Socially responsible mutual funds, which screen the environmental and social records of companies in which they invest, have outperformed many traditional mutual funds in recent years and are still performing decently despite recent sharp losses in the technology sector. The 54 socially responsible funds tracked by the Morningstar financial information firm were up more than 6 percent through the first quarter of 2000, compared to a gain of 2.3 percent for the S&P 500 Index. Investors can also choose more stringent, pure green funds, which put money in companies that undertake expressly environmental projects such as developing alternative-energy technologies.
