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Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust

PRI reporting framework 2020

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Governance and human resources

SG 07. RI roles and responsibilities

07.1. Indicate the internal and/or external roles used by your organisation, and indicate for each whether they have oversight and/or implementation responsibilities for responsible investment.

Roles

Select from the below internal roles 

          Head of Finance

Other description (1) 

          Independent Investment Advisor

Other description (2) 

          Co-opted Investment Committee members

07.2. For the roles for which you have RI oversight/accountability or implementation responsibilities, indicate how you execute these responsibilities.

  • Our trustees, co-opted members of Investment Committee, Independent Investment Advisor and staff keep themselves generally abreast of responsible investment matters through attending conferences, seminars and collaborative meetings and reading.  We also benefit from the learning which emanates from our grantees' work.
  • We have an Investment Committee on which five trustees serve as well as three co-opted members. The co-opted members all have current professional responsible investment fund manager experience.
  • We are advised by an Independent Investment Advisor who has expertise in responsible investment.
  • We meet with our external investment fund managers at least twice a year.  One of these meetings is dedicated to discussing ESG matters and very detailed and challenging discussion takes place.
  • We also receive regular written updates from our fund managers and attend  fund manager webinars and conferences.
  • We expect our fund managers to report on their engagement.
  • We expect our fund managers to report on their voting.
  • We aim to meet with the management teams of internally managed investments at least once every two years. Discussion about ESG issues comprises a significant element of these meetings.
  • We share our learning through the Church Investors Group  and well as in the foundation world in general.

07.3. Indicate the number of dedicated responsible investment staff your organisation has.

1 Number

07.4. Additional information. [Optional]

As a small organisation we do not have any members of staff dedicated solely to responsible investment.  However, it represents a significant proportion of the Head of Finance's time commitment.

SG 07 CC. Climate-issues roles and responsibilities

07.5 CC. Indicate the roles in the organisation that have oversight, accountability and/or management responsibilities for climate-related issues.

Board members or trustees

Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Investment Officer (CIO), Chief Risk Officer (CRO), Investment Committee

Other Chief-level staff or heads of departments

External managers or service providers

Other role, specify (1) 

          Independent Investment Advisor

Other role, specify (2) 

          Co-opted Investment Committee members

07.6 CC. For board-level roles that have climate-related issue oversight/accountability or implementation responsibilities, indicate how these responsibilities are executed.

Investment Committee receives an annual report on the carbon footprint of the funds in which we are invested and holds our fund managers to account on these.  It also discusses more general climate issues with our fund managers on a regular basis.

Our Sustainable Future grant making committee considers how Trust funds might most effectively be spent  on developing and promoting sustainable, low-carbon alternatives to the current consumerist and growth-based paradigm.  We will support a range of actions to achieve these aims, recognising this might include defending current policies, frameworks and regulations.

07.7 CC. For management-level roles that assess and manage climate-related issues, provide further information on the structure and processes involved.

Our Chief Executive is responsible for our overall approach to the management of climate-related issues.

Our Head of Finance is responsible for collating information on the carbon foot print of the funds in which we are invested and for considering climate-related issues more generally in relation to our investments.

Our Programme Officers are responsible for considering climate-related issues in relation to our grantees' work.

Our Operations Manager is responsible for managing the climate impact of our operations.

07.8 CC. Indicate how your organisation engages external investment managers and/or service providers on the TCFD recommendations and their implementation.

SG 08. RI in performance management, reward and/or personal development

08.1. Indicate if your organisation’s performance management, reward and/or personal development processes have a responsible investment element.

Board members/Board of trustees

08.1b. RI in personal development and/or training plan

08.2. Describe any activities undertaken during the reporting year to develop and maintain Board members’ skills and knowledge in relation to responsible investment.

  1. Our Independent Investment Advisor and Head of Finance regularly updated Investment Committee on responsible investment issues.
  2. One  trustee attended the Church Investment Group's annual members' meeting and its annual conference.
  3. One trustee had an online subscription to Responsible Investor.
  4. Investment Committee members were on our fund manager mailing lists and received updates on their engagement and voting activities.
  5. Generally trustees were well read on responsible investment matters.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Investment Officer (CIO), Chief Operating Officer (COO), Investment Committee

08.1a. RI in objectives, appraisal and/or reward

08.1b. RI in personal development and/or training plan

Other C-level staff or head of department 

          Head of Finance

08.1a. RI in objectives, appraisal and/or reward

08.1b. RI in personal development and/or training plan

Other role (1) [from SG 07] 

          Independent Investment Advisor

08.1a. RI in objectives, appraisal and/or reward

08.1b. RI in personal development and/or training plan

Other role (2) [from SG 07] 

          Co-opted Investment Committee members

08.1a. RI in objectives, appraisal and/or reward

08.1b. RI in personal development and/or training plan

08.3. Provide any additional information on your organisation’s performance management, reward and/or personal development processes in relation to responsible investment.

Our Independent Investment Advisor and Coo-opted Investment Committee Members receive responsible investment development and training through their own organisations.

08.4. Describe the level of experience board members/trustees/chief-level staff have with incorporating ESG factors into investment decision-making processes. 

          The Trust has had a responsible investment policy since 1975 and, as a result, has built up great deal of institutional expertise in this area. Furthermore a number of trustees and the Head of Finance have served the Trust for many years and have significant personal experience in this area.  The notion that ESG factors must be properly incorporated into investment decision-making processes is part of the Trust's DNA. It is something trustees and staff look for when recruiting new fund managers, and they constantly interrogate our existing fund managers on how they do it. Support from our Independent Investment Advisor and our Investment Co-opted Members, all of whom have a professional investment background and all of whom support this principle, ensures that our trustees and staff are able to ask the right questions and fully understand the responses they receive from our fund managers.
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