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We invite you to join the PAM Network. PAM is committed to providing Series 7 registered representatives with the most comprehensive package of SRI products and services that will help provide the best financial performance for your clients.
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The Power of the Share

How people invest their money may seem like a private matter, but investment decisions have undeni­able influence in the public sphere. Through the power of the share, investors of conscience can channel resources toward businesses that benefit the economy, society, and the environment and away from those that do harm. When many investors act in concert, the power of the share can make itself felt on a global scale. The PAM Network puts the power of the share to work by offering clients the opportunity to invest for social progress and financial return at the same time.

Social Progress

Proponents of the social investment philosophy understand that profits without responsibility contain hidden costs that are eventually passed along to investors, consumers, communities, and the environment. Socially responsible investors are therefore selective investors. They avoid companies that pollute, discriminate, impose unsafe working conditions, or produce nuclear weapons. They choose to invest in businesses that actively benefit society and the environment or, at the least, have an impact that is neutral. 

Financial Return

Social investment makes good financial sense. Companies that do not follow socially and environmentally responsible practices tend to give up a portion of their earnings to regulatory pressures, fines, strikes, boycots and expensive litigation. Therefore, those committed to social investment believe that the best long-term investments combine positive social and financial performance.

Key Strategies in the Growth of the PAM Network

Using the socially responsible approach to investment, the PAM Network has grown to be an industry leader, with offices in twenty states, thousands of clients, and hundreds of millions of dollars in client relationships. The PAM Network uses four key strategies to meet the needs of its diverse clients and maximize the power of the share in the marketplace and in society.


1. Investment Consultants: PAM Network Investment Consultants offer clients the opportunity to invest in all of the major socially responsible mutual funds, as well as individually screened stocks and bonds, in both taxable and retirement accounts. The PAM Network also provides comprehensive financial consulting services to institutional investors and individual investors with larger portfolios.

By working like a "matchmaker," PAM Network Investment Consultants make the connection between clients and investment managers whose approaches to investment address the client's unique social and financial objectives. After selection of one or more managers, PAM Network Investment Consultants continue to monitor portfolio financial and social performance.


2. Social Research and Screening: Progressive Asset Management, Inc. provides social research and screening for the PAM Network, maintaining relationships with major providers of social research. Progressive Asset Management, Inc. also conducts its own research and social screening to evaluate com­pany performance vis-à-vis social and environmental criteria.

Social screens function as information "nets" that identify companies whose policies, behavior, and prod­ucts conform with clients' social objectives. Clients' portfolios are screened for issues of concern with them. The most frequently requested social screens include: environment, corporate governance, employee relations, tobacco, alcohol, gambling, nuclear weapons and nuclear power, product quality, and community relations.

3. Shareholder Advocacy: The strategy of shareholder advocacy empowers investors to use the power of the share to help transform the world in which they live. Investors can support clean air technologies. They can encourage fair workplace and employment policies. They can discourage the financing of environmentally destructive projects. The PAM Network works with a diverse group of stakeholder advocates to:

Engage in dialogue with company officials.
Introduce shareholder resolutions.
Wage campaigns to get out the vote on shareholder resolutions.
Build networks with others committed to corporate social and environmental responsibility.

On behalf of clients, Progressive Asset Management, Inc. has initiated or co-filed resolutions addressing: Pacific Telesis (to stop the use of clear-cut rain forest timber for paper in phone books); Unocal (pollution prevention); Safeway (equal employment opportunity); The Walt Disney Co. (fair labor practices); Intel Corporation (environmental standards and water saving technologies); General Motors & Ford (global warming); Wal-Mart (CERES principles, vendor standards and EEO reporting); and Enron & Calpine (indigenous peoples policies), .


4. Community Impact Investments: The PAM Network not only helps steer investment away from companies that do harm, it seeks out companies that offer clear and tangible benefits to consumers, employees, communities and the environment. Community impact investing is a proactive strategy for clients who want to put the power of the share to work for concrete social and environmental goals. Past examples include the Community Bank of the Bay, the first community development bank on the West Coast and Equal Exchange, a workers-owned cooperative engaged in “fair trade” commerce. 

Currently, Progressive Asset Management, Inc. has joined with Calvert Social Investment Foundation to create a national program called PAM Community Investments to direct capital to community develop­ment loan funds that assist low-income families and neighborhoods work their way out of poverty.

Progressive Asset Management, Inc. Initiatives

During its 17 year life, Progressive Asset Management has undertaken many unique initiatives. For example, the firm: 

  Offered the first low-income housing tax credit investments in California. (1988)

  Initiated the “IRA That Cares,“ benefiting the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. (1988)

Broke the story nationally that a number of “environmental“ mutual funds included major polluters. (1989)

Collaborated with Merrill Lynch to launch the first environmentally screened unit investment trust offered by a major brokerage house. (1990)

Helped establish Sustainable Systems, Inc., (1993) a co-developer of business incubators, consultant on regional sustainable development, and co-coordinator of international conferences on building a sustainable economy.

Sponsored the “Lavender Screen“ to assess employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. (1993)

Promoted passage of selective purchasing ordinances in Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco, and Alameda County to boycott firms doing business with the repressive dictatorship in Burma. (1995-1996)

Organized Businesses and Social Responsibility: The Americas, a conference to launch a hemispheric socially responsible business organization. (1997)

Provided leadership in relation to tobacco divestment in Massachusetts and in California, including Oakland, San Francisco, El Cerrito, Santa Cruz, Santa Monica, Berkeley, Arcata, and San Mateo County, California. (1997-1999)

Assisted in the organization of Elected Officials for Responsible Public Investments and the Council for Responsible Public Investment, which received a $600,000 three year grant from the State of California Health Department to educate about tobacco divestment. (1998)

Joined in the formation of the California Coalition for Investor Responsibility and supported the formation of the Student Alliance to Reform Corporations (STARC). (1999)

Convened Bottom Line 2001, a ground-breaking conference to consider the link between social and environmental factors and the fiduciary responsibilities of institutional trustees. (2001) 

Lobbied the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to force mutual funds to publish proxy voting guidelines and proxy voting records. (2003)

Expanded the geographic scope of the PAM Network to include more than 50 representatives in 20 states, making PAM one of the largest associations of FINRA Series 7-registered investment professionals that specialize in socially responsible investing (SRI) strategies. (2004)



Companies are being mentioned for informational purposes only. This discussion is not a recommendation or a solicitation of investments. When making an investment, please keep in mind that past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. 

Progressive Asset Management (PAM) is the socially responsible division of Financial West Group (FWG).
Securities offered through Registered Representatives of Financial West Group,  Member FINRA, SIPC 
FWG is responsible for supervision and oversight of the registered representatives listed on this site.
Progressive Asset Management 1904 Franklin Street, Suite 903 Oakland, CA 94612 (510) 622-0202