How Foundations Can Use Proxy Voting to Promote Philanthropic Goals

Unlocking the Power of the Proxy: How Active Foundation Proxy Voting Can Protect Endowments and Boost Philanthropic Missions encourages grant makers to use their status as shareholders of publicly traded companies to further their philanthropic goals. This report says that foundations should vote for corporate proposals that support social and environmental goals and that strengthen company management — and, therefore, protect the value of foundation-owned stock and the value of foundations’ endowments. For example, a foundation could support a proposal that a pharmaceutical company increase access to its HIV/AIDS drugs in Africa. The report also offers advice for establishing proxy-voting guidelines and includes guidelines established by several grant makers, including the Nathan Cummings Foundation and the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation. It was prepared by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, an organization in New York that develops and manages giving programs, and the As You Sow Foundation, in San Francisco, a nonprofit group that promotes corporate social responsibility.

Publisher: Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, 437 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10022; (212) 812-4330; http://www.rockpa.org; 64 pages; free.