--- title: "Nine in Ten: Why Faith-Based Investing Is Growing Faster Than Anyone Tracks" description: 88 percent of Christians say they want to invest in funds that do good. Only 23 percent believe they currently do. That gap is the story of faith-based investing right now. image: https://investingyourvalues.com/hubfs/Blog51.jpeg --- [![IYV-Logos\_Primary Color](https://investingyourvalues.com/hubfs/IYV-Logos_Primary%20Color.png)](https://investingyourvalues.com/) - [Home](https://investingyourvalues.com/) - [About](https://investingyourvalues.com/about) - [Articles](https://investingyourvalues.com/articles) - [Catholic Social Teaching (CST)](https://investingyourvalues.com/articles/tag/catholic-social-teaching-cst) - [Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)](https://investingyourvalues.com/articles/tag/corporate-social-responsibility-csr) - [Environmental Social Governance (ESG)](https://investingyourvalues.com/articles/tag/environmental-social-governance-esg) - [Socially Responsible Investing (SRI)](https://investingyourvalues.com/articles/tag/socially-responsible-investing-sri) - [Faith-Based Investing (FBI)](https://investingyourvalues.com/articles/tag/faith-based-investing-fbi) - [Corporate Social Performance (CSP)](https://investingyourvalues.com/articles/tag/corporate-social-performance-csp) - Resources - [Books](https://investingyourvalues.com/sri-books) - [Videos](https://investingyourvalues.com/videos) - [Links](https://investingyourvalues.com/sri-links) - [Research](https://investingyourvalues.com/research) - [Shop](https://investingyourvalues.com/shop) - [Contact](https://investingyourvalues.com/contact) [DOWNLOAD FREE EBOOK](https://investingyourvalues.com/csr) Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) # Nine in Ten: Why Faith-Based Investing Is Growing Faster Than Anyone Tracks 88 percent of Christians say they want to invest in funds that do good. Only 23 percent believe they currently do. That gap is the story of faith-based investing right now. [Investing Your Values](https://investingyourvalues.com/articles/author/investing-your-values) Oct 13, 2026 [mailto:?subject=Check%20out%20https://investingyourvalues.com/articles/nine-in-ten-why-faith-based-investing-is-growing-faster-than-anyone-tracks&utm_medium=social&utm_source=email%20&body=Check%20out%20https://investingyourvalues.com/articles/nine-in-ten-why-faith-based-investing-is-growing-faster-than-anyone-tracks&utm_medium=social&utm_source=email](mailto:?subject=Check%20out%20https://investingyourvalues.com/articles/nine-in-ten-why-faith-based-investing-is-growing-faster-than-anyone-tracks&utm_medium=social&utm_source=email%20&body=Check%20out%20https://investingyourvalues.com/articles/nine-in-ten-why-faith-based-investing-is-growing-faster-than-anyone-tracks&utm_medium=social&utm_source=email) --- If you are interested in applying faith-based values to your investment portfolio, you have more company than you might expect. Faith-Based Investing, a subset of impact investing, has become one of the fastest-growing strategies in the responsible investing landscape, and the demand appears to substantially exceed the supply of investors who know how to act on it. A survey commissioned by Eventide Asset Management found that 88 percent of Christians, nearly nine in ten, would be interested in investing in a fund that is highly ethical and seeks to do good. Only 23 percent believe they currently invest in such funds. That 65-point gap between desire and practice defines the current moment in faith-based investing. ### The Gap Between Belief and Portfolio Robin John, Founding Member and CEO of Eventide, surveyed nearly 1,500 U.S. adults and found a consistent pattern: Christian investors want to make a generative impact with their finances but lack the education and access to do so effectively. *"People of faith want to see their values reflected in finances, as in other aspects of their lives, and they also want to see the values they hear preached in the pulpit reflected in how faith organizations manage their own financial assets." — Robin John, CEO, Eventide Asset Management* FaithInvest, which analyzed the survey, noted that while the research focused on Christians, the underlying desire to live one's values across all aspects of life, including finances, extends across faith traditions. One finding complicates the picture. Nearly half of those surveyed did not identify faith as a guiding force in their investing. Part of the explanation may be structural: faith organizations themselves have often failed to articulate a clear values-based investment strategy, leaving congregants without a framework to apply even when the desire exists. ### Younger Investors Are Driving the Shift The generational pattern in the data is striking. Respondents aged 30 to 39 reported significantly higher likelihood of investing in a values-based fund, and notably, higher willingness to switch financial advisors in order to access those funds. That willingness to change advisors is the detail worth attention. It signals that for younger investors, values alignment is not a preference to be accommodated but a requirement to be met. Advisors who cannot offer faith-based or values-aligned options may find themselves losing clients to those who can. Jean Case, founder of FWIW, a financial education site aimed at Generation Z, reports that one of the most frequently searched terms on the platform is a simple question: what is faith-based investing? The demand for information is outpacing the industry's ability to supply it. ### A Practice Older Than Most Realize The current growth in faith-based investing is not a new phenomenon so much as a renewal of one. Religious and ethical guidelines in investing have existed roughly as long as investing itself. The Quakers spoke out against profiting from the slave trade. In 1760, John Wesley, founder of the Methodist movement, told followers they ought not to gain money at the expense of life or by losing their souls. The modern institutional era began in 1971, when the Episcopal Church filed a shareholder resolution urging General Motors to stop manufacturing in apartheid South Africa. Catholic and other denominations joined the effort, eventually forming the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility. Today the ICCR includes more than 300 global institutional investors overseeing more than $4 trillion in managed assets. Members include the Unitarian Universalist Association, the Presbyterian Church, the Sisters of St. Francis, and the Rabbis and Cantors Retirement Plan. Fund providers in the network include Everence Financial, sponsor of Praxis Mutual Funds with $2.5 billion in assets and Mennonite Church roots, and Wespath Investment Management, informed by United Methodist Church values. ### The ESG Complication Faith-based investing and ESG share substantial methodological overlap but have diverged politically in recent years. For some conservative religious investors, ESG became a contested term after it was drawn into the broader political conflict over corporate social commitments beginning in 2022. Inspire Advisors, which operates biblically responsible ETFs under tickers including BIBL, GLRY, and WWJD, initially added ESG terminology to its fund names, then removed it from all products within months. CEO Robert Netzly characterized ESG as having been weaponized for political purposes, placing it alongside other acronyms he considered worth opposing. The irony is that the underlying screening methodology remained largely unchanged. What shifted was the language, not the practice. Netzly continues to describe a groundswell of interest in biblically responsible investing, framing it as Christian stewardship of the marketplace. *"This renewed vision of Christian stewardship is causing Christian investors to manage their portfolios differently than before, excluding companies profiting from immorality, endorsing companies operating as a blessing to their stakeholders, and engaging with companies to influence them toward biblical values." — Robert Netzly, CEO, Inspire Investing* ### What Faith-Based Funds Actually Hold Faith-based funds rely heavily on screening, and the screening profiles across traditions are more similar than different. According to Morningstar analysis, both Christian and Shariah-compliant funds maintain minimal involvement with alcohol and avoid investments associated with abortion, contraception, and stem-cell research. Both maintain notably low exposure to pork products, gambling, tobacco, small arms, and adult entertainment. Shariah-compliant funds carry one additional structural characteristic: restrictions on debt mean their holdings tend to have stronger balance sheets than conventional benchmarks. That constraint, originally theological, produces a measurable financial profile. ### The Vatican Weighs In Institutional religious authority continues to shape the conversation. Pope Francis has repeatedly addressed climate change and ethical investment, warning that the world may be nearing a breaking point and calling on society to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor. In 2022, the Vatican issued Mensuram Bonam, a document calling for a new investing culture that combines technical expertise with the moral guidance of faith. It represents one of the most direct institutional statements on faith-based investing from any major religious body. The response among congregants is uneven. Pew Research found that across all religious identities, more highly religious Americans are more likely than those with lower religious commitment to say climate change is not a serious problem, with 30 percent citing bigger problems in the world and 27 percent attributing climate outcomes to divine control. ### The Measurement Problem The exact size of the faith-based investing market remains difficult to determine. Much investor information is not publicly available, and the boundary between faith-based, socially responsible, and ESG investing is porous enough that clean categorization is challenging. The theoretical market is enormous. Christians accounted for approximately 31 percent of the global population and Muslims approximately 23 percent, according to Pew Research. But relative to the total investable universe, assets in faith-based ETFs and mutual funds remain a small fraction of the whole. What is clear is the direction. The trend is growing, the demand is documented, and the gap between what faith-based investors say they want and what they currently hold represents one of the largest unmet opportunities in responsible investing. The longer-term question is whether that capital will actually influence corporate behavior. For faith-based investors, that is the measure that matters most: not simply whether their portfolios reflect their values, but whether their money moves companies toward them. ### Next Steps for Investors If you are among the 88 percent who want your investments to reflect your values but not yet among the 23 percent who believe they do, start by auditing what you currently hold. Faith-based mutual funds and ETFs are increasingly accessible, and advisors specializing in values-based portfolios are growing in number. Ask your current advisor directly whether they offer faith-based options. If the answer is no, that is useful information. xxx References: FaithInvest, "Survey Finds 88% of Christians Want Investments to Reflect Values," 11/4/24 [https://www.faithinvest.org/post/survey-finds-88-of-christians-want-investments-to-reflect-values](https://www.faithinvest.org/post/survey-finds-88-of-christians-want-investments-to-reflect-values) Ibid. Greenberg, Greg, Investment News, "Faith-Based Investing on the Rise as World Grows More Chaotic," 11/3/23 [https://www.investmentnews.com/industry-news/faith-based-investing-on-the-rise-as-world-grows-more-chaotic/245237](https://www.investmentnews.com/industry-news/faith-based-investing-on-the-rise-as-world-grows-more-chaotic/245237) Norton, Leslie P., and Saldanha, Ruth, Morningstar, "A Matter of Faith: Faith-Based Investing Is a Key Chapter in the Sustainable Investing Story," 12/6/23 [https://www.morningstar.com/sustainable-investing/matter-faith](https://www.morningstar.com/sustainable-investing/matter-faith)   [Socially Responsible Investing (SRI)](https://investingyourvalues.com/articles/tag/socially-responsible-investing-sri) [Faith-Based Investing (FBI)](https://investingyourvalues.com/articles/tag/faith-based-investing-fbi) ## Similar posts Faith-Based Investing (FBI) ### [Investing Without Guilt: A Guide to Faith-Based Investing](https://investingyourvalues.com/articles/investing-without-guilt-a-guide-to-faith-based-investing) Seven out of ten Americans say personal values guide their investment choices. For faith-based investors, that alignment is not a preference. It is a... Investing Your Values Sep 2, 2026 Environmental Social Governance (ESG) ### [Woke Politics and Investing](https://investingyourvalues.com/articles/woke-politics-and-investing) The debate over 'woke' investing, which significantly impacts ESG criteria, has become highly contentious in American politics. Republican leaders... Investing Your Values Aug 11, 2024 Faith-Based Investing (FBI) ### [Faith-Based Investing: Bridging Profits and Principles for a Better Tomorrow](https://investingyourvalues.com/articles/faith-based-investing) Corporate social responsibility and faith-based investing challenge the misconception that prioritizing social or moral factors in investment... Investing Your Values Mar 29, 2024 ## Subscribe to Ethics & Investing Weekly newsletter for investors who want their portfolios to reflect their values. Research-backed analysis. No sales pitch. Unsubscribe anytime. [![IYV-Logos\_Mark Reverse](https://investingyourvalues.com/hubfs/IYV-Logos_Mark%20Reverse.png)](https://investingyourvalues.com/) We're here to help you navigate the world of ethical investing! We aim to be your go-to guide and resource for making investment decisions that align with your values. ### ABOUT - [About Us](https://42421633.hs-sites.com/about) ### ETHICS & INVESTING BLOG - [Catholic Social Teaching (CST)](https://investingyourvalues.com/articles/tag/catholic-social-teaching-cst) - [Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)](https://investingyourvalues.com/articles/tag/corporate-social-responsibility-csr) - [Environmental Social Governance (ESG)](https://investingyourvalues.com/articles/tag/environmental-social-governance-esg) - [Socially Responsible Investing (SRI)](https://investingyourvalues.com/articles/tag/socially-responsible-investing-sri) - [Faith-Based Investing (FBI)](https://investingyourvalues.com/articles/tag/faith-based-investing-fbi) - [Corporate Social Performance (CSP)](https://investingyourvalues.com/articles/tag/corporate-social-performance-csp) ### RESOURCES - [Books](https://investingyourvalues.com/sri-books) - [Videos](https://investingyourvalues.com/videos) - [Links](https://investingyourvalues.com/sri-links) - [Research](https://investingyourvalues.com/research) ### SHOP - [IYV Merch Shop](https://iyvstore.square.site/) © 2023 Investing Your Values All rights reserved. Privacy Policy ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Investing Your Values", "url" : "https://investingyourvalues.com/articles/author/investing-your-values" }, "dateModified" : "2026-10-13T17:41:31.663Z", "datePublished" : "2026-10-13T17:07:59.000Z", "headline" : "Nine in Ten: Why Faith-Based Investing Is Growing Faster Than Anyone Tracks", "image" : [ "https://investingyourvalues.com/hubfs/Blog51.jpeg" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://investingyourvalues.com/articles/nine-in-ten-why-faith-based-investing-is-growing-faster-than-anyone-tracks", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://investingyourvalues.com/hubfs/IYV-Logos_Primary%20Color-1.png" }, "name" : "Investingyourvalues" } } ```