle happens in the adviser and adviser space.”
The CCLA approach is “not about companies with the answers.” Corah says that his firm thinks “it is better to influence companies and through active engagement, and voting and talking to regulators and benchmarking”. Therefore their aim is to “make companies a little better.”
Adviser Action
CCLA has set up an initiative especially aimed at the financial adviser community called “Adviser Action.”
Corah reports: “one of the things we were quite conscious of was our USP and our specialism of good engagement. We realised that this can be difficult to do well, very few advisers have that resource.
"As a consequence many advisers feel engagement is something asset managers do, but advisers don’t do.
“The movement is about connecting clients' money with clients' values and using their money to make change and get a return, and if the advisers feel that they can’t do this, there is a problem."
Adviser Action in a nutshell: what does it do?
- Adviser Action brings advisers together as investors, with a common goal of engagement and transformation.
- CCLA provides the secretariat.
- At points, the advisers will meet with the companies themselves. This is aimed at breaking down the barriers between advisers and their clients and asset management.
- Currently there are two primary areas where CCLA is particularly active in terms of influencing and making change: mental health and combating modern day slavery.
Corah adds: "Adviser Action “gives (advisers) that sense of ownership over engagement activity that previously they have had to borrow from the asset management industry.
"In time as it grows they will be able to pick the topics they want to influence on, to fit with the underlying requirements of the clients themselves."
Donors and investors
One financial charity with a very clear vision of where they want themselves and the planet to go is the Global Returns Project, which is working with six environmental charities and their donors to help combat climate change.
The aim of the Global Returns Project is to encourage all savers to donate between 0.25 and 1 per cent of their net worth towards the selected charities, enabling the charities to work to scale using their expertise and networks to combat climate change.
Since the project was founded, donations have snowballed from just under £40,000 in the 2019-2020 financial year, to more than £362,000 projected for the 2023-2024 financial year.
“That means the amount we’ve raised is projected to have doubled from FY23 to FY24. To-date, we will have raised over £800,000 for our charities in total,” says chief strategy officer Jack Chellman.
