Shareholders are driving change. We see it every day. Shareholders are helping to wind down the extractive economy in favor of one that promotes corporate responsibility, resilient supply chains, and regenerative systems for healthier, more just outcomes.

Your investments give you power. We believe that if you earn the money, you get to decide how it is invested and how to cast your proxy votes.

Whether you’re invested in a workplace 401(k), an IRA, or a personal portfolio, you can shape the world you want to see. As You Sow’s tools make it easier to align your investments with your values, and to claim your right to vote your shares. When shareholders like you exercise your power of ownership, we can move corporations to be part of the solution.

Your money is your power. Together, we are building a movement to harness that power.

The Board Reports To You

At a recent conference, As You Sow’s CEO Andrew Behar explained that “the board of every public company in your portfolio reports to you. Many people don’t realize this is a core tenet of capitalism.”

Over 100 million Americans with $10 trillion in retirement savings surrender their proxy voting power to an asset manager. More than 90% of these ballots are voted in support of management. That means your shares are being used to approve climate-incompetent directors and to vote against As You Sow shareholder resolutions asking companies to institute climate transition plans.

You have the power to change that – check out My Money My Vote and As You Vote below.

Knowledge Is Power: Invest Your Values Toolkit

When your values can inform your investment decisions, you can decide what matters most to you to shape your future. We have the tools to make that possible — the ripple effects are creating waves of impact towards transforming a system that currently does not work for all.

Invest Your Values analyzes 6,000 of the most commonly-held U.S. mutual funds and ETFs and more than 65 employer-offered retirement plans. It assesses funds’ performance across seven critical environmental and social issue-areas that impact investments. It’s a free, easy-to-navigate, online platform to help investors of all kinds — YOU — see where your money is, and make sure it’s where YOU want it to be.

Climate change brings risk to virtually every area of life, including investments and retirement plans. A recent report from As You Sow and researchers at the University of Waterloo found that Google employees could have earned an additional $1 billion dollars if the company had decarbonized its retirement plan 10 years ago.

You can use these tools to understand the social and environmental impact of your investments. You can help protect your retirement while working toward a more just and sustainable future. You can Invest Your Values.

How One Motivated Employee Mobilized $81 Billion In Shareholder Power

A handful of corporations play a leading role in shaping our world. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, is certainly one of them. Corporation decision-making power lies not only in boardrooms, but in the hands of its employees — like Sam Gooch, program manager at Waymo, an Alphabet subsidiary.

By looking up Google’s retirement plan in Invest Your Values, Sam found out that even though Google has committed to net-zero emissions by 2030, its retirement plan was filled with fossil fuel investments. He began organizing fellow employees to demand climate-friendly investment options, ultimately collecting signatures from more than 1,000 employees.

Sam presented As You Sow’s shareholder resolution at Alphabet’s Annual General Meeting, asking the critical question: “Will Alphabet protect its employees’ life savings from the economic consequences of climate change by offering sustainable alternatives?” Shareholders responded by voting over $81 billion of shareholder value in favor.

Sam connected the power of his retirement savings to his desire to retire on a livable planet and called others to action. It starts with knowing what you own. Find out what’s in your retirement plan at As You Sow’s InvestYourValues.org.

My Money My Vote

Voting rights for the $10 trillion in American corporate retirement savings plans are given away to asset managers who vote in support of management over 90% of the time, often exactly opposite of their clients’ values.

My Money My Vote puts proxy voting power where it belongs — with the people who earn the money.

With My Money My Vote, every item on every proxy ballot is automatically voted in alignment with your chosen policy — including CEO Pay and shareholder resolutions on climate change, workplace justice, political spending, and other critical issues.

Respecting the right of each employee to vote their own values sends a powerful message about company culture that will attract and retain the best and the brightest. This is where values and value align.

The program is available to any organization. Let us know if you’re interested.

As You Vote

If you own stock directly in publicly-traded companies and your inbox is clogged with proxy statements, now you can vote your values easily — you can set it and forget it. As You Vote will automatically vote responsibly and sustainably for board directors, shareholder resolutions, CEO Pay, and every item on every proxy ballot. To sign up at no cost, visit asyouvote.org and click “Retail (Individual) Investors”.

Coming in 2025: Social Justice Funds

There is currently no credible or accessible way for shareholders to understand the social justice impact of their investments in mutual funds and ETFs. We’re working to change that, with a new Invest Your Values tool focused on justice and equity.

Social Justice Funds will apply racial justice, DEI, LGBTQ+, private prison, and gender equity lenses to 6,000 mutual funds and ETFs. We plan to release it in July 2025.

The goal is to empower investors to easily find funds with companies that are not perpetuating or contributing to marginalization across gender, race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. It’s a big job.