Some people believe that in order to invest you have to invest in unscrupulous companies, but that isn’t the case. You can get the same return or an even better return on your investment in a socially responsible mutual fund. There are many of these types of funds that beat the market year in and year out.
A socially responsible mutual fund is a fund that has competitive investment returns and responsible corporate behavior of the companies that make up the fund.
Some funds will say they are responsible and only invest in companies that have social standards, including ethics,good workplace environment, environment responsibility, safe products produced in a safe manner, basic human rights and other best practices.
Socially and enviornmentally responsible mutual funds hold stock in companies that practice and prodcuce social responible products. U.s. News recently wrote a very good article on this practice and list funds that adhere to socially responsible investing. Here it is. http://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/investing/articles/2010/03/05/a-fresh-look-at-socially-responsible-mutual-funds