Innovest: Christian investors need to check their managers, proxy votes

Innovest Portfolio Solutions, a Denver-based investment consulting firm, is urging Christians, including Catholics, to examine what their money is invested in and how their shareholder proxy votes are cast to ensure their investments align with their faith.

“All capital has influence, and God’s capital should not be used against Him,” Innovest CEO Rich Todd and Mission & Thought Leadership Director Sarah Newman argue in a statement provided to Zeale News in  which they explain why Catholics’ investments should conform to Catholic Social Teaching.  

Innovest, which was established 30 years ago, consults on nearly $60 billion in assets and counts churches, ministries, dioceses, religious orders, foundations, and endowments among its clients.

Todd and Newman quickly reveal that the “wolves in sheep’s clothing” are secular firms that manage much of the money for dioceses, religious orders, and other Catholic institutions but have values that are not aligned with the Church. 

When this incongruence is mentioned, Innovest says it frequently receives push-back from Catholic organizations saying that values-based investing does not deliver good results. But Todd and Newman cite a First Trust study that compared a basket of companies that failed to meet the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ investment guidelines — so-called sin stocks — and found that these stocks significantly underperformed its benchmark. 

“Investments in sin stocks have not paid!” they write.

Another avenue where misalignment becomes obvious is proxy voting, where secular consultants or firms vote for shareholders on items the company they are invested in is considering. The authors note that more than 40% of proxy votes now concern social issues, and of six abortion-related votes in 2025, most were cast in favor of the abortion resolutions because many Church investors delegate their votes to proxy firms with misaligned values. 

The impact can go beyond proxy voting to include corporate engagement by secular asset managers. Todd and Newman say that “many secular asset managers and consultants are actively engaging companies promoting clearly anti-Christian policies.” One instance they describe involves a company that refused to match contributions employees made to churches, while other managers partnered with companies that offer “transgender” services for children as an employee benefit. They point investors to the 1792 Exchange as a public resource for evaluating managers.

Innovest is among a growing number of firms helping Christian investors align their portfolios with their faith. Others include Arimathea Investing, which offers Catholic investment funds and screening resources; Aquinas Wealth Advisors, which grades portfolios on their alignment with Catholic principles; IWP Capital, which provides faith-based investment screening and proxy voting services; and GoodWay Investing, which rates funds and ETFs according to Catholic Social Teaching.