Macalester College
PAE-T2-8: Socially Responsible Investment Policy

Macalester College’s spending policy attempts to preserve inter-generational equity i.e. future students should benefit from the endowment with the same purchasing power as today's students. To attempt to assure this, the Trustees have chosen a 5% spending rate, and applied it to the 16-quarter moving endowment's average market value. This equates to approximately 4.5% of the current market value over time, and requires a total return of about 5% plus inflation.

The College's social responsibility policy for investments in corporations was formulated largely in response to South African apartheid. It affirms the primacy of maximizing economic return on the endowment, but allows the Trustees to take non-economic factors into consideration when making investment decisions. With increased campus interest in corporate citizenship, the Investment Committee has adopted a more proactive approach to exercising our shareholder rights. Emerging corporate social responsibility issues are reviewed in consultation with the College's Social Responsibility Committee, and proxies and shareholder resolutions are voted with input from this committee when applicable.