Advocacy
Trillium Asset Management Corporation (”Trillium”) was one of the first firms in the social investment industry to actively raise social and environmental concerns with companies. We often work with well-informed non-governmental organizations such as Amnesty International and Friends of the Earth to raise critical environmental and social challenges with companies.
The power and legal rights of shareownership give us a unique opportunity to address social and environmental issues with senior management at some of the largest corporations in the world. We use the term shareownership (as opposed to shareholdership) deliberately. It reflects our core belief that the individuals and institutions that own shares in companies have a right and even a responsibility to provide guidance to management on pressing policy issues the company faces.
To do this, Trillium is in constant communication with corporate officials. This communication can range from asking simple questions to clarify our understanding of policies, to engaging in long-term, in-depth dialogue involving multiple stakeholders.If dialogue fails, Trillium is willing to exercise the rights of its clients as shareholders to file a resolution. Shareholder resolutions come up for a vote at the company’s annual meeting and can be a key rallying point of a larger campaign to a change a corporation’s policies and practices. To view a list of our current resolutions at corporations, visit our Resolutions page.
Over the years, our advocacy has yielded concrete changes in corporate policies and practices to protect endangered forests, fight workplace discrimination, and end relationships with repressive regimes, just to name a few. Our report, Trillium Asset Management Social Research & Advocacy: A Record of Accomplishment (downloadable PDF file) describes our approach in more detail and highlights some of our proudest accomplishments over the past twenty years.
Our specific issues pages (listed at right) provide an overview of our screening and advocacy efforts for a few issues of particular concern to many of our clients. Our Quarterly Advocacy Update (downloadable PDF file) provides the most up-to-date highlights of the full range of our advocacy efforts.
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