The History of Si2
The Si2 Concept
The Sustainable Investments Institute (Si2) was unique given the information and data that it captured. Information about proposals that go to vote appear on publicly available proxy statements, but these capture only a slice of proxy season. Si2 tracked not only voted proposals, but also those filed but left off proxy statements (“omitted”) because of regulatory challenges considered by staff at the SEC. It also captured information on proposals withdrawn after companies agreed to act, drawing on reports from proponents and companies.
Given the important gap that Si2’s information filled, it was essential that it remain a public resource after its doors closed. The detailed reports and record of engagements in the Si2 archive can inform debates about corporate accountability going forward, however this space may evolve. US SIF is honored to now house the Proxy Proposal Archive.
The History of Si2
Si2, active from 2010 to 2024, aimed to impartially document investor efforts to influence corporate policy on social and environmental issues, and related corporate governance. Si2 continued work begun in 1972 by the Investor Responsibility Research Center (IRRC), founded by leading universities and foundations who needed independent research to evaluate shareholder proposals. One IRRC founder, the Ford Foundation, laid out the conceptual groundwork for institutional investor responsibilities and corporate accountability to the public.
The People who Drove its Success
A Network of Partners and Supporters
The three worked closely to nurture Si2 from its beginning, with the support of board members Julie Fox Gorte, Scott Fenn and Mark Bateman, and Mary Jane McQuillen. The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) and the Ceres Coalition, as well as their respective members, generously shared information about their proposals and dialogues, as did the Center for Political Accountability—along with dozens of other proponents and organizations. Si2’s research depended on proponents and companies to verify outcomes and would not have been possible without the help of proxy season participants and other collaborators such as As You Sow who partnered on the annual Proxy Preview.