Hello Queen’s Alumni,

The QBACC executive team of 2019 – 2020 is thrilled to have your support for our current fossil fuel divestment campaign directed towards Queen’s University.
 
For the sake of clarity, Queen’s investment funds are currently comprised of 3 major assets.
1. University Pension Fund – Retirement savings of faculty and staff.
2. Queen’s Endowment Fund – Donations from private donors, corporations, and estates.
3. Queen’s Investment Fund – Annual income earned by the university through sources of revenue (e.g. tuition, food revenue, etc.)

 As our initiative progress forwards, we have chosen to proceed with the following two-tiered plan in mind:  
1. The creation of a separate, fully divested, opt-in endowment fund.
2. Divesting the Queen’s Investment Fund.

This plan resulted from limitations regarding the Pension Fund and Endowment Fund; the nature and principles of the Pension law and Trust Law both of which severely limit the ability to adapt those funds into a divested fund. However, the creation of a separate, fully divested, opt-in endowment fund would allow for a donation portfolio to be established, providing donors to make an autonomous decision for their investment. That coupled with the regulatory flexibility of the Queen’s Investment Fund allows us to provide the best necessary options for future donors and investors moving forwards.

Divestment sends a substantial political message; we expect significant governmental and systemic action to keep warming below 2 degrees Celsius. In doing so, we are preparing to protect the Queen’s community from the potential negative financial repercussions of continued investment in fossil fuels.  

For more information please consult our divestment information booklet "Investing in a Sustainable Future" which further outlines our arguments for divestment and provides more details: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kF4yeNWMdUwxIrq8fg8RduAfsMnC3wpN/view?usp=sharing 

If you have further questions and would like to contact our divestment team, please know that you can reach us at: divestqueens@gmail.com. We encourage you to share this form among your fellow alumni and to write letters to the incoming principal Patrick Dean and the Board of Trustees. You can send these to the above email and we will forward them throughout the year.

The executive team of QBACC would like to commend you for your actions, as well as express our sincere gratitude for encouraging Queen’s University to become a more socially responsible institution.