CalArts is committed to ensuring environmental, social, and governance (ESG) best practices in our endowment management. The Institute adopted its first ESG statement in 2015, revising it in 2023 to incorporate its updated institutional mission statement, noting that CalArts’ endowment should reflect its values, such as diversity, inclusivity, social justice, and empathy.
In May 2024, CalArts leadership worked with the Institute Council to form the Ethical Investment Workgroup (EIW), which includes student, faculty, staff, and trustee representatives. The group sought to further align the Institute’s investments with its mission and values, with the intention to divest from any entity directly, consistently, and knowingly involved in violations of human rights or violations of international law, particularly in conflict zones around the world. Their work resulted in the following statement, which was approved by the CalArts Board of Trustees on May 6, 2025.
ESG Position Statement
To support our mission, we seek to ensure a financially stable environment that persists over time. The CalArts endowment defines a critical component of this long-term commitment.
The endowment provides vital support for the durability and sustainability of CalArts, and should therefore completely reflect the values of the organization it supports.
CalArts is committed to aligning its investments with the CalArts ESG Position Statement and Guiding Principles to the best of its ability, reporting back annually on its investments to the Ethical Investment Workgroup (EIW) in accordance with its charter, the Institute Council (IC), and other shared governance bodies as directed.
CalArts is committed to creating and sustaining a diverse and equitable environment, and has a stated conviction to participate in positive change around climate change.
CalArts is committed to not investing in entities that consistently, knowingly, and directly facilitate and enable human rights violations and violations of international law. The Ethical Investment Workgroup’s understanding of human rights abuses conforms to U.N. definitions and can be found in Exhibit A of this ESG Position Statement.
CalArts meets these commitments through transparent and inclusive governance.
We propose that our endowment should reflect these core values; and that the investments made by the endowment should exhibit the positive attributes embedded within these values.
CalArts is committed to divesting from any holdings that are in conflict with this ESG Statement and to not purchasing holdings in such entities in the future, to the best of its ability.
CalArts seeks to maintain flexibility in how it addresses ESG issues in its investment portfolio to ensure such considerations are addressed in a manner that is in keeping with the best interests of the institution while meeting fiduciary standards.
In order to assist in determining if an organization or investment is guilty of crimes against humanity CalArts will use the U.N. bodies and mechanisms as a reputable source of reference.
Guiding Principles
- Our investments should not actively invest in endeavors that profit based on worker exploitation; disparate and/or negative treatment of stakeholders based on race, gender, or ethnicity.
- We will avoid investing in companies, or with investment managers, who exhibit poor governance practices.
- We minimize our investments in businesses that contribute to global warming or who exhibit unsustainable environmental practices.
- We will strive to eliminate our investments in businesses and entities that consistently, knowingly, and directly facilitate and enable human rights violations and violations of international law.
- We will seek investment opportunities whose business models are geared to addressing causes of climate change and/or mitigating the effects of climate change.
- We will seek investment opportunities whose business models uphold international standards on human rights.
- We will only invest in vehicles that actively report on their environmental and social stewardship practices.
- We will ask our advisors to report on their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices.
- We will consistently test the application of endowment assets towards these principles.
- We will be transparent about the endowment’s ESG “footprint.”
- We will continue to engage with the community and report on progress with the appropriate frequency.
- We recognize the potential complexity required to support these principles, and will act in good faith to evolve as we practice, learn, and engage.
Appendix
ESG factors are necessarily dynamic and will be specific to the circumstances. As such, factors may be different depending upon whether a general asset class or a specific investment opportunity is being evaluated by the Institute. ESG factors may include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Environmental factors: Energy efficiency, hazardous materials management, climate change, military activities, and water/land management
- Social factors: Data protection/privacy, human rights, labor standards, and product safety
- Governance factors: Accounting/audit standards, bribery/corruption, business ethics, and regulatory compliance
Exhibit A
In accordance with U.N. bodies and mechanisms, the Ethical Investment Workgroup (EIW) understands human rights abuses to include such crimes as:
- genocide and ethnic cleansing
- sexual violence
- torture
- attacks on civilians
- denial of humanitarian aid
- attacks on schools and hospitals
- apartheid
The Ethical Investment Workgroup is committed to frequent review of the items listed in Exhibit A of the ESG Position Statement to ensure that all violations of human rights are well represented.
Resources
United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights
United Nations Definitions of Genocide and Related Crimes