This is the first of a three part series. See also Fiduciary Duty to Announce Votes (Part 2): Historical Background and Fiduciary Duty to Announce Votes (Part 3): Take Action. A recent editorial in Pensions & Investments (P&I), Winning over proxy voters, essentially argues that pensions have a fiduciary duty to announce their proxy votes in advance of the annual […]
Time to step into the way back machine to see what we were writing about 5, 10 and 15 years ago. Five years ago in 2007 major charitable foundations, with the notable exception of the Gates Foundation, are initiating or strengthening efforts to harmonize the social and environmental effect of their endowment investments with their philanthropic goals, according […]
On February 15th, the Responsible Endowments Coalition honored Anuradha Mittal, the Executive Director of the Oakland Institute. Anuradha spoke about university investments in land grabs—the act of buying up vast tracts of land in poor countries that often result in environmental destruction and violations of human rights. (more…)
A new report, Environmental, Social and Governance Investing by College and University Endowments in the United States, finds environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) efforts by endowments are less prevalent than often believed, particularly given their history as pioneers dating back to 1970s anti-apartheid campaigns. These findings are particularly surprising at a time when ESG factors are increasingly factored […]