Overlap Inc. screens the holdings of the selected mutual fund against a list of firms provided by Conflict Securities Advisory Group. Mutual funds that invest in companies with active or current, non-humanitarian ties to Iran, Syria, Sudan or North Korea do not qualify as Terror-Free. To create the list, CSAG analyzes its comprehensive database of global companies with business ties to these countries to determine which ones comply with this definition.
The Terror-Free Calculator is underpinned by the most recent holdings data for each mutual fund as provided by the fund company via public disclosure to the Securities and Exchange Commission and aggregated by Overlap. Accordingly, it is important to note that the Calculation is a snapshot in time pertaining to the most recent, publicly available list of holdings.
The resulting “Calculation” provided to the user indicates whether the mutual fund(s) selected holds stock in companies with active or current, non-humanitarian ties to Iran, Syria, Sudan or North Korea as of their most recent disclosure of holdings.
Terror-Free investing is the use of an investment strategy or product that excludes companies doing business in or with Iran, Syria, Sudan or North Korea. Most often, investors and product providers use the following exclusion criteria: companies with active or current, non-humanitarian ties to Iran, Syria, Sudan or North Korea.
Terror-Free mutual funds fall into two categories:
- A Terror-Free mutual fund has no exposure to companies with active or current, non-humanitarian business activities in Iran, Syria, Sudan or North Korea.
- A Certified Terror-Free Mutual Fund has no exposure AND has committed through a certification process not to invest in such companies in the future.
To be classified as a Terror-Free mutual fund by the Terror-Free Calculator, the mutual fund must be 100 percent free of companies on the CSAG screen.
Unless the fund has been Certified Terror-Free, its status might change (i.e., it may have invested in one or more companies with such ties since its last public disclosure). If you wish to ensure that your mutual fund is — and remains — Terror-Free, we recommend that you contact your financial advisor and inquire about CSAG Certified Terror-Free investment options.
A Certified Terror-Free mutual fund has adopted a policy to exclude companies with ties to Iran, Syria, Sudan or North Korea, maintains a Do Not Buy list that allows it to comply with that policy and gains certification that it is adhering to that policy by not investing in companies on the Do Not Buy list. CSAG is widely seen as the world's leading Certifying entity on Terror-Free Investing.
We encourage visitors to contact their mutual fund providers if they are interested in Terror-Free options.