This paper studies the performance of 60 European funds from four countries. The paper extends the UK matched pair approach for fund evaluation developed by Mallin et al. (1995) to a European setting. The findings suggest that there is no difference between ethical and non-ethical funds according to the performance measures employed. Neither type of fund displayed any ability to time the market. Finally, the results indicate that the management fee is a significant explanatory variable for the Jensen measure as Chen et al. (1992) and Grinblatt and Titman (1994) suggested. Copyright Blackwell Publishers Ltd, 2005.

AcknowledgementsWe gratefully acknowledge ACCA funding for this project and the helpful comments from participants at the EAA 2005 Conference in Gothenburg, the IPA 2006 conference in Cardiff and the BAA 2006 Conference in Portsmouth and from two anonymous reviewers. We also wish to thank the charity representatives who completed our questionnaire and who agreed to be interviewed. Putting Our Money Where Their Mouth Is: Alignment of Charitable Aims with Charity Investments -Tensions in Policy and Practice AbstractGiven the values-driven nature of the mission of most charities, it might be expected that investment behaviour would be similarly values-driven. This paper documents the ethical investment policies and practices of the largest UK charities and explores how these are aligned with the charitable aims, drawing upon accountability, behavioural and managerial perspectives as theoretical lenses. The study employs two distinct research methods: responses to a postal questionnaire and follow-up semi-structured interviews with selected charities. The evidence indicates that a significant minority of large charities do not have a written ethical investment policy. Charities with larger investments, fundraising charities and religious charities were more likely to have a written ethical policy. We suggest that there is a pressing need for improved alignment between charities' aims and their investment practices and better monitoring of investment policies.

While the literature contains a number of studies of ethical investment funds, relatively little is known about church investment processes and practices despite the significant role they have played in the development of the sector. This paper attempts to address this lacuna by studying the ethical investment programmes of two UK churches: the Methodist Church and the Church of England. The paper initially explores the relationship between the Judaeo-Christian church and the development of the ethical investment movement. This history reveals an engagement both at the institutional and individual level that challenges the assumed sacred secular divide now commonplace within the literature and the more recent guardian-advocate dichotomy. Second, the paper delineates the way in which the churches theologically conceptualise this engagement and describes how these values are proceduralised through the operation of the funds. The final section provides an immanent critique of church investments both at a performative and theological level. The aim of this concluding section is to engage with the churches in exploring the broader potential for the church in effecting social change.

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