Inspire Investing, a leading player in the faith-based, biblically responsible investing movement, just passed another major milestone in the continued growth of their firm, breaking above half of a billion dollars in assets under management (AUM).
Positive performance and persistently growing demand for their uniquely constructed, index based, biblically responsible investment offerings have propelled Inspire’s asset levels higher with astounding velocity. Inspire began 2019 with $250M in assets. Six months later, they have doubled that number to above $500M.
“It is humbling for us to see the staggering growth of our firm because we know it is all because of God’s work in the hearts of His people,” commented Robert Netzly, CEO of Inspire, “God is the one behind the biblically responsible investing movement’s incredible momentum, and He is the one to whom all glory is due.”
Inspire’s total discretionary assets under management were $500,554,432 as of market close on June 4th.
Inspire’s growth is testament to the expanding movement among Christian investors to align their investments with the biblical values they hold dear, a practice called biblically responsible investing.
BRI is a thriving subset of the larger ESG (environmental, social, governance) investing trend. For years, the ESG landscape has been dominated by investment screening that sought to align with progressive, liberal values. But now, faith-based investors are waking up to the opportunity to invest in positive, quality companies that align with their conservative, biblical values.
Many investors are shocked to discover that their IRA, 401k, mutual fund, ETF or other investment is profiting from and supporting business involved with abortion, pornography, human trafficking and other immoral issues. These investors are discovering that because of companies like Inspire, they can avoid investing in these problematic categories and instead invest in companies making a positive influence on the world, without having to sacrifice performance.
These are the investors bringing their money to Inspire Investing and driving the BRI movement.
At the center of Inspire’s approach to biblically responsible investing is their proprietary Inspire Impact Score methodology. Inspire Impact Scores allow investors to easily identify how aligned or how opposed a company (or portfolio of companies, like a mutual fund or ETF) is to biblical values.
Using a wealth of environmental, social and governance (ESG) data from some of the most respected data providers in the world, Inspire analyzes companies from the bottom-up with a rules based, methodology driven process through the lens of a biblical values worldview.
The result of this objective, data-focused process is an Inspire Impact Score that ranges from -100 to +100, with scores closest to +100 representing greater alignment with biblical values. Inspire invests in those companies closest to +100 and never invests in companies with scores lower than zero in any of their strategies.
“We believe that companies more closely aligned with biblical values represent higher quality investment opportunities, and the number of our strategies outperforming their benchmarks seems to be supportive of that thesis,” says Netzly.
Inspire recently released a free online tool at inspireinsight.com that allows investors to lookup the Inspire Impact Score of more than 25,000 stocks, mutual funds and ETFs to investigate the good, bad and ugly of what their portfolio is invested in from a values perspective, quickly and easily with a simple ticker symbol search.
Not only does Inspire Investing seek to invest in the most inspiring companies in the world, but they also aim to be one of the most inspiring companies in the world. As such, Inspire donates 50% or more of their corporate profits to Christian ministry every year. Most recently Inspire adopted a village in the coffee farming mountains of Guatemala and is working to provide a church building, clean water, improved education, a fully functional medical clinic, and child sponsorship to completely transform the lives of the those living in that impoverished village. Learn more at inspireinvesting.com/impact
Robert Netzly is the CEO of Inspire Investing and frequent contributor on FOX, Bloomberg, New York Times and other major media. Read more from Robert in his #1 bestselling book Biblically Responsible Investing, available at Amazon.com and other major retailers.
