Wespath Benefits and Investments (formerly General Board of Pension and Health Benefits) is a non-profit agency that has been serving the

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelical ...

for over a century. Wespath supervises and administers retirement plans, investment funds and health and welfare benefit plans for active and retired clergy and lay employees of the Church. In accordance with its fiduciary duties, Wespath administers benefit plans and invests approximately $28 billion in assets for over 100,000 participants and over 120 United Methodist-affiliated institutions. Wespath Benefits and Investments maintains the largest reporting faith-based pension fund in the world, which is among the top 100 pension funds in the United States. Wespath is also a leading practitioner of sustainable investing. Wespath has received global recognition in the sustainable investment community for its successful corporate engagement program and its leading sustainable investment strategies. Established in 1908 its current head office is in Glenview, Illinois.

The Wespath Mission

Wespath cares for those who serve by providing investment and benefit services that honor the mission and principles of The United Methodist Church.

Sustainable Investment

Wespath follows the ''United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights''. It identifies several countries as having "prolonged and systematic patterns of human rights violations." These countries include the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

, and

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

. A total of 44 companies are excluded from its investment funds including all of Israel's major banks. The board also excludes a further nine companies due to their contribution to

global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

References

United Methodist Church Retirement plans in the United States {{Methodist-stub