If you have spent more than about ten minutes reading about Biblically Responsible Investing, you have heard of the Eventide Gilead Fund. It is the most talked-about BRI mutual fund in the country, it has billions under management, and it is the vehicle most Christian financial advisors point to when a new client asks, "can I actually do this without ruining my returns?"

Let me tell you the real story of ETGLX, how it works, how it has performed, and whether it is the right fit for a BRI portfolio in 2026.

The basics

The ticker is ETGLX for the retail share class. Eventide Asset Management is based in Boston and was founded in 2008 by Finny Kuruvilla, a Harvard-educated physician and Hebrew scholar who wanted to start a mutual fund that took Christian values seriously but also tried to win on returns rather than just on convictions.

The fund launched in July 2008, which turned out to be right before the Lehman crisis. Good timing for new money coming in, not great for the first year of reported performance. By 2026, the fund has around 10 billion dollars in assets across its share classes, making it one of the larger BRI vehicles by size.

The expense ratio for ETGLX, the retail class, is 1.12 percent. The institutional class (ETILX) is 0.87 percent. That is meaningfully higher than a vanilla S&P 500 index fund, which is part of the trade-off with active BRI management. You pay more for the active screening and the stock selection work.

The Business 360 framework

Eventide's secret sauce, or at least the thing they talk about most in their marketing, is what they call the Business 360 framework. This is a broader approach than just "screen out the six sin stock categories." It has six areas of evaluation.

Customers. Does the company treat customers fairly? Does it price reasonably? Does it provide a product that actually helps people? Or is it exploiting customers, hiding fees, pushing upsells?

Employees. Does the company treat workers well? Fair wages, safe conditions, genuine opportunity for advancement? Eventide has been vocal about worker treatment as a stewardship question, not just a hippie question.

Suppliers. Does the company treat its supply chain fairly? Pay on time, maintain transparent relationships, care about the workers and communities further down the chain?

Communities. Does the company contribute positively to the places it operates? Does it pay its taxes? Does it support local institutions?

Environment. Eventide does weigh environmental impact but less aggressively than a pure ESG fund would. Their framing is stewardship of creation (Genesis 1:28 and Psalm 24:1) rather than carbon footprint accounting.

Investors. Does the company treat its own shareholders well? Honest accounting, reasonable executive compensation, transparent communication?

A company can score well on the negative screens (no alcohol, tobacco, gambling, abortion drugs, porn distribution, LGBTQ advocacy) and still fail the Business 360 framework if it treats its workers like garbage or rips off its customers. That has actually happened with holdings Eventide has evaluated. The framework lets them say "no" for reasons beyond the standard sin stock list.

What ETGLX owns in 2026

The fund is a large-cap US equity fund, benchmarked against the S&P 500. Top holdings as of the most recent disclosures include names like Microsoft (MSFT), Apple (AAPL), Visa (V), Mastercard (MA), Intuit (INTU), Boeing (BA), and several healthcare and industrial names.

Wait, Apple? Apple is in a strict BRI fund? Yes, and this is where methodology matters. Eventide evaluates Apple through Business 360 and concludes that the core business (selling devices and services) is not disqualifying, the company treats its employees reasonably well, its environmental record is strong, and it has a good record on data privacy. The content concerns about the App Store and Apple TV+ are real but are treated as secondary rather than disqualifying for Eventide.

Timothy Plan has at times excluded Apple on App Store content grounds. So you can see the difference in methodology here between two BRI funds looking at the same company.

ETGLX also tends to hold industrial and healthcare names that a pure S&P 500 fund would own too. There is no dramatic sector tilt that makes the portfolio unrecognizable. It is a large-cap fund that looks pretty similar to the market with a selective set of exclusions.

The performance story

Performance is where ETGLX has earned its reputation and where the critics have sometimes had ammunition.

Over the fund's lifetime since 2008, ETGLX has roughly tracked the S&P 500, sometimes outperforming, sometimes trailing. Over rolling five-year windows, there are periods when it has beaten the index by a couple of points annually and periods when it has trailed.

Specifically, ETGLX had a very strong stretch from 2016 to 2021. The fund outperformed the S&P 500 by a meaningful margin during that period, partially because tech did well and ETGLX was overweight tech relative to the slower moving parts of the market.

Then 2022 happened. Tech sold off hard. ETGLX trailed the S&P 500 in 2022 by a few percentage points. It recovered in 2023 and 2024 as the AI-driven tech rally continued.

2025 was mixed. Early 2026 has been okay. The five-year annualized return through early 2026 is competitive but not dramatically beating the benchmark.

The honest read is that ETGLX has delivered on its promise of "competitive returns with biblical values." It has not crushed the market, but it has not lagged in a way that would make a client feel cheated. For most long-term investors, the tracking has been close enough that the conviction benefit is worth the potentially small give-up.

Who Eventide excludes

ETGLX does not own Anheuser-Busch InBev. Does not own Altria or Philip Morris. Does not own MGM or Wynn. Does not own CVS or Walgreens in most periods. Does not own Disney. Does not own Walmart (in most recent periods). Does not own Tesla consistently.

ETGLX does own companies like Microsoft, Apple, Visa, Mastercard, and many large industrial and healthcare names. The portfolio is not radical. It is just the S&P 500 minus the excluded sectors and stocks, plus some active selection around the edges.

The Eventide fund family

ETGLX is the flagship, but Eventide runs a broader lineup. Eventide Dividend Opportunities (ETDOX) is a dividend-focused fund. Eventide Multi-Asset Income (ETMIX) blends equity and fixed income. Eventide Healthcare and Life Sciences (ETAHX) is sector-focused. Eventide Exponential Technologies (ETAEX) leans into disruptive tech.

Each applies the Business 360 framework to its respective universe. If you want to build a diversified BRI portfolio using just Eventide products, you can do it, though expense ratios for the specialty funds are higher.

How ETGLX compares to BIBL

The Inspire 100 ETF (BIBL) is a passively managed index fund. ETGLX is an actively managed mutual fund. That is the key difference.

BIBL has a lower expense ratio (0.35 percent). It follows a rules-based index. It is a set-it-and-forget-it option.

ETGLX has a higher expense ratio but actively selects stocks based on both negative screens and positive Business 360 evaluation. It is a "let the managers work" option.

Which is better depends on what you want. If you believe active management can add value and you want the Business 360 framework to do real work, ETGLX makes sense. If you want low cost and passive exposure to a rules-based BRI index, BIBL is probably a better fit.

Many Christian investors hold both for different roles in the portfolio. There is no rule against it.

The biblical framing Eventide uses

Eventide leans heavily on two verses in its marketing and in client communication.

Jeremiah 29:7, "But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare." Eventide applies this to investing: the welfare of the businesses you own is connected to the welfare of the communities they operate in. Investing is not separable from the flourishing of neighbors.

Proverbs 31:18, "she perceives that her merchandise is profitable." The Proverbs 31 woman is discerning about commerce. Eventide treats this as a model for the kind of active engagement and careful evaluation they try to do.

These are not the strictest BRI verses. They are positive framings. Eventide's pitch is not "flee from sin stocks" but "invest in companies that contribute to human flourishing." Same direction as the stricter funds, slightly different emotional tone.

The practical question

Should you own ETGLX?

If you want an actively managed BRI core for your portfolio, ETGLX is a reasonable choice. The expense ratio is higher than index alternatives, but the active management has earned its fees over the long run.

If you want a pure index-tracked BRI option with low costs, BIBL is probably a better fit and you can save on expenses.

If you want the strictest possible BRI screens, Timothy Plan's TPLC or similar products might be closer to what you want. Eventide is moderate on some issues (Apple, for example) compared to the stricter funds.

If you want a diversified BRI portfolio across asset classes, Eventide's lineup plus maybe some Inspire ETFs for international exposure can be a solid core.

The takeaway

ETGLX has become the default BRI mutual fund for Christian financial advisors because it has delivered reasonable performance and the Business 360 framework gives advisors something real to explain to clients. It is not perfect, the fees are higher than passive alternatives, and reasonable people can disagree with some of its holding decisions. But it is a legitimately good option for a core BRI holding in 2026.

Matthew 25:14-30, the parable of the talents, ends with the master saying, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much." The point of the parable is that faithfulness and return are both part of stewardship. BRI funds exist because that is not always a comfortable tension, and ETGLX is one of the better attempts at holding both parts together.

Worth looking at if you are building a BRI portfolio. Just read the prospectus, check the current holdings, and make sure the methodology lines up with your convictions before you buy.

Eventide Gilead Fund (ETGLX): A Closer Look at BRI's Most Famous Vehicle