The Shareholder Commons Publishes Portfolios on the Ballot 2025, an Investor Guide to Systems-First Proxy Voting

Over 40 shareholder initiatives seek to protect social, environmental, and economic systems that support diversified portfolios.

NORTHAMPTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In advance of the 2025 proxy season, The Shareholder Commons (TSC), a non-profit advocate for diversified investors, has published Portfolios on the Ballot 2025, the third annual publication by TSC that is specifically designed to help investors account for the impact of their proxy voting on the broader economy, and thus their full portfolio.

Portfolios on the Ballot flags initiatives designed to protect the social and environmental systems that support all the companies in a diversified portfolio. TSC has launched this year’s report with a webinar that will highlight issues on the ballot and discuss how diversified investors can protect the value of their diversified portfolios this proxy season. Investors can register on TSC’s website to attend the launch webinar, view the report, and sign up for weekly updates during the proxy season.

“We continue to see growing interest by investors that want to address proxy voting in a broader, systemic way. Despite an increasingly anti-shareholder environment, we have collected dozens of shareholder initiatives that include the perspective of diversified investors, who have common interests in protecting the systems that underlie a thriving economy,” says Rick Alexander, CEO of TSC. “The number and variety of initiatives illustrates the growing interest of investors in addressing environmental and social issues from a macroeconomic perspective. This reflects an evolution in shareholder stewardship away from a purely company-specific focus.”

“We’re really trying to fill a gap in the market through Portfolios on the Ballot,” explain Mari Schwartzer, TSC’s Director of Investor Engagement. “Despite the fact that the prospects of portfolios depend on the economy-wide health, proxy votes have long been considered on an individual-company basis. We’re offering investors the chance to consider the proponents’ macroeconomic arguments and then do their own analysis on how the vote could affect the investors’ whole portfolios.”

Highlighted initiatives include:

• Public health issues, including the cost to the economy of health insurer practices and smoking in the workplace.
• Economic inequality issues like paid parental leave and paying workers a living wage.
• Arguments for protecting biodiversity at companies that pursue deep sea mining or agriculture.
• Racial equity audits.
• Abuse of antimicrobials in supply chains.
• The protection of the freedom to unionize.
• Tax transparency.
• The impact on the economy of health costs related to unhealthy foods and non-sugar sweeteners.

“Most investors own a broad range of securities, but individual companies sometimes pursue profits at the expense of their diversified shareholders,” said Alexander. “Advocates for the proposals in Portfolios on the Ballot argue that the initiatives will protect these shareholders by preserving the systems that support both the economy and their portfolios, but which are threatened by the social or environmental costs of certain corporate behavior.”

About The Shareholder Commons
The Shareholder Commons (TSC) is a non-profit organization that addresses social and environmental issues from the perspective of shareholders who diversify their investments to optimize risk and return. TSC’s advocacy focuses on the divergence that often emerges between a company’s interest in maximizing its cash flows over the long term and its shareholders’ interests in optimizing overall market returns.