News Releases

Bountiful Financial will define and maintain its faith-based frameworks; Morningstar Sustainalytics to provide company-level research and screening data; and Morningstar Indexes to provide index capabilities.

NEW YORK, October 20, 2026 – Bountiful Financial today announced it is working with Morningstar Sustainalytics and Morningstar Indexes to help support the development of faith-based investment offerings. These new products will be designed to help asset managers, wealth managers, advisor platforms, and other investment organizations worldwide support investors who seek to align portfolios with faith-based principles across the investment process, from research and screening through to index implementation.

Bountiful Financial defines and maintains the faith-based frameworks for Catholics, Evangelical Christians, and Latter-day Saints that will be used in the offerings. Morningstar Sustainalytics provides company-level research and screening data for application within the frameworks developed by Bountiful, while Morningstar Indexes to provide the index infrastructure and calculation capabilities to support investable benchmark offerings. According to Morningstar’s recent Faith-Based Investing: Global Landscape research, faith-based funds accounted for approximately USD 169 billion in assets under management across 853 active strategies as of April 30, 2026.

“Investors around the world value their faith and want these principles reflected in their portfolios. Bountiful Financial develops faith-based investment frameworks for investment professionals seeking to apply defined religious-value criteria through research, screening, and index-based approaches,” said Reid Steadman, chief executive officer of Bountiful Financial. “Morningstar Sustainalytics' data and research, together with Morningstar Indexes' capabilities, help us bring those frameworks to market and make faith-based investing more accessible at scale.”

Informed by Bountiful's advisory councils, Bountiful’s investment frameworks translate the teachings and lived experiences of faith traditions into clear, actionable investment criteria. The frameworks can be applied to global investment universes and embedded into investment research, portfolio construction, and wealth management workflows through predefined screens and customized offerings.

Building on this foundation, Bountiful and Morningstar plan to introduce investable benchmark offerings for Evangelical Christian and Latter-day Saint investors. The planned offerings would combine Bountiful's faith-based investment frameworks with Morningstar Sustainalytics' screening data and Morningstar Indexes' indexing, calculation, and benchmark capabilities. Bountiful's frameworks would be applied across a range of Morningstar Indexes to support these benchmark offerings.

Bountiful will maintain and oversee the underlying faith-based frameworks, including the religious principles, criteria, exclusions, and thresholds reflected in the indexes, while Morningstar Indexes provides the underlying index capabilities. Morningstar's U.S. market index capabilities were expanded through its acquisition of the CRSP Market Indexes in 2026, which were recently renamed the Morningstar Market Indexes.

“Personalization is reshaping how investors think about portfolio construction,” said Gregory Van Droogenbroeck, Chief Product Officer at Morningstar Sustainalytics. “Our role, working alongside our colleagues at Morningstar Indexes, is to provide the research, data, screening capabilities, and global index expertise that help make a wide range of personalized investment solutions possible. Bountiful Financial defines and maintains its faith-based investment frameworks, giving clients greater clarity around the criteria, data, and responsibilities that shape their investment choices. As investors seek solutions that reflect their distinct objectives and preferences, the need for flexible and transparent approaches continues to grow.”

Important Information

Bountiful Financial’s frameworks reflect criteria selected and maintained by Bountiful Financial. They should not be understood as the official position of any church, denomination, or faith community unless the relevant institution expressly states otherwise. Morningstar Sustainalytics and Morningstar Indexes provision of research, data, screening, and index services does not constitute endorsement by Morningstar or any of its affiliates of any religion, denomination, doctrine, political position, Bountiful Financial framework, investment product, or individual inclusion or exclusion. Bountiful Financial’s criteria do not determine or alter independent Morningstar research, ratings, editorial analysis or other analytical conclusions.

About Bountiful Financial

Bountiful Financial is building the global data and investment infrastructure for faith-based investing, bringing religious freedom to investing through proprietary frameworks, data and indices that translate faith values into investable solutions. Bountiful is a global index provider focused solely on faith. Working with 20+ member faith advisory councils, Bountiful translates the teachings and lived experiences of individual faith traditions into rigorous investment frameworks and differentiated datasets, combining that expertise with institutional-grade governance, investment capabilities and advanced data science, including AI, to create screens, indices and other applications for the global investment market. For information, visit bountifulfinancial.com.