Washington, D.C., USA (By: Greenbiz) – Socially responsible investment assets grew more than 18 percent between 2005 and 2007, compared to a 3 percent growth rate for all investment assets during the same period, according to a new report.

The newest edition of the Report on Socially Responsible Investing Trends in the United States, produced by Social Investment Forum, found that one of every nine dollars under professional management in the U.S. is ties to socially responsible investing.

That’s $2.71 trillion in total managed assets using a core SRI strategy. The group defines three core socially responsible investing strategies as screening, shareholder advocacy and community investing.

The report found that mutual funds, with $171.7 billion in total net assets, represent the largest share of socially and environmentally screened funds. Total screened funds rose to $201.8 billion in 2007 from $179 billion in 2005.

The bulk of SRI assets in 2007 – more than $1.9 trillion – was from the socially screened accounts managed for institutional and high net worth investors. This represented a 28 percent increase from 2005, when this class of investors held $1.5 trillion in SRI assets.

Shareholder support for social or economic issues rose 57 percent from an average level of 9.8 percent in 2005 to 15.4 percent in 2007.

Community investing institutions held $25.8 billion in assets in 2007, a near 32 percent increase from 2005, when assets totaled $19.6 billion.