Learning the Basics
Read through a quick guide to some fundamental concepts in investing on shareholder engagement:
Proxy Voting and Shareholder Engagement for Endowments
Introduction to Proxy Voting
Introduction to Shareholder Engagement
There are several forms of shareholder engagement that endowments can pursue to address material investment risks, improve corporate sustainability performance and support policies that move us toward an equitable, low-carbon, and regenerative economy. They include proxy voting, engaging in dialogue with mutual funds or companies held in the portfolio, filing or co-filing shareholder resolutions, and signing on to public investor letters or statements.
Proxy Voting
ICCR's Proxy Resolutions and Voting Guide
Presents ICCR member sponsored resolutions for that year and proposals that will go to a vote at the upcoming company annual meetings.
Proxy Preview
Proxy Impact, Si2 and As You Sow’s guide to the upcoming proxy voting season.
Racial Equity Voting Guide
Resolutions related to racial equity that will go to a vote organized by SEIU and Majority Action.
🔐Endowment proxy voting policies, principles, and activities
Dialogue with Fund Managers
IEN's resource: Engaging Investment Managers on Proxy Voting & Other Forms of Shareholder Engagement outlines potential questions for investment managers on their proxy voting and other shareholder engagement activities around ESG. To signal your endowment’s commitment to sustainability, your institution can share a list of questions, such as the one provided below, with both managers and advisors. Sharing your questions and interest in writing at the beginning of the dialogue will allow your managers and advisors an opportunity to prepare for an informed conversation on engagement.
The 2022 Asset Manager Climate Scorecard provides information on how fund managers voted on a number of climate- and governance-related resolutions.
Shareholder Resolutions
ICCR Guide to Filing Resolutions
Ceres' Shareholder Resolutions Database
Ceres tracks shareholder resolutions filed by their investor network participants on sustainability-related issues that companies are facing, focusing on climate change, energy, water scarcity, and sustainability reporting. On Ceres' website, you can sort resolutions by filer, company, issue and more, and get information about the resolution, including full resolution text, status, vote count and supporting memos.
PRI's Collaboration Platform
A private platform for PRI signatories to collaborate and enhance their impact on a range of global engagement initiatives including invitations to sign joint letters to companies, opportunities to join investor-company engagements on specific ESG themes and requests for support for upcoming shareholder resolutions.
As You Sow's Resolution Tracker
List of As You Sow associated shareholder resolutions - can filter by company, date, initiative and status
ICCR’s Shareholder Resolution Database
Lists ICCR member resolutions by company
Sign-on Opportunities
Periodically investor groups coordinate public statements or letters in support of various initiatives or policies related to ESG issues and other materials investment considerations. IEN shares these statements here as opportunities for endowments to add their names and offer support, at their own discretion.
View Current Sign-On Opportunities Here
Act for Impact
Sign on to Investor Statements
Periodically investor groups coordinate public statements or letters in support of various initiatives or policies related to ESG issues and other materials investment considerations. IEN shares these statements here as opportunities for endowments to add their names and offer support, at their own discretion.
Participate in IEN's Shareholder Engagement Initiative
IEN is convening and supporting endowments to leverage their position as asset owners to put pressure on the companies in their investment portfolio. Potential areas of engagement include improving disclosure on climate risk and inequality, reducing GHG emissions, and enacting anti-discrimination strategies for gender and racial equity.
Sign up for As You Vote
Make an impact by voting your proxies in line with your endowment's ESG mandates using As You Vote -- a new ESG aligned proxy voting service that simplifies proxy voting and empowers endowments and other institutional investors to vote their proxies in line with their ESG mandates, using a time and cost efficient platform with optional customization.
Additional Resources
Publications & Articles
Webinars and Online Workshops
Events
Blogs
IEN Working Groups and Initiatives
Archived Resources