Social issues services allow institutional investors to schedule proxy voting and make informed decisions on social policy shareholder resolutions. Voting should take account of the economic, political and regulatory climate in which the issues arise. Services also offer general coverage of major corporate social responsibility issues facing institutional investors.

With a social issues service such as that offered by ISS, you may be able to:

  • Receive the early notice of the social policy shareholder resolutions that will come to vote—the issues raised, companies targeted, names of sponsors and dates of annual meetings.
  • Track shareholder resolutions through the year—which proposals are omitted or withdrawn and why, which come to a vote and the levels of support they receive.
  • Quickly understand the key social policy issues the pending shareholder resolutions raise.
  • Make informed social policy voting decisions based on the economic impact of each shareholder resolution.
  • Track trends at the SEC with respect to social policy resolutions, including changes in the proxy rules.
  • Follow institutional investors’ proxy voting patterns and reasoning.

The basic elements of social issues service are:

  • A comprehensive proxy season preview.
  • A Proxy Season Guide, offering preliminary company-by-company information on each shareholder resolution that investors appear likely to face during proxy season.
  • Background Reports on every issue that is the subject of a shareholder resolution.
  • Company-specific reports on each shareholder proposal.

Areas of socially responsible investment analyzed include:

  1. Board Diversity
  2. Charitable Contributions
  3. Energy
  4. Environmental Issues
  5. The Ceres Principles
  6. Genetically Modified Organisms
  7. Global Climate Change
  8. Equal Employment Opportunity
  9. Fair Lending
  10. Human Rights
  11. International Lending
  12. International Labor Standards / Sweatshops
  13. Linking Executive Pay to Social Issues
  14. Pharmaceutical Pricing
  15. Military Issues
  16. Northern Ireland
  17. Political Contributions
  18. Tobacco
  19. U.S. Business in China
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