BOSTON, MA – MARCH 29, 2012 – Should institutional investors support investments tied to genocide? That is the question that Investors Against Genocide has posed to institutional shareholders of JPMorgan Chase via an advertisement in the April 2 issue of Pensions & Investments and a direct mailing to hundreds of the company’s largest shareholders.

In the weeks before JPMorgan Chase mails its annual proxy ballot to millions of shareholders, Investors Against Genocide (IAG) has begun an innovative campaign of outreach to the largest and most influential segment of voters – institutional investors. IAG’s “genocide-free investing” shareholder proposal will be on the ballot at JPMorgan Chase for its second year.  Since 74% of shares of JPMorgan Chase are held by institutions, rather than by individual shareholders, IAG is seeking to engage influential voters ranging from asset managers to pension funds via direct mail, advertising and trade conferences such as next week’s conference of the Council for Institutional Investors.

Institutions voting for the genocide-free proposal at JPMorgan Chase last year included AFSCME Employees Pension Plan, Bridgeway Funds, Calvert Investments, Christian Brothers Investment Services, Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds, Consulting Group Capital Markets Funds, Domini Social Investment Trust, Epiphany Funds, Green Century Funds, New York City Pension Funds, OneAmerica Funds, Parnassus Investments, Professionally Managed Portfolios, Schroder Global Series Trust, Trillium Asset Management, T. Rowe Price, Turner Funds, and Trust for Professional Managers. This year, IAG hopes to raise that number by direct engagement with investors in advance of the vote.

“The vast majority of Americans want their investments to be genocide-free,” states Eric Cohen, co-founder and chairperson of Investors Against Genocide.  “Increasingly, institutions are seeking to align their investment policies with the values of their shareholders, their customers and their participants. Voting their proxies in support of genocide-free investing is an important step in that process.”

The genocide-free investing shareholder proposal requests “that the board institute transparent procedures to avoid holding investments in companies that, in management’s judgment, substantially contribute to genocide or crimes against humanity, the most egregious violations of human rights.”

According to a market research study conducted by KRC Research in 2010, 88% of Americans would like their mutual funds to be genocide-free. The study showed that for those earning $50,000 or more, that percentage climbs to 95%.   The shareholder proposal says that the problem of investments tied to genocide “is particularly important” to JP Morgan Chase shareholders because JPMorgan Chase “has been a large holder of PetroChina for years.” PetroChina, through its closely related parent, China National Petroleum Company, is widely recognized as contributing to the genocide in Sudan.

The genocide-free investing proposal was submitted to JPMorgan Chase as part of an ongoing shareholder action led by Investors Against Genocide, a citizen-led initiative, dedicated to convincing mutual funds and other investment firms to make an ongoing commitment to genocide-free investing.

IAG withdrew its shareholder proposal at TIAA-CREF when it adopted a public policy against investments tied to genocide. TIAA-CREF subsequently divested holdings in oil companies that are helping to support the genocide in Darfur, Sudan.  American Funds divested its holdings in PetroChina following a well-publicized shareholder vote on genocide-free investing there.  In contrast, Vanguard and Fidelity continue to make large investments in the same problem oil companies.

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 Investors Against a citizen-led initiative, dedicated to convincing mutual funds and other investment firms to make an ongoing commitment to genocide-free investing. Investors Against Genocide works with individuals, financial firms, pension and endowment managers and government officials to encourage investment firms to change their investing strategy to avoid investments in companies that substantially contribute to genocide or crimes against humanity. Investors Against Genocide is staffed by volunteers and is a project of the Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization, incorporated in the state of Massachusetts. For more information, visit www.investorsagainstgenocide.org.