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“By the time you get down five or six levels, the company says: ‘We don’t know. Our contract is with this first company. If they’ve contracted out, we don’t know,’” Green says. “So it’s difficult to know because the companies don’t know.”

It’s also tough to determine whether the company really doesn’t know or whether it just doesn’t want to know. Pleading ignorance — real or feigned — won’t necessarily convince a fund manager that the company meets its screening criteria. “Socially responsible investors are holding their feet to the fire on this,” Green says. “We’re saying that there are certain things responsible companies need to do, such as have a code of conduct and make sure it’s enforced in the places where your goods are made and that it’s written in the local language. Have independent monitors verify working conditions.”

But how can an investor tell whether a fund manager is digging down to that level or just taking the company’s assurances at face value? Research is one way, but the ability to ferret out the information you need ultimately depends on the details the fund provides. It’s a good sign if, for example, a fund provides frequent, detailed reports about its discussions with portfolio companies’ management and explanations of the methodology it uses to verify those companies’ claims. Furthermore, “investors can call and inquire about a fund’s research process,” Henningsen says.

The good news is that SRI fund managers are steadily getting better access to corporate managers. Considering that the sector represents more than $2 trillion, few companies can afford to stonewall questions from SRI investors.

“I’ve been in the field 15 years, and at the beginning, when a fund would call a company, they’d get their public relations director,” says Brill, who is co-author of Investing With Your Values. “Now they get the CFO [Chief Financial Officer] or CEO [Chief Executive Officer]. Access has improved tremendously, and that’s all due to the fact that individual investors have decided to invest with their values.”

Of course larger SRI funds typically have greater access. “Ones like Calvert or Pax have big enough research staffs and enough assets under management to kick the tires at every company,” Brill says. “It’s just a little harder when you’re small.”

Longtime SRI investors acknowledge the challenges that fund managers face when trying to figure out whether a company meets SRI standards, especially when the criteria aren’t clear. It’s hard to determine, for instance, whether a tobacco company or a distiller of alcoholic beverages “promotes a culture of materialism,” which is one investment screen at some SRI firms.

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