Domini Wins "Social Capitalist" Award
 Domini Social Investments was among the winners of Fast Company magazine's fifth annual Social Capitalist Award, in the first year that for-profit companies were eligible for selection. These awards recognize organizations and companies that use the tools of business to solve the world's most pressing social problems. (Winners were featured in the December/January 2008 issue of Fast Company, with expanded online coverage at www.fastcompany.com.)
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Domini Files New Resolutions
In our latest Social Impact Update, we report on how Domini works on your behalf to help build a better world: engaging in dialogue with companies, putting new issues on the table, and filing shareholder resolutions. Domini has filed 22 shareholder resolutions for the 2008 proxy season, of which we were the lead filer for 14. Here are some of the key issues we addressed in our resolutions.
Climate Crisis: Deforestation is a key contributor to global warming, because healthy forests absorb vast quantities of carbon that would otherwise enter our atmosphere. Domini has encouraged large purchasers of paper, pulp, and other wood products to address the issue. We recently joined the Boreal Leadership Council, an organization committed to protecting one of the world's largest forest ecosystems.
Political Contributions: Through lobbying and political contributions, large corporations exert a disproportionate — and often barely visible — influence in the U.S. political system. Domini believes that shareholders have a right to know about the political activities of the companies they own. We are also asking companies to disclose contributions to trade associations — an increasingly important avenue for political influence.
Workers' Rights: Slaves toil at roughly a thousand camps in the Brazilian Amazon to make charcoal for the production of pig iron, which is used to make steel. In December 2006, Bloomberg Markets magazine reported in a cover story that the second largest U.S. steel company has purchased some of this pig iron. Domini has filed a resolution asking the company for a report on how it will ensure that its supply chain is free of slave labor.
Product Safety: Domini has filed resolutions that address the use of nanomaterials in cosmetics and other personal products: molecular-sized materials that may easily enter the bloodstream when inhaled or swallowed, and possibly when applied to the skin.
Quarterly Publications
Performance Commentaries: Quarterly review of market conditions and fund performance. In addition to conventional financial performance, they cover progress on Domini's activism and proxy voting program on a fund-specific level.
Fund Fact Sheets: Quarterly review of investment objectives, performance, and other fund characteristics, and information about each Fund's social and environmental goals.
Social Impact Update: Quarterly review of the Funds' social and environmental impact, based largely on Domini's ongoing advocacy work. |
