CEO's Letter
Dear Investor:
When I started Parnassus Investments in 1984, the idea of taking social as well as financial factors into account in making investment decisions was a unique and controversial one. There were only a handful of social investment funds at the time, and total assets in all the funds only amounted to a few hundred million dollars. Things have changed a lot since then. The Parnassus Funds have more than $1 billion in assets, and the number of all social funds is now approaching one hundred with assets of many billions of dollars. Social investing is now more accepted by the business community. Twenty years ago, company management was surprised when we asked questions about how a firm treated its employees, how it handled diversity, how it protected the environment and if it participated in community affairs and made charitable contributions. Today, most management teams are no longer surprised at these kinds of questions, and most corporations are expected to concern themselves with social responsibility.
The other thing that's changed a lot is investors' attitude toward social investing. In the early days, critics argued that social investing meant inferior returns. Today, the success of Parnassus and other firms has shown that social investors can get a good return on their money.
Today, the Parnassus Funds have almost a hundred thousand investors, and I like to feel that we're all a part of a like-minded community. When I write our shareholder reports, I try to be clear and concise and tell investors exactly what happened-both the good and the bad. Shareholders tell us that when they read our reports, it's like having a conversation with a friend.
Our website describes our investment philosophy and talks about our line-up of mutual funds. It also allows investors to create accounts online and current shareholders to make online transactions and look up account information. To all our shareholders, thank you for investing with Parnassus. For those of you who are not yet shareholders, I look forward to welcoming you to the funds.
Yours truly,
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer