In Honor of our Founder, Joan Bavaria
Franklin’s insight “Investing for a Better World” is our newsletter’s predecessor publication. Joan Bavaria, Trillium’s founder and an energetic, early catalyzer of sustainable and responsible investing, used its pages to promote Trillium’s early mission – that of “promoting excellence and innovation in social research, and sharing its application to investing.” Each issue offered an introductory “Dear Reader” letter penned by Joan, a piece with stock recommendations and commentary entitled “Monthly Advice” and “What Would We Consider?” and the social and financial performance profiles of selected companies in its popular “Equity Brief” section.
Through reading the “Dear Reader” letters, subscribers around the country got to know Joan. Her letters connected investors to important social and environmental factors, and she drew on her life experiences, including her upbringing in western Massachusetts, beloved family and pets, her work and the people she met as she travelled globally. Joan was a thought leader who articulated to a broad audience the important role investors could and should play to leverage the capital markets for positive change. With Trillium’s dedicated team of research and advocacy experts Joan brought to light the social and business imperatives concerning then-nascent investment issues, including Women in the Workplace (November, 1988), Toycott – The Toy Industry and Forced Labor (December 1992), Minority Empowerment and Equal Employment Opportunity (September 1993).
On the 10th anniversary of her passing in November 2008, Trillium is reprinting a selection of her “Dear Reader” letters to honor her legacy and share her many gifts with others. Joan truly changed the lives of people over the world, through her vision, her dedication, her humor, and her humanity. We guarantee this will ring true as you read this selection of letters.
Enjoy.
