Executive Summary

In February 2006, TIAA-CREF contracted with Greenberg Quinlan Rosner to survey 1002 current participants, including 501 who invest in the CREF Social Choice Account (SCA) and 501 who do not invest in the SCA. initially developed with the input of our participants in the 1980s, the CREF Social Choice Account has grown into the world's largest social screened investment fund for individual investors with just over $8.06 billion in assets (as of 3/31/2006).

The survey sought to examine particpants' attitudes around Socially Responsible Investing (SRI), to guage their knowledge of and commitment to TIAA-CREF's SRI strategies, and to inform the company's SRI strategies moving forward.

Main Findings:

• Financial return is a strong priority for TIAA-CREF participants.
• TIAA-CREF participants also want their social values reflected in their investments.
• TIAA-CREF particpants have a deep need for more information about socially responsible investing
• (SRI) strategies and accounts and there is room to attract more interest in socially responsible investing.
• SCA and Non-SCA partipants have slighty different views on SRI investment strategies. Among SCA participants, social screening is most important followed nearly equally by community investing and shareholder activism. Non-SCA participants rank all three strategies about the same, though slightly lower than SCA participants.
• TIAA-CREF participants also express their values through other kinds of consumer behavior. Majorities of SCA and non-SCA participants buy organic food, consider purchasing a hybrid car, and boycott products where they disapprove of corporate practices.

Methodology:

A total of 1002 interviews were conducted with TIAA-CREF participants; 501 with those who invest in the CREF Social Choice Account (SCA) and 501 who do not invest in the CREF SCA.

SCA:

• This phone survey reached 501 adults, 18 years or older, who are invested in TIAA-CREF's Social Choice Account. The survey was conducted February 7-14, 2006.
• Respondents were randomly selected using TIAA-CREF's customer database. The sample was stratified by level of investment, age, and gender proportionate to overal population of SCA investors.

NON-SCA:

• This phone survey reached 501 adults, 18 years of age or older, who are customers of TIAA-CREF but are not invested in TIAA-CREF's Social Choice Account. The survey was conducted February 7-28, 2006.
• Respondents were randomly selected using TIAA-CREF's customer database. The sample was stratified by level of investment, age, and gender proportionate to overal population of SCA investors.

All data were weighted by gender and age to ensure an accurate reflection of the population. The sample size with these weights is 500/segment, with a margin of error of +/- 4.4%.

In interpreting the results, we should stress the intensity of the response (i.e. the percentage who "strongly" agree or find a strategy "very" important), given the inherent social desirability of an affirmative response.

Key Findings

• Financial return is a strong priority for TIAA-CREF articipants.
• TIAA-CREF participants also want their social values reflected in their investments. 
• TIAA-CREF participants have a deep need for more information about SRI strategies and accounts, and there is room to attract more interest in socially responsible investing.
• SCA and non-SCA participants have slightly different views on SRI investment strategies. Among SCA participants, social screening is most important. Non-SCA participants rank the strategies of shareholder activistm, social screening, and community investment about the same.