Corporate philanthropy as ethical indicator

Hurricane Katrina not only swept through the Gulf Coast, it exposed new questions for social investors: What does the size of a company's postdisaster donations say about its ethical performance? Do high gas prices mean a boom for alternative energy? The Monitor's Laurent Belsie invited two Boston-based experts to examine these questions: Robert Zevin, a pioneer of socially responsible investing and head of his own investment advisory firm, and Matthew Patsky, portfolio manager of the Winslow Green Growth Fund, which as of Aug. 31 had the best one-year, three-year, and 10-year record of any domestic equity fund tracked by SocialFunds.com.