Contact: Michael Passoff, As You Sow, 415-391-3212 x32, michael@asyousow.org  

SAN FRANCISCO, May 2 /Standard Newswire/ -- Global warming, health care, sexual orientation discrimination, human rights abuses, fair labor practices - every year there are hundreds of social and environmental issues that are directly relevant to the missions of foundations.

The 2007 Proxy Season Preview, released this week at the Council of Foundations annual conference in Seattle, is designed specifically to help foundations identify these resolutions and vote their proxies in an informed manner.

The Preview highlights key issues, describes social and environmental resolutions, identifies the investors and organizations filing them, provides a comprehensive list of companies and upcoming proxy votes, features media stories and new foundation reports, and includes a resource section that will enable foundations to learn more about what their colleagues are doing in the way of aligning mission and investments.

"Foundations annually grant five percent of their endowments to support their mission, but how many utilize the remaining 95 percent to promote the same mission?" asked Michael Passoff, associate director of As You Sow's Corporate Social Responsibility Program and author of the preview. "A growing number of foundations have recognized that it is time to take stock and take action," he added.

Recent news articles on the Gates Foundation have drawn significant attention to the role of foundations' endowments in relation to their missions. Critics suggest that many foundations are being compromised as their grant making and investment policies are in effect supporting opposite sides of the issues that their mission aims to address. The question foundations are starting to grapple with is: Are the positive impacts from grant making being cancelled by negative social or environmental impacts from the companies they invest in?

Proxy voting is a basic first step in aligning mission and investments. It supports strong management practices which in turn protects long-term shareholder value and the value of a foundation's endowment. It also supports the stated charitable mission of many foundations by backing stronger corporate social and environmental practices at U.S. corporations without compromising return. Yet when it comes to using the proxy process, most foundations passively follow management recommendations even when they are not aligned with the foundations' own interests and values.

"More than 30 foundations have filed shareholder resolutions or are involved in other aspects of aligning mission and investment such as applying social screens, micro lending and mission related investments," according to Passoff. "While many foundations shy away from this issue, others are finding creative ways to use their investments to add value to their grant making and better fulfill their mission," he added.

This new publication is from As You Sow, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, and the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation, and is available at no charge at www.asyousow.org, www.rockpa.org, and www.noyes.org/mrinvest.html.