A Divest Oregon faith-based organizational leader, Brian Lee from the Corvallis Interfaith Climate Justice Committee, has published a piece in the Albany Democrat Herald and Corvallis Gazette-Times that describes how to live out faith-based investing. In the article, he highlights the need for the Oregon Treasury to be transparent about their fossil fuel investments. Read the article here. Lee states,
Faith organizations have become more transparent with their finances as members’ interest in conscientious investments increases. This carries over to state treasuries where investments of public funds are overseen.
State taxpayers and public workers cannot currently determine if Oregon general and retirement system funds are being placed in investments consistent with long-term benefit to Oregonians. At issue is the transparency of investments in private equity funds, as noted by Divest Oregon.
More than half of the $100 billion in the state public worker retirement system is in private investments. The Oregon Treasury has declined to disclose where those private equity funds invest our money.
This information is not only inaccessible but also complicated due to funds composed of dozens of equities or bonds. It may be too difficult to establish absolute purity of investments and portfolios.
Being a faith-based writer, the inspiration for Lee's article was drawn in part from Luke 19:11-27, the Parable of the 10 Minas (Pounds); Matthew 6:19-21, Where your treasures are, is where your heart will be; Ecclesiastes 11:2; Talmudic wisdom on diversification, and Investopedia’s faith-based investing guide.
Divest Oregon has a wide coalition of climate activists, labor unions, youth activitists, BIPOC organizations, and faith-based organizations.