Responsible Investment
The Sustainability Council formed a subcommittee in Spring 2009 to vote the College’s proxies. This original committee became inactive and was revived by two students and one faculty member in spring of 2010. The three subcommittee members reviewed a small number of proxies and submitted recommendations to the College for voting those proxies.
The scope of our engagement with responsible investing was expanded in the fall of 2010. After an information presentation from First Affirmative Financial Network, a Responsible Investments student group was formed to address three major tasks related to responsible investing:
- To make recommendations to Campus Sustainability Council for the investment of the newly established $10,000 Green Investment Fund;
- To evaluate a portion of the college’s endowment for its social responsibility;
- To vote the colleges proxies and explore additional areas of shareholder engagement.
Committee Voting Guidelines
In order to provide some structure to our operations, our committee chose to adopt several guidelines pertaining to the committee itself as well as to the resolutions we would be voting on. Members of the 2010-2011 committee chose to adopt the following guidelines:
- To submit a proxy vote on our committee’s behalf to the college’s Director of Endowment Administration, Stacy Lutz-Davidson, five or more members must have voted on that resolution.
- Members must be in attendance of committee meetings in order to cast a vote or raise an issue; voting by email is not permitted.
- Barring unusual circumstances, the committee will vote in favor of the disclosure of companies’ political contributions on the Internet; resolutions proposing disclosure in major newspapers will be reviewed individually.
- Barring unusual circumstances, the committee will vote in favor of resolutions proposing reporting on companies’ environmental impacts or greenhouse gas emissions.
- Barring unusual circumstances, the committee will always vote in favor of making executive pay data available to the public.
- If committee members do not raise an issue about a political contributions resolution once they are made aware of the resolution, votes in favor of these resolutions may be submitted without convening the committee.
Voting Recommendations, 2010-2011
|
COMPANY |
RESOLUTION/PROPOSAL NUMBER |
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION |
|
Johnson & Johnson |
Item 4: Say on Pay Frequency* Item 5: Price Containment (Drugs) Item 6: Shareholder Proposal on Amendment to Company’s Equal Employment Opportunity Policy Item 7: Shareholder Proposal on Adopting Non-Animal Methods for Training |
Item 4: 1 year Item 5: FOR Item 6: AGAINST Item 7: FOR |
|
Texas Instruments |
Item ?: Say on Pay Frequency |
1 year |
|
Carnival Corp. |
Proposal 19: Frequency of Say on Pay |
Proposal 19: 1 year |
|
Coca-Cola Enterprises |
Item 3: Say on Pay Frequency Item 5: Severance Agreements |
Item 3: 1 year Item 5: FOR |
|
Baker Hughes |
Proposal 5: Say on Pay Frequency Proposal 6: Majority Vote Standard for Director Elections |
Proposal 5: 1 year Proposal 6: FOR |
|
Adobe Systems |
Proposal 7: Say on Pay Frequency |
Proposal 7: 1 year |
|
Exelon Corp. |
Proposal 4: Say on Pay Frequency |
Proposal 4: 1 year |
|
3M Co. |
Proposal 4: Say on Pay Frequency Proposal 5: Stockholder Proposal on Political Contributions |
Proposal 4: 1 year Proposal 5: FOR |
|
Progressive Corp. |
Item 4: Say on Pay Frequency |
Item 4: 1 year |
|
The Coca-Cola Co. |
Proposal 6: Say on Pay Frequency Proposal 7: Shareowner Proposal—Report on Biphenol-A |
Proposal 6: 1 year Proposal 7: FOR |
|
EOG Resources |
Item 4: Say on Pay Frequency Item 6: Stockholder Proposal Concerning Corporate Political Contributions |
Item 4: 1 year Item 6: FOR |
|
Union Pacific Corporation |
4. Say on Pay Frequency 5(a) Actions Adversely Affecting Preferred Stock 5(b) Removal of Directors 5(c) Changing Authorized Amount of Capital Stock 6 Independent Chairman of the Board |
4: 1 year 5: Abstention 6: FOR |
|
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. |
3: Say on Pay Frequency 5: Cumulative Voting 6: Special Shareowners Meetings 7: Executive Compensation & Long-Term Performance 8: Report on Senior Executive Compensation 9: Report on Climate Change Risk Disclosure 10: Political Contributions |
3: 1 year 5: FOR 6: FOR 7: FOR 8: FOR 9: AGAINST 10: FOR |
|
Occidental Petroleum Corporation |
Item 4: Say on Pay Frequency Item 5: Report on Political Expenditures and Spending Processes Item 6: Required Nomination of Director w/ Environmental Expertise |
4: 1 year 5: FOR 6: FOR |
|
Pepsico, Inc |
Item 3: Say on Pay Frequency Item 6: Right to Call Special Shareholder Meetings Item 7: Political Contributions Report |
3: 1 year 6: FOR 7: FOR |
|
Wells Fargo |
Item 3: Say on Pay Frequency Item 5: Stockholder Proposal Regarding Special Stockholder Meetings Item 6: Stockholder Proposal Regarding Cumulative Voting in Contested Director Elections Item 7: Stockholder Proposal Regarding Policy to Require Independent Chairman Item 8: Stockholder Proposal Regarding an Advisory Vote on Director Compensation Item 9: Stockholder Proposal Regarding a Report on Internal Controls for Mortgage Servicing Operations |
3: 1 year 5: FOR 6: FOR 7: FOR 8: FOR 9: FOR |
|
Caterpillar Inc. |
Proposal 5: Say on Pay Frequency Proposal 6: Report on Political Contributions & Expenses Proposal 7: Executives to Retain Significant Stock Proposal 8: Director Election Majority Vote Standard Proposal 9: Special Stockholder Meetings Proposal 10: Independent Chairman of the Board Proposal 11: Review of Global Corporate Standards Proposal 12: Death Benefits Policy |
5: 1 year 6: FOR 7: FOR 8: FOR 9: FOR 10: FOR 11: FOR 12: FOR |
|
Amazon.com, Inc. |
Item 4: Say on Pay Frequency Item 5: Special Shareholder Meetings Item 6: Assessment and Report Concerning Climate Change |
4: 1 year 5: FOR 6: FOR |
|
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. |
Proposal 4: Say on Pay Frequency Proposal 5: Gender Identity Non-Discrimination Policy Proposal 6:Political Contributions Report Proposal 7: Special Shareowner Meetings Proposal 8: Require Supplier(s) to Publish an Annual Sustainability Report Proposal 9: Climate Change Risk Disclosure |
4: 1 year 5: FOR 6: FOR 7: FOR 8: FOR
9: AGAINST |
|
Google, Inc. |
Proposal 5: Say on Pay Frequency Proposal 6: Board Committee on Sustainability Proposal 7: Simple Majority Voting Standard Proposal 8: Conflict of Interest and Code of Conduct |
5: 1 year 6: FOR 7: FOR 8: ABSTAIN |
|
Exxon Mobil Corp |
Proposal 4: Say on Pay Frequency Proposal 5: Independent Chairman Proposal 6: Report on Political Contributions Proposal 7: Amendment on EEO Policy Proposal 8: Policy on Water Proposal 9: Report on Canadian Oil Sands Proposal 10: Report on Natural Gas Production Proposal 11: Report on Energy Technology Proposal 12: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Goals |
4: 1 year 5: FOR 6: FOR 7: FOR 8: FOR 9: FOR 10: FOR 11: FOR 12: FOR |
|
Tiffany & Co. |
Proposal 4: Say on Pay Frequency |
4: 1 year |
|
Comcast Corporation |
Proposal 7: Say on Pay Frequency Proposal 8: Cumulative Voting Proposal 9: Chairman not Current or Former Executive Officer |
7: 1 year 8: FOR 9: FOR |
|
Phillip Morris |
Proposal 4: Say on Pay Frequency Proposal 5 (Stockholder 1): Food Insecurity & Tobacco Use Proposal 6: Independent Board Chair |
4: 1 year 5: FOR 6: FOR |
Responsible Investment Fund
In April 2011, Colorado College established the CC Green Fund. The initial $10,000 designated for the fund was invested by CC students with support from the Office of Endowment & Investment and the Campus Sustainability Council. The CC Green Fund showcases responsible investing at CC while providing new and exciting education opportunities.
The CC Green Fund aims to:
- Give students an opportunity to learn and apply responsible investing practices.
- Help align CC’s values for a just and sustainable world with institutional investment decisions.
- Support the most socially and environmentally responsible businesses in the U.S. and abroad.
- Generate investment returns that will fund on-campus sustainability initiatives.
Resources
From the Responsible Endowments Coalition (REC)
Responsible Investing Overview
Responsible Investment 101 Webinar
Handbooks on Responsible Investing & Community Investments
Explore REC's website for more helpful resources!
Shareholder Engagement Resources
Moxy Vote- Click on the “What is Moxy Vote?” tab to watch a short animated (hilarious) video about why shareholders might choose to vote their proxies.
As You Sow-As You Sow releases an annual “proxy preview” that provides an overview of the various social, environmental, and governance-related shareholder resolutions that will be on proxy ballots during that year. The context it provides is useful in determining your votes.
Unlocking the Power of the Proxy – This guide explains the importance of voting proxies. It is written primarily for foundations, but the message is relevant for other institutional investors as well.
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