Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility

The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) grew out of an interest in socially responsible investing that arose from concerns of clergy that churches might be profiting from the Vietnam War through their investments. In 1971, the Episcopal Church and six other protestant denominations formed the Interfaith Committee on Social Responsibility in Investments (ICSRI), which would allow for the group to share information and coordinate efforts to press for corporate change through their collective investments. During that same year, the Episcopal Church filed the first religious-sponsored shareholder resolution with General Motors requesting that the company withdraw its operations from apartheid South Africa. The committee soon filed additional resolutions on other social issues using similar strategies.

The organization expanded during the 1970s. The ICSRI’s membership grew quickly, and within a few years was joined by Jewish investors and the National Catholic Coalition for Responsible Investment. In 1973, the ICSRI merged with the Corporate Information Center (CIC) to form the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR). The CIC had been founded in 1971 as a research project within the National Council of Churches (NCC), and produced the Corporate Examiner newsletter and other research reports on corporate responsibility. The two organizations had worked closely together, and the merger allowed for the ICSRI, which focused on coordination and strategy, to form one organization with the CIC, which focused on research, education, and producing information.

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