This post by Alice DonnaSelva, Senior Advisor at IEN elaborates on Warren Wilson College's partnership with IEN to adopt a robust climate change strategy that actively promotes racial and gender equity in their businesses. 

Why Vote Our Proxies?

• It's an effective tool in aligning your current investments with your institutional mission while enhancing the long term value of the companies you own.
• It's something you can do now that does not involve any change to your current portfolio.

“But proxy voting is complicated,” you say. “ Who has time?” you say. 

IEN has launched a 2021 PROXY VOTING CAMPAIGN to make the process efficient and straightforward!

ACT NOW for the 2021 Proxy Voting Season (March - June)!

AND YOU HAVE 3 OPTIONS!

1. Download and send template letter A to your external managers to show your general support for climate change and social equity related resolutions and urging your managers to vote in favor of those resolutions.  Then hold them accountable by requesting a report at the end of the proxy voting season (July).

1. Download and send template letter B to your external managers to customize the letter to specific resolutions you’d like to support.  We’ve inserted 3 types of votes to support into Letter B with supporting arguments,  but you can enter your own using our Resolution Tracker or any of other detailed resources provided by our partner organizations: As You Sow and ICCR. Again, hold them accountable by requesting a report at the end of the proxy voting season (July).

1. EASIEST OF ALL!  Large asset manager firms such as BlackRock, Vanguard, Fidelity and T. Rowe Price have not historically supported proposals that hold companies accountable for their climate strategy or their stated promotion of racial and gender equity, and this has been the difference between whether or not the proposals receive majority support. If you are an investor in any BlackRock, Vanguard, Fidelity or T. Rowe Price fund (public equity or no) in either your endowment or your 403b plan, download, execute and send template letter C to your contact there. And then - you guessed it! - hold them accountable for how they vote.

We are looking forward to seeing your actions and your impact in the 2021 Proxy Voting Season!

MORE RESOURCES:

Racial Equity Voting Guideline - SEIU and Majority Action 

Higher education endowments have a unique opportunity to lead on encouraging transparency in the financial industry and advancing the field of sustainable investing as they engage students and other stakeholders in a continuous learning process. Learning opportunities can also be tied back to the classroom, engaging students and faculty in carrying out research on real-world topics for endowment managers or running student-managed funds.

Sharing progress publicly on sustainable investment activities can signal to alumni, donors, students and faculty that the school fully embraces its mission and also provide ongoing education in this constantly evolving field.  

There are many ways that institutions can leverage these activities to enhance their sustainability leadership and attract students and donors.

1. Work with IEN to create a case study or share story at an IEN forum or roundtable

2. Share progress in an industry publication

• Matching Investments to Mission l by David Ellis, CFO, Becker College & IEN Member, NACUBO's Business Officer Magazine, March 2018

3. Report progress on your website

• University of Toronto Asset Management Corporation's Responsible Investing Report 

4. Earn recognition for the school working with organizations with expertise in sustainability

• STARS 

  • The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) manages the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS), a self-reporting system through which participating institutions receive a rating of Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum based on their sustainability programs across the institution.Rated institutions are featured in the annual Sustainable Campus Index, which highlights top performers and best practices.

    • STARS provides a framework for understanding sustainability in all sectors of higher education and enables comparisons over time and across institutions using a common set of measurements. 

    • Institutions can earn several points based on investment disclosure, having a committee on investor responsibility, and implementing sustainable investing activities.

    • Read more about the program and how to participate.

• PRI

  • An organization that engages an international network of signatories to promote adoption of its Six Principles for Responsible Investment in investment decision-making.

• SDG Accord

  • The Accord is a commitment learning institutions are making to one another to do more to deliver the goals, to annually report on each signatory's progress, and to do so in ways which share the learning with each other both nationally and internationally. An objective is that sector SDG reporting metrics will be presented at the annual UN High Level Political Forum. 

• Endowment Watch

  • Organized by the Diverse Asset Mangers Initiative, this platform allows university endowments to report on the demographics of their fund managers to encourage more transparency in who exactly is managing endowment assets. 

5. Join Investor Initiatives

Join investor groups and initiatives to access resources, learn from experts and peers, and signal to stakeholders that the institution is engaged in this process. Membership and participation in these various initiatives are complementary and not mutually exclusive. Click here to become a Member of IEN or here for a list of relevant initiatives.

Navigate to: