As You Sow and iconik offer free, set-it-and-forget-it, ESG-aligned proxy voting to enable shareholder democracy for millions of individual investors.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEDIA CONTACT: Stefanie Spear, sspear@asyousow.org, 216-387-1609

BERKELEY, CA—APRIL 27, 2023—As You Sow, the nation’s leading non-profit shareholder advocacy organization with more than 30 years of experience, now offers its As You VoteTM ESG+ proxy voting policy to all retail shareholders on the iconik proxy voting platform. The no-cost set-and-forget service opens access to anyone who owns shares in publicly traded companies to easily and simply register to vote all of their proxies aligned with justice and sustainability. 

“Every individual shareholder can now express their voice in shareholder democracy and vote for justice and sustainability on every item of every ballot,” said As You Sow’s CEO Andrew Behar. “Most individual shareholders stay on the sidelines and don’t vote because they are overwhelmed by complicated ballots. This no-cost service enables individual investors to easily join more than $10 billion of institutional assets currently voting for the As You Vote ESG+ policy. Now anyone can take the field and impact corporate proposals on climate change, racial justice, political spending, and other critical issues.” 

Approximately 25% of all public equities are held by individual (retail) investors, more than the total ownership of BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street combined. However, until now, large asset managers had a distinct advantage over individuals in proxy voting, spending millions on technology and stewardship staff to manage their votes. As You Sow and iconik’s partnership flips this dynamic, handing power to a larger, more democratic, and diverse universe of shareholders who seek justice and a livable planet.

iconik’s web app is available to retail investors at no cost. Setting up an account takes under two minutes and every proxy statement emailed to individual investors will be automatically voted according to the As You Vote ESG+ guidelines. Shareholders using ESG+ on iconik can have confidence that their votes will be used to send a unified message to corporate boards and executives to lower climate risk, reduce plastic pollution, improve social justice, align political spending, and promote responsible governance.

“iconik is all about voice and choice,” explains iconik CEO Alex Thaler. “People want to be heard, and they want choices that align their investments with their values. Partnering with As You Sow on the As You Vote ESG+ voting option offers a strong voting choice focused on justice and sustainability that is built on As You Sow’s 30 years of leadership in shareholder advocacy.”

The As You Vote policy is informed by the many in-depth scorecards and reports researched and published by As You Sow issue experts. It is called ESG+ because it more closely aligns with ESG outcomes when compared to other major proxy advisors. For example, the policy recommends against 347 CEO pay packages of the S&P 500, voting for all 100 As You Sow shareholder resolutions and all pro-ESG resolutions listed in Proxy Preview on issues including climate change; ocean plastics; pesticides; electronic waste; petrochemicals; racial justice; diversity, equity, and inclusion; gender equality; excessive CEO pay; sexual and reproductive health; hate speech; anti-slavery; concealment clauses; worker’s rights; and political spending.

“This new technology is fully democratizing the public markets and there’s no going back,” added Behar. “Retail investor votes can make the difference to help their investments outperform. We see in recent polling that ‘86% of business leaders see sustainability as an investment which protects their organization from disruption; 83% said sustainability program activities directly created both short- and long-term value for their organization, and 80% indicated that sustainability helped their organization optimize and reduce costs.’ A new generation of investors is demanding to be heard and we are handing them the megaphone.”

For more information, visit AsYouVote.org. To sign up, visit iconikapp.com/as-you-sow.

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As You Sow is the nation’s leading shareholder advocacy nonprofit, with a 30-year track record promoting environmental and social corporate responsibility and advancing values-aligned investing. Its issue areas include climate change, ocean plastics, pesticides, racial justice, workplace diversity, and executive compensation. Click here for As You Sow’s shareholder resolution tracker.

iconik is a fintech startup built around the transformative power of choice in shareholder voting. The team combines finance, consumer and business technology expertise of Chief Executive Officer Alex Thaler, startup founder, software engineer and former corporate attorney, Chief Technology Officer Samson Sprouse, veteran engineering leader, and President J. Alan Reid, an innovator in the financial service industry for three decades.