• Engagement means understanding the needs of our employees and our community and actively providing resources to make a positive impact.
• Engagement means building an ongoing dialogue with our clients and industry peers around continued evolution and growth.
Investing in the Lives of Others: Engagement at Verger
Engaging for ESG impact is part of our culture
Environmental
Verger is a carbon neutral office. We partner with Climate Vault to offset our corporate office and employees’ personal carbon footprints.
Climate Vault is an award-winning non-profit whose unique, two-pronged approach 1) uses government-regulated markets to immediately and verifiably reduce CO2 emissions and 2) supports innovation in carbon removal technologies designed to eliminate historical pollution. Verger is proud to partner with Climate Vault in our shared goal of finding innovative ways to reduce global carbon emissions.
Social
Verger’s business is built on a deep understanding of the social factor. We believe that team members are one of, if not the most, important part of an investment process.
Our employee benefits package includes:
- Ability to earn equity in the firm
- Career and education advancement opportunities for employees and their dependents
- Parental leave
- Volunteer Time Off & Charitable Gift Matching
We nurture strategic partnerships and employee resources:
- Verger Women’s Leadership Initiative
- Verger Internship Program
- Institutional Allocators for Diversity Equity & Inclusion
- HBCUvc
- Girls Who Invest
In addition to our Board of Managers, we have our Advisory Board and our ESG Task Force. These advisory bodies create a network of expertise. We have always encouraged a great deal of interaction between our Board of Managers, advisory bodies, and our staff.
We are committed to transparency, continued learning, and growth.
Engaging in ESG dialogues allows us to make better investment decisions
Verger believes that engaging in ESG dialogues with managers is an important aspect of our fiduciary duty and allows us to make better investment decisions.
Our ESG Engagement strategy is built on the following core beliefs:
- We believe it is imperative that we understand how our portfolio managers respond to risks and opportunities, including any related to ESG factors.
- ESG dynamics can influence the risk and return characteristics of a manager’s strategy.
Our ESG Engagement strategy remains an important and ever-evolving feature of our investment approach. Because ESG data, metrics, and practices evolve over time, we draw on the resources and expertise of our independent ESG Task Force to stay up to date.
Exploring ESG Engagement for Nonprofit Investment Management
As part of our ongoing dialogue with our clients and industry peers, Verger publishes articles, whitepapers, and participates in industry panels around the topic of ESG Engagement. We’re committed to continued evolution and growth and seek to share what we learn along the way.