Fidelity Investments is a highly rated, online investment company. I manage my Roth IRA through Charles Schwab, but my partner Susan has started her account with Fidelity. I have logged on to Fidelity a few times to help her screen for socially responsible mutual funds. Unfortunately Fidelity lacks a specific screening mechanism to find such funds. I resorted to culling through the list of mutual funds listed at Social Investment Forum to compare mutual funds. I found that a wide variety of Calvert funds were available to purchase. The Large Capital Value Neuberger Berman Socially Responsible Fund was also available. These mutual funds were a few the funds that met Susan's investment rules. However, I have stumbled across a tough issue while looking at another family of funds that Susan was interested in, MMA Praxis Mutual Fund's company holdings. ConocoPhillips is a worldwide energy company and is listed as a company held by MMA Praxis. Susan does not want to invest in "oil companies", but MMA reports that they only invest in companies with proactive environmental practices.
In making investment decisions, MMA strives to invest in companies that:

The natural environment is a finite resource, the inheritance of future generations and a gift from God. We expect companies to respect the limits of our natural resources and to work toward environmental sustainability. Companies should “reduce, reuse, and recycle,” pursue cleaner and more efficient production methods and bear a deep concern for the welfare of animals, minimizing animal testing, wherever possible. We value a company’s involvement in the environmental technology and services arena. We expect companies to engage in honest, transparent environmental reporting, to support respected environmental principles and to publicly promote the value of the environment.

This is a stumbling block in finding an investing practice for her. By utilizing the mutual fund list provided by Social Investment Forum, I was able to establish criteria that appeared to offer Susan a small universe of mutual funds in which to invest. However, now that I found that one of these mutual funds holds a type of company that Susan doesn't want to invest in, I am at a loss as where to look for acceptable investment options. If I found a mutual fund that wasn't holding an "oil company" currently, their screening process may allow a purchase of that type of company at a later time. It appears that Susan's principles are too narrow to allow for investment in socially conscious mutual funds based on the amount of time it would take to do continuous research in the funds holdings. We will have to go back to the drawing board and define a new screening procedure. Another option is to get out of shopping for mutual funds, but I haven't discussed that possibility at all with her.