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If
you're going to start with resolutions, here are some
resources to help you, listed in alphabetical
order.
AS
YOU SOW
Conrad
McCarron helps steer initiatives through the bleak caverns
of Wall Street. McCarron also works for Piper Jaffray, one
of those Wall Street firms. (www.asyousow.org,
415.391.3212)
CALPERS
California
Public Employee Retirement System (www.calpers.org).
They get all the attention for activism and deserve most of
it. Their website contains a massive on-line library. Their
staff isn't really available for proponents; they're busy
running a major pension fund. But their website contains
more than you'll ever want to know. (www.calpersgovernance.org/library)
CERES
This
investor-environmental alliance sprang from the 1989 Exxon
Valdez disaster. The core is known as the Coalition for
Environmentally Responsible Economies (CERES) and relies on
environmental disclosure. This investor-environmentalist
alliance uses the power of share ownership to persuade
companies to adopt a set of environmental principles and
produce public standardized annual environmental reports.
(www.ceres.org) Leader: Robert Kinloch Massie, activist,
investor, successful businessperson, Episcopal Minister,
historian, published author and the guy I'd like to be when
I grow up. The CERES board includes Michele Chan Fishel of
Friends of the Earth. (www.ceres.org,
617.247.1700)
COUNCIL
FOR INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS.
The
Council for Institutional Investors (CII) (www.cii.org;
email: info@cii.org) somewhat cautiously describes that it
"was formed to protect the financial interests of its member
investors and pension funds. The CII and its member groups
are actively involved in studying and promoting good
corporate governance."
Members
include major public funds such as CalPERS, the New York
City Employee Retirement System, Wisconsin's state fund, as
well as major union funds, including the Teamsters, UNITE,
Carpenters, etc. Former California politician Jesse Unruh
conceived this alliance of capital bound by public interest.
So potent did the concept become that corporations joined
the membership ranks, first as observers, and in the last
several years, as voting members and even
officers.
When
CII kicks into a campaign, they can muster more shares than
any other single organization. (www.cii.org,
202.822.0800)
FRIENDS
OF THE EARTH
Michele
Chan-Fishel came relatively recently to the field, but has
already established herself as an indispensable authority on
the subject. She's also created a website to help you
navigate the shareholder resolution process:
(www.foe.org/international/shareholder,
202.783.7400)
HITCHOCK,
CON,
An
intelligent, hard working attorney, Con is a Ralph Nader
veteran. By his unassuming manner, you might not realize
that he's argued five cases before the Supreme Court and won
them all. If you contact him, he may well offer counsel, and
he lacks the profit incentive. Avoid exploitation, please,
because he does have to make a living. Another hint: he's an
emailer. (conh@transact.org)
ICCR
The
Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility leads the
league in activism, success and expertise. Founded in 1971,
it includes 250 Protestant, Jewish and Roman Catholic
institutional investors that use pension funds and
endowments to hold corporations accountable for their
effects on society and the environment. They began
organizing and filing resolutions on South African
Apartheid, community economic development and global
finance, environment, equality, international issues, health
and militarism.
Father
Tim Smith, originally a Canadian, has toiled in the
vineyards of shareholder activism for decades. Combining
thoughtfulness with practicality, he may have achieved more
corporate reform than any other individual. He deserves the
Nobel Peace Prize. (www.domini.com/ICCR,
212.870.2295)
IRRC:
This
brain trust of shareholder resolutions was created when
South Africa activists with divestment proposals besieged
universities. Their clients range from shareholding voters,
to corporations fielding the resolutions, so they are at
once "in the know" and at the same time bound by declared
impartiality. You understand. They charge for their
services, but the friendly staff, also relatively innocent
to the profit motive, often offer keen information and
insights. (www.irrc.org,
202.833.0700)
NAYLOR,
BARTLETT
Consultant,
former director of Teamsters Corporate Affairs Office,
former Chief of Investigations, U.S. Senate Banking
Committee. A book I'm trying to finish: "The Almighty
Dollar: A Millennium History of Christian Thinking about
Business." Email: bartnaylor@aol.com.
NORTHWEST
CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT
David
E. Ortman gives step-by-step information on the shareholder
resolution process on the web at
http://www.scn.org/earth/wum/2Whatsr.htm and he guides you
through the maze of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
regulations at http://www.scn.org/earth/wum/3SEC.htm
ROSE
FOUNDATION
This
relatively small shop that packed a major wallop at MAXXAM,
the big Texas firm that took Pacific Lumber from the top of
the Sierra Club ratings to the other side. Jill Ratner, Tim
Little and Carla Din spearhead the effort.
(510.658.0702)
SOCIAL
INVESTMENT FORUM
The
Social Investment Forum describes itself as a national
nonprofit membership organization promoting the concept,
practice and growth of socially responsible investing.
(www.socialinvest.org,
202.872.5319)
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