We made several enhancements to our data this month at Ethos. Material changes that affect ratings on Ethos include:

New racial justice data from As You Sow's Racial Justice Scorecards: we integrated 2021 data from As You Sow's Racial Justice Scorecards, which looked at the websites, social media accounts, and sustainability reports for each company in the S&P500 to determine the content and placement of Racial Justice Statements, as well as their policies and practices related to racial justice.

New social justice fund inclusion metric: we created a new metric that assesses a company's reputation with 15 respected social justice funds, measured by percentage of the funds that hold the company. You can find a company's score for the metric on company profiles.

Updated fines data from Violation Tracker: we integrated new 2021 fines data from Violation Tracker, including state-level environmental fines. You can find governmental fines data on company profile pages. 

Coverage of the ASX 300: we added coverage for most companies on the ASX 300 (the top 300 companies on the Australian Stock Exchange, by market cap).

Increased fund coverage:  we added coverage for ~200 new funds from a range of fund families

Updated methodology for ESG and impact fund inclusion metrics: when we standardize scores (put on a 0-100 scale) for metrics related to inclusion in ESG and impact funds, we now distribute the scores from 40-100, based on percent of funds that hold the company. For example, if a company is held by the highest percentage of ESG funds compared to other companies, it receives a score of 100. The company held by the lowest percent of ESG funds receives a score of 40. All companies not held by ESG funds at all receive a score of 0. This methodology helps us reward all companies held by at least some ESG (or impact) funds, and still reward the companies held by the most ESG (or impact) funds. You can see ESG and impact inclusion metrics on company profile pages.

Updated fund ratings to include shareholder advocacy score: all fund ratings are now calculated based on both fund holdings (i.e., ratings for companies held by the fund) and the fund's shareholder advocacy activities. Ethos calculates fund ratings based on:

  • 10% for shareholder advocacy score: how well fund managers advocate for improved ESG performance at companies held by the fund, based on criteria including proxy voting record, shareholder resolutions, and direct company engagement. Learn more in our blog post here
  • 90% for the weighted-average score of fund holdings

Please reach out to the Ethos team at support@ethos.so with any questions or suggestions.

About Ethos

Ethos is a first-of-its-kind FinTech platform for investors and consumers to align their spending with the causes they care about, including racial justice, workplace safety, climate change, LGBTQ equality, and more.

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