The traditional mindset about investing has been to put your money into companies that will net the highest gains no matter what or where those companies might be. Most of us have no idea where our money is going. A lot of us have money invested in mutual funds, but do you know what companies are included in those funds? Do those companies reflect your values?

Recent years have witnessed the rise of socially responsible investing (SRI). This type of investing allows you to match your investments with your values, flagging companies involved with alcohol, tobacco, gambling, firearms or the military, adult entertainment, and other areas. Socially responsible mutual funds address issues such as environmental impacts, animal rights, employee relations, and even how much a company’s executives are paid relative to the average worker. Screened mutual funds can help match your values, but no company is perfect.

A company that manufacturers cigarettes might treat its employees well. A green company, meanwhile, might have no diversity among its ownership and executives. Socially and environmentally screened mutual funds are will not weed out every bad aspect of a company, but it’s a great start when it comes to investing for our future.

One local financial advisor known for her staunch support of SRI is Phyllis Albritton of Wachovia Securities in Blacksburg. Albritton is an example of someone walking the walk as well as talking the talk. Her involvement in the community, in politics, and in social causes is legendary, including working in an outreach program in Europe and the Middle East when she was 16, being a Civil Rights officer in the 1960s, being a regional vice president of the Parent Teacher Association (PTA), and a board member of the Blacksburg-Christiansburg-VPI Water Authority. (This is a tiny list of her activities spanning several decades of service.)

Albritton is environmentally and socially conscious and believes her investments should reflect that. In turn, she sees offering SRI to others as service ands says that offering such investments is the only way she could stay in the business of financial advising.

Albritton described SRI as investing in companies that treat their people, community, and the environment well, and she says that more people are becoming aware of this type of investing.

“We do care about our environment,” Albritton said. And we do care if companies treat their people well and are involved in their communities.” But Albritton stresses that SRI isn’t just about investing in companies that have values you like. “It’s not just, ‘Oh this company is great in socially responsible areas so I’m going to invest,’” Albritton said. “They have to be strong companies economically, too. We look at the full picture, both how they perform financially and socially.”

Socially responsible investing has been defined as the act of making investment decisions to achieve social as well as a financial return, often described as a “double bottom line.” The three main strategies of socially responsible investing include screening, community investing, and shareholder activism.

Wachovia Securities offers its own SRI fund and Albritton keeps abreast of the now numerous socially responsible funds that are in existence. Some are “green” funds, which invest in environmentally conscious businesses. Others might feature women or minority-owned companies. And the options are increasing almost daily.

But Albritton also has several tools to assist her and her clients in the screening process, thus finding companies to create a portfolio that’s right for the client. We all have different priorities. One person may refuse to invest in companies that are involved in firearms or the military. Another person may want to invest in only companies that have a good record in human rights. Someone else may want to look at companies that are deeply involved in their communities.

Albritton and other financial advisors have various tools at their disposal to research and customize a portfolio that allows you to invest in the kinds of companies in which the client feels comfortable. One such tool is a software program by KLD Research & Analytics, Inc., a leader in providing investors with information about companies.

The KLD program allows a financial advisor such as Albritton to look for categories in which a company might be involved such as those listed previously (alcohol, firearms, etc.) but also rates companies in numerous areas such as community, corporate governance, diversity, employee relations, environment, human rights, and products.

Another research tool that Albritton uses is her subscription to GreenMoney Journal. This publication along with greenmoneyjournal.com provides valuable information on socially responsible investing, particularly that of an environmental nature.

Cliff Feigenbaum, publisher and managing editor of GreenMoney Journal, said that he thinks there “is no stopping the momentum that green investing and SRI has built up. When Fortune magazine says ‘Green is Good,’ the mainstream has started to catch on that you can make money and make a difference in the world.”

Feigenbaum spoke of those interested in SRI, saying that today’s demographic includes “a wider spectrum of individual investors, foundations, public pension plans, company retirement plans all getting more involved with SRI either through mutual funds or direct investing in green companies.”

Most of the SRI discussed thus far has focused around screening, or eliminating companies that don’t share your values. But another issue to think about is shareholder activism. Shareholders own a piece of the companies they invest in, and with that ownership comes an opportunity to lead a company down a socially responsible path. A growing number of social investors use their roles as shareholders or corporate owners to advocate their issues of concern. Shareholders can create shareholder resolutions or otherwise influence company management.

And a final option to those investors looking to build a better world is to look at community investing. These investments provide low interest-rate loans to people in low-income communities. Community development financial institutions offer loans that small businesses, affordable housing, and neighborhood rehabilitation. This investment into grassroots development may be the most direct route for investors to gain “social” returns.

There is little doubt of the influence that corporations play in our lives and in our world. We often feel powerless in dealing with governments and corporations that seem only interested in padding their own pockets. But social investing allows you to put your money where your heart is. And if we all do this we can influence corporate behavior in ways that will benefit us today and in our future.

Tim W. Jackson is the Editor & Publisher of the New River Voice. He wishes he actually had money to invest in anything, but socially responsible investing would be nice.