How to Personally Divest

Download the complete personal Divestment Guide

The money invested by you and your neighbors to fund retirement, a college education, home ownership, financial security and peace of mind should not be used to fund an ongoing genocide. Here are our recommended steps if you decide to divest your personal assets.

Please note that the Save Darfur Coalition does not give investment advice. Also, the screening tool mentioned in the first three steps is for educational purposes. Please check with your mutual fund representative and advisor for latest status of funds before taking action.


1. Know what you own

See the partial list in this document of highest offending companies that fund the genocide and target investment firms. The full company report can be sent to you from www.sudandivestment.org. Then you can use the education screening tool to look up individual mutual funds that you own. You should always check in with your mutual fund representative or money manager for the current status of your fund before taking action. That said, if you find that all your funds are with the companies that have already divested, then congratulations, your investments are already genocide free! See the list.

2. Inform your investment firms and your advisor that you don’t want to invest in genocide.

We encourage you to write or email the investment firms directly. See contact information on our website. Many people chose to wait a certain time period, such as 3 months, to give the investment firm time to divest. Sample letters are below. (If you do so, skip to the last step while you wait).

3. Divest in a way that works for you

Some people chose to switch their assets from a mutual fund that holds offending stock to one that does not, using the www.sudandivestment.org screening tool. Others chose to transfer all assets to a company that has completely divested of all stocks that help fund the genocide.

4. Notify the companies and your friends you have divested

By spreading the word, you multiply the impact of your own divestment.

5. Get involved

Get involved in state, federal, investment firm, and other institutional divestment campaigns. Contact us if you need help finding a local campaign.
 

A Personal Divestment Story

When Paul Drescher of California discovered that the PetroChina stock he owned was helping fund genocide in Darfur, he not only sold the stock, but donated the profit to the Save Darfur Coalition. According to Paul:

“The whole world is watching. PetroChina must take action now to alleviate this horrific situation in whatever way possible, or it risks forever being linked, in the minds of global investors, to the Sudan's perpetrators of genocide.  As a shareholder of the Company, I cannot sit silently and let that happen.”