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.

The ICCR has expanded and diversified both its membership and its strategies since its founding. Although the ICCR began as an alliance of faith-based organizations, it expanded its membership to include non-faith based organizations interested in social justice. In 1982, Calvert Group joined the ICCR as its first non-faith based member, and unions, pension funds, and other groups joined the ICCR throughout the 1980s. The ICCR also expanded its original approach of filing resolutions and attending shareholder meetings to engaging in direct dialog with corporations, as well as employing letter writing campaigns, and other strategies.

The ICCR’s work has expanded and changed to engage new issues over time. During the 1970s and 1980s, its work focused on several issues including apartheid, nutrition and the irresponsible distribution of infant formula, equal opportunity employment, diversity, equal access to capital, military profiteering, negative portrayals of women and minorities in advertising, political contributions, and the environmental impact of strip mining. During the 1990s and 2000s, the ICCR also worked on issues related to the corporate governance and policy, the environment and energy, militarism and violence, sweat shop labor, tobacco, and other human rights issues.

Today, the ICCR is comprised of nearly 300 organizations with collective investments of over $100 billion, which continues to influence corporate policy on environmental, social, and economic issues.

From the guide to the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility Records, 1966-2011, (Columbia University. Rare Book and Manuscript Library)