A product of the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War, Amy Domini grew up with the flower-child ethos of goodwill. Personal ethics were important to her as a stockbroker, prompting her to write "Ethical Investing" in 1984, where she questioned why people would invest in corporations that undermined their individual goals. She soon began to see her investment style as part of a larger movement and herself as a leader within that movement, providing the disjointed socially responsible investing community with a sense of structure and solidarity. Together with her partners Peter Kinder and Steve Lydenberg , she formed the Domini 400 Social Index , comprised of 400 U.S. corporations selected for a range of social and environmental criteria, and the Domini Social Equity Fund , which tracks this index.

"When I started Domini Social Investments, I had no idea of how difficult it would be to operate in the mutual fund industry," Domini says, "This industry is highly regulated and our shareholders deserve nothing less than excellent service." The industry was also largely untapped and the future of socially responsible investing met with skepticism. "I am largely glad that I did not know then what I know now since I might have been afraid to try, and that would have been a terrible mistake."