Dear John,
Earned press can make a real difference in our ability to spread our message and to create change. Over the last two years, As You Sow has received more recognition in the news than in the rest of our 32+ year history combined. I’m excited to share just a few of the 300+ mentions we received this year.
As You Sow’s team of issue experts has become a “go-to” resource for journalists, who reach out to us about our work and to discuss
developments in the fields of shareholder advocacy and corporate responsibility. Thanks to your support, we’re able to elevate these issues in the public conversation, and in turn exert pressure on corporations.
Thanks to the generosity of As You Sow’s Board of Directors, the Board Match Fund is 20% larger than previous years. Don’t miss out – your gift can go twice as far with our limited-time matching gift campaign.
Your year-end contribution ensures shareholder advocacy remains front and center in 2025.
Thank you for bringing awareness to the role corporations must play in shaping a livable future. With your support, you are ensuring the future of shareholder advocacy, the right to make free and informed investment decisions, and progress on the world’s most pressing environmental and social issues.
See your impact in action below!
Sincerely, | | | | Sarah Milne Senior Vice President of Advancement | |
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| It’s not that hard, and there’s a bonus: Portfolios without fossil fuels have generally performed just as well as the broader market. Your first step is to assess what’s in your existing portfolio. Start with the website Fossil Free Funds, which is run by As You Sow, an environmental advocacy group. There, you can look up the specific mutual funds or exchange-traded funds that you’re already invested in to see how they score on different measures. | | | | “We are committed to improving how orders are shipped, for the good of customers and the planet,” Amazon wrote in a blog post. As You Sow is a
nonprofit shareholder advocacy organization that has filed several resolutions at Amazon asking the company to disclose and reduce its plastic packaging footprint. | | | | New research conducted at the University of Waterloo (Canada) in partnership with the shareholder organization As You Sow looked at the 401(k) plans of 12 tech-sector companies, including Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Netflix. On average, investments in fossil-free portfolios did 8.9%
better over 10 years. Not subscribed to Fortune? Read our press release. | | | |
“It can’t be so small in comparison to other payouts that it would not incentivize action,” says Danielle Fugere, president and chief counsel of As You Sow. |
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And that’s the big deal, says As You Sow CEO Andrew Behar, who co-authored the 2024 study. “In 2016, we created the Clean200 in response to investors saying, ‘If we divest fossil fuels, there is nothing to invest in.’” Eight years later, the message is clear: “Investors who are not tilting their portfolios toward a clean future do so at their own peril.” | |
| | Of the more than 20 corporate engagements initiated last year, over 80 percent of the companies voluntarily agreed to release employment data, said Meredith Benton, founder of Whistle Stop Capital and As You Sow’s workplace equity program manager. | | | | At Tesla’s latest shareholder meeting, investors in the electric car company spurned an activist proposal to limit the use of minerals pulled from the seabed. As You Sow — a nonprofit promoting corporate social responsibility — filed a proposal in December asking shareholders to impose a moratorium on sourcing minerals from deep seabeds. “We are seeing
Tesla, the face of the EV transition, as a laggard,” said Elizabeth Levy, the nonprofit’s biodiversity program coordinator. “The United States is a follower in this regard,” said As You Sow President Danielle Fugere. “Other nations are further along, and this shows up in how car companies operate.” Not subscribed to Bloomberg? Read our press release. | | | | Ms. Danielle Fugere, president and general counsel [of As You Sow], stated that
“Although we will continue to work with the Committee to answer reasonable questions, the subpoena is flawed, with demands that are inapplicable to As You Sow, and is so broad as to be virtually unbounded. Further, the antitrust allegations at the heart of the Committee’s argument twists both the facts and the law. Our work increases competition and fosters new, low-cost energy innovations.” | | | The resolution notes that while the firm discloses pounds of pesticides avoided annually by its organic farmers, it does not report pesticide use reductions by its suppliers using regenerative agriculture practices. | |
| | | What is ESG investing?
Collect the stock or fund symbols for the holdings in your retirement accounts and investment portfolios. Then, run those symbols through the Invest Your Values assessment tool at As You Sow, a nonprofit that provides consumer-friendly snapshots of ESG rankings and data | | | |
Today, because of you, shareholder advocacy is one of the most powerful tools for bringing about a future we can believe in, where corporations are part of the solution, not the problem. | | |
| | | As You Sow is the nation’s leading shareholder representative, with a 30+ year track record promoting environmental and social corporate responsibility and advancing values-aligned investing. Its issue areas include climate change, ocean plastics, toxins in the food system, biodiversity loss, racial injustice, lack of workplace diversity, and excessive executive compensation. See As You Sow’s shareholder resolution tracker. | | |
As You Sow
Main Post Office PO Box 751 Berkeley, CA 94701 | | | | DISCLAIMER: As You Sow is not an investment advisor, nor do we provide financial planning, legal or tax advice. The content of our programming, publications and presentations is provided for informational and educational purposes only, and should not be considered as information sufficient upon which to base any decisions on investing, purchases, sales, trades, or any other investment transactions. We do not express an opinion on the future or expected value of any security or other interest and do not explicitly or implicitly recommend or
suggest an investment strategy of any kind.
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