FOREWORD
In 1992, I founded the As You Sow Foundation based on the Biblical reference that a person reaps what they sow. The original mission was to hold corporations accountable for compliance with a unique California law (Proposition 65) requiring warning labels on products with toxic or carcinogenic ingredients. We donated the winnings from these lawsuits to fund grassroots activist groups. In 1997, after struggling with various ways to make shareholder advocacy more effective inside of a financial services institution, I decided there could be numerous benefits to doing it in a nonprofit setting and created a second program at As You Sow, the Corporate Social Responsibility Program, to pursue shareholder advocacy.
Pressing companies as investors in a nonprofit setting allowed my team to work with a wide range of stakeholders. With the leadership of Program Director Conrad MacKerron and Associate Director Michael Passoff, we brought new sophistication to Environment Social and Governance (ESG)–issue shareholder advocacy, doing extensive research into the economic impacts of target issues to develop a business case for investors in promoting proposals. We developed an active “get out the vote” solicitation campaign that was uncommon for ESG proposals.
We were joined by visionary foundation leaders and their brilliant boards: Tim Smith and the amazing religious orders of Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility, John Powers and The Educational Foundation of America, Adelaide Gomer and the Park Foundation, and Ellen Dorsey and the Wallace Global Foundation, who were all early adopters of having 100 percent of their money in alignment with their values.
We have partnered with leading groups including Divest-Invest Philanthropy, Rainforest Action Network, Greenpeace, Headwaters Forest Coalition, and Ruckus Society to work on issues around saving old-growth forests, recycling electronic waste, and creating codes of conduct to stop the use of sweat-shops combining campaigning, organizing, and investing to create a powerful nexus pushing for change.
As You Sow’s Corporate Social Responsibility Program, which started out as an experiment 20 years ago, has developed into a widely respected player in the shareholder advocacy community. I am excited and proud of what we have accomplished, featuring a staff of incredible leaders: Conrad MacKerron, Danielle Fugere, and Patricia Jurewicz. Thank you all for your brilliance and your tireless commitment to speak truth to power.
In the Shareholder Action Guide, Andrew Behar tells inspiring stories of leaders from the sustainable investment, religious and labor communities who have skillfully utilized their power as investors to stand up to corporations to improve how they treat people and the planet. Wherever we have had a victory, we have never been alone. Always, the work of a multitude of organizations and strategies has made the shift. The inspiring campaigns profiled in these pages have helped to advance shareholder advocacy to the point where it is a highly effective strategy to complement legislation, litigation, and grassroots activism as a key tool for social change. We have been honored to be on this journey with so many leaders. I hope you’ll join the movement.