Is American Values Investments Woke?

Company Overview

American Values Investments is a registered investment advisory (RIA) firm based in upper East Tennessee that offers stock portfolios built around what it calls traditional American values. Rather than screening out a handful of sin stocks, the firm uses a distinctive screen-in approach: it actively seeks out companies whose conduct reflects qualities like integrity, caring, courage, diligence, and innovation. The firm reports that only a small fraction of the thousands of companies it studies, reportedly around 125, qualify for potential investment under its proprietary scoring system.

The firm operates largely on a sub-advisory model, supplying its values-screened portfolios to other financial advisors whose clients want investments aligned with their convictions, while also serving retail investors directly. It was founded by Carter LeCraw, whose predecessor firm dates back to 1996. Reported regulatory assets under management are modest, around the mid-tens of millions, a figure drawn from secondary filings rather than the firm's own marketing.

ESG & Sustainability

American Values Investments is, in effect, a deliberate alternative to conventional ESG investing. Where ESG funds screen companies on environmental and progressive social-governance metrics, this firm screens on character-based and faith-rooted criteria. It explicitly discloses that its portfolios could underperform conventional funds because impacting American culture, not maximizing return, is its stated primary goal. That is an unusually honest disclosure and a clear repudiation of the standard ESG playbook.

How its screening differs from ESG

• Values are defined in Judeo-Christian and traditional-American terms, not progressive ESG terms
• A proprietary scoring system rewards integrity, caring, courage, diligence, and innovation
• The firm is transparent that values alignment may come at a cost to raw returns

DEI Programs

As a small advisory firm, American Values Investments has no corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion department or DEI mandate. More to the point, its entire investment philosophy is the opposite of the DEI-driven corporate culture that fuels woke ratings. The firm evaluates companies on conduct and character rather than identity-based metrics, and its own operation is lean and focused.

LGBTQ+ Advocacy

There is no record of Pride sponsorships or LGBTQ+ activist partnerships. The firm is not the kind of large employer the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index rates, and its public positioning is explicitly grounded in Judeo-Christian principles. Founder Carter LeCraw has given interviews to conservative outlets and the firm's content circulates in faith-based media, signaling a clearly traditional cultural orientation.

Political Activity

American Values Investments does not operate as a political donor or PAC; it is an investment firm. Its mission statement, however, is unambiguously culture-facing: it describes its goal as investing that impacts America and its culture, rooted in the Christian values it says the country was founded upon. This is a firm that markets its worldview openly rather than hiding it behind neutral corporate language.

Consumer Impact

For investors who are tired of having progressive ESG priorities baked into their portfolios, American Values Investments offers a genuine alternative built on the opposite premise. It is transparent about its faith-based mission, candid about the trade-offs, and free of the DEI and Pride activism that drives high woke scores. Values-driven investors should treat it as a friendly, not-woke option, while remembering, as with any investment, to weigh performance and fees alongside values. Note that this firm is distinct from the separately operated American Conservative Values ETF.