Note. Our goal with this article is to increase transparency by sharing our investment practices with our membership. To continue these conversations, we will join with our membership for an in-person learning session about our investing strategy (on Friday, June 26th, 11:30am-12:40pm) and an interactive discussion about the financial priorities of our members (on Sunday, June 28th, 10:30-11:40am) at the annual conference. In these sessions we will discuss organizational spending and investing, and center the voice of our membership to inform financial decision-making priorities moving forward. 

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As an organization, SPSSI has championed the use of psychological science to better understand and resolve pressing social issues (Finison, 1979). SPSSI’s membership embodies a community of scholars, policy makers, and practitioners dedicated to socially minded and socially responsible psychology (Harris & Nicholson, 1998). In so doing, SPSSI serves as an inclusive professional home and a source of collective identity for our members. To ensure a continued sense of belonging and inclusion of our members (Silver et al., 2024) and reinforce our shared values of social justice (Ruedas-Gracia et al., 2022), SPSSI’s leaders are tasked with maintaining its long-term financial sustainability while aligning our spending and investing with SPSSI’s mission and values. We spend close to $100,000 annually in support of novel and social justice driven scholarship, teaching, mentoring, and service. Environmental, Social, and Governance investing—SPSSI’s current investment practice—is designed to consider factors such as labor practices, human rights, community responsibility, and environmental impact as part of the investment decision-making process. 

We are held to account for our spending by the governing council and executive committee and we have partnered, since 2017, with Raffa Investment Advisors (Raffa) to steward our assets with care and purpose. In this role, Raffa’s investment team acts as a fiduciary to SPSSI and is required to place SPSSI’s interests ahead of its own. This includes ensuring that the investment portfolio supports SPSSI’s mission, aligns with its long-term goals, and provides for its ongoing financial needs. Together, Raffa and SPSSI drafted our governing Investment Policy, which establishes the framework for managing SPSSI’s reserves. These reserves play a critical role in maintaining our financial strength – providing stability during periods of disruption, funding future initiatives, and ensuring the organization can continue advancing its mission over time.

A Thoughtful, Segmented Approach 
To meet both near-term and long-term needs, SPSSI’s reserves are segmented into two complementary components: 

Raffa’s Approach to Implementation 
SPSSI works with Raffa because they prioritize diversification, cost efficiency, and thoughtful risk management, while helping us align our values and financial objectives with our investment reserves. Raffa’s approach emphasizes transparency and partnership – they sit on the same side of the table as us, working collaboratively to support SPSSI’s long-term success. Through this structure, SPSSI’s investments are not only positioned to weather changing market conditions, but also to continue advancing the organization’s important work for years to come.