D044 Tools for Effective Shareholder Engagement for Human Rights
In 1971, The Most Reverend John Hines, speaking at a meeting of shareholders of General Motors, presented a resolution asking General Motors to divest from South Africa in protest of the legal racial separation and oppression called apartheid, spearheading the divestment movement that Archbishop Desmond Tutu credited with playing an important role in ending apartheid in South Africa. As the movement for shareholder activist and responsible investing becomes more mainstream, The Episcopal Church needs tools to move towards using the power of our wealth to work for the good. It is no longer enough to claim to make the “most money” possible, by any means necessary, to do the “most good.” These tools offer a methodical approach to what are often fraught, emotional conversations about the critical human rights issues of our times and give us guidelines to use our money as a tool for the building of a just society. Salience, Significance, and Responsiveness are identified by the American Friends Service Committee in its investor relations report on the U.S./Mexico Border, the Prison Industry and the Occupied Territories as tools to evaluate the effectiveness of investor engagement. See: http://investigate.afsc.org/screens/afscdivestment for more information on the approach of AFSC.
Explanation
In 1971, The Most Reverend John Hines, speaking at a meeting of shareholders of General Motors, presented a resolution asking General Motors to divest from South Africa in protest of the legal racial separation and oppression called apartheid, spearheading the divestment movement that Archbishop Desmond Tutu credited with playing an important role in ending apartheid in South Africa. As the movement for shareholder activist and responsible investing becomes more mainstream, The Episcopal Church needs tools to move towards using the power of our wealth to work for the good. It is no longer enough to claim to make the “most money” possible, by any means necessary, to do the “most good.” These tools offer a methodical approach to what are often fraught, emotional conversations about the critical human rights issues of our times and give us guidelines to use our money as a tool for the building of a just society. Salience, Significance, and Responsiveness are identified by the American Friends Service Committee in its investor relations report on the U.S./Mexico Border, the Prison Industry and the Occupied Territories as tools to evaluate the effectiveness of investor engagement. See: http://investigate.afsc.org/screens/afscdivestment for more information on the approach of AFSC.