Meeting the Moment Together

At this critical time in America’s history, we are pleased to share an update on the impact we are making together and how you can be part of what comes next.

Federal agencies are ending programs to protect people and ecosystems, while reducing material information to the market. Shareholders are bridging the gap. Even as our own rights have come under attack, we are exercising them like never before.

This year, when the SEC stopped taking a position on whether companies could keep shareholder proposals off their ballots, we and our allies took six companies to court. So far, four of the six companies responded by undertaking the actions requested.
The SEC has now pulled out all the stops by moving to rescind the rules governing shareholder proposals, abandoning its 84-year role as a protector of investor voices. Further proposed reforms could roll back all corporate disclosure requirements.

You are protecting and amplifying shareholder voices—one of the most effective ways to impact corporate management and boards. Despite the opposition, this approach grew this year, thanks to you.

Program spotlight

We engaged 119 companies this year. Out of our 14 issue areas, here are two examples:

Data centers have already added $23 billion to Americans’ electricity bills—and the proposed buildout has just started. We’re compelling tech companies to obtain consent from local communities and pressing utilities to require new facilities to pay their own way.

After conversations with As You Sow, Dominion Energy committed to disclose how it protects its customers by requiring data centers to pay for energy infrastructure. Shareholders showed strong support for this issue: 22% of independent shareholders at Meta, 21% at Amazon, and 20% at Alphabet (Google) asked each company to report on AI’s climate impacts.

Synthetic clothing sheds hundreds of thousands of plastic microfibers every time it’s washed, and researchers are increasingly finding those fibers in our bodies.

After engagements with As You Sow, Gap and lululemon agreed to measure their clothes’ microfiber shedding and tell customers which fabrics shed the most. Over 18% of Target’s shareholders voted that they should do the same.

New tools, thanks to you

Proxy Open Exchange (POE)

Last season the SEC closed its EDGAR electronic database to shareholders owning less than $5 million in stock. In response, As You Sow created Proxy Open Exchange (POE), so investors can speak freely on issues of material significance. Shareholders immediately adopted the new system. Last filing season 145 proxy memos were filed on POE, compared to about half that number on EDGAR!

My Money My Vote (MMMV)

My Money My Vote is a free service empowering retail investors to vote their proxies using the power of their money to demand change. If you own shares and receive proxy ballots in your email inbox, MMMV makes it easy for you to automatically align your votes with your values. MMMV has now voted over 21,000 ballots representing $5.4 billion in assets. This is a growing movement with real power.

Pesticides in the Pantry 2026 report cover

Our reports ensure information can’t stay buried

Our Pesticides in the Pantry report exposed a recent retreat by certain food companies from their prior commitments to reduce pesticide use. Meanwhile, our From the Ground Up report is helping investors identify companies with actual regenerative agriculture practices, and those greenwashing with limited actions.

A community threatened by a data center can’t access the boardroom. Shareholders can.

Council meetings across the country have been standing room only as citizens speak up against data centers in their communities. Despite widespread opposition, many councils are still moving forward with new construction. Shareholders have the power to push companies to shift their short- and long-term plans. Paired with public outrage, we can win on this issue.

We’re working alongside communities facing new data centers, pressing Amazon, Meta, and Alphabet to reduce local harm and explain how their soaring electricity and water use squares with their climate and justice promises.

You’re the reason corporate change continues today. As this administration attempts to pave over our rights, our combined strength—like connected roots—continues to break through to the corporations that shape our future.

Connect with our board and staff to share your networks, and double the impact of your tax-deductible gift with our match.

In the face of information suppression and market manipulation, will you help us keep building the tools that share information, and protect shareholders’ right to engage with the companies they own?

Thank you for standing with us,

Andrew Behar
CEO, As You Sow

P.S. We’re turning 35 next year! To celebrate, we’ll be holding gatherings throughout the country in the spring and fall—more details to come. If you are in the Bay Area, please hold the evening of Tuesday, October 5th, 2027, for an incredible event that will inspire, entertain, and bring you into community with others of like heart.