Hello! My name is Eve Gilmour and I am the summer intern here at Ethical Futures. I wanted to use this opportunity to say thank you to all the clients who took part in our survey. Your responses have proved to be extremely interesting and will help to inform investment managers about your concerns and aspirations. I really appreciate the engagement with my survey and will use this process as a learning curve to inform any future projects I undertake.
Having graduated this summer from the University of Edinburgh, I wanted to gain some valuable experience for my future career. I have always been interested in how the private sector could help to fund the achievement of environmental, social and governance goals, so Ethical Futures was the perfect fit for me. This internship has provided me with new skills in reporting and analysis, client servicing, administrative work and business processing. The Ethical Futures team welcomed me into their office and taught me the ropes. It has been a privilege to work with people who have such a close relationship with their clients and are passionate about the work they do.
Overall, this process was eye-opening to the complexities of ethical investment and made me aware of several ‘grey’ areas that divide investors opinions which I had not previously considered. I’ve learnt that this industry is constantly evolving and rapidly growing. Ethical investment is not a straight-forward, one-size-fits-all process - each client has their individual reasons for investing. Throughout this process, I was impressed by the activism and passion expressed by clients and their real desire to make their money change the world.
Interestingly, my internship coincided with a number of political affairs and significant media exposure to environmental issues such as the forest fires in the Amazon and the Extinction Rebellion protests. This made the work I was doing even more relevant and I could see how current affairs were reflected in client’s responses to our survey.
Finally, I would like to say thanks to the Ethical Futures team for supporting me in this research project and offering advice and feedback throughout and I am delighted that our survey ensured a donation of £150 to Friends of the Earth Scotland to support their No Fossil Fuels campaign.
Thank you!
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