Shareholders Reject Anti-DEI Resolutions by 99%, Again, as 2026 Proxy Season Confirms a Mandate for Diverse Workforces
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA CONTACT: Ryon Harms, [email protected], (310) 730-9407
With 43 anti-DEI resolutions filed this season and each that has gone to a vote soundly defeated with roughly 99% of shares opposed, investors have sent boards an unmistakable message: a diverse workforce is a financial asset, and directors need to prioritize the needs of the company over political threats.
EL CERRITO, CALIFORNIA — JUNE 16, 2026 — The verdict of the 2026 proxy season on corporate DEI is in, and it is overwhelmingly supportive of driving growth through programs that promote diverse workforces. According to data summarized by the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, 43 anti-DEI shareholder resolutions were submitted through May 31, 2026. Of the 22 resolutions that have been voted on this year, average support is approximately 1%, a continuation of results from 2025. Roughly 99% of shares voted over the two years have rejected demands to dismantle diverse hiring and promotion practices. The remaining resolutions head to annual meetings through June.
Right wing politically motivated proponents in 2026 reframed their proposals from last year with asks including “ROI audits” for inclusion programs and reports on “viewpoint discrimination.” According to vote results disclosed in 2026 company filings, at Visa, an “inclusion ROI audit” proposal drew 0.9% support. At Intuit, a request for a report on the return on investment of diversity programs drew 0.8%. At Deere, Disney, Starbucks, Adobe, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and First Citizens BancShares, the results were the same: support between 0.4% and 0.9%. None of these resolutions meet the re-filing threshold and may not be submitted at these companies using these asks.
Results mirrored those from the 2025 proxy season, when shareholders at Disney, Costco, Visa, Apple, Deere, Boeing, Goldman Sachs, Levi’s, American Express, Coca-Cola, Berkshire Hathaway, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Gilead Sciences, McDonald’s, Amazon, Southern Co., Merck, Netflix, Walmart, Alphabet, American Airlines, Caterpillar, Best Buy, and Mastercard all delivered approximately 99% votes against, effectively endorsing their companies’ inclusive hiring and promotion policies.
Boards at every company that received an anti-DEI resolution this and last season, carry a clear mandate from their shareholders. Investors expect their corporate boards to make informed decisions based on objective data that shows hiring and promoting a diverse workforce drives financial outperformance.
“When 99% of your owners tell boards — two years running — that inclusive hiring and promotion practices serve the company’s financial interests, their obligation is clear,” said Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow. “In our view, a board that capitulates to outside political pressure and halts these hiring and promotion policies in defiance of 99% of its shareholders is breaching the duty it owes to those shareholders, and its directors should expect no-confidence votes at their next election. We will be watching each company where shareholders voted in support of DEI to ensure their boards follow through.”
As You Sow’s 2023 Capturing the Diversity Benefit report analyzed 1,641 companies over five years and found statistically significant correlations between greater workforce diversity and financial outperformance on eight key metrics: enterprise value growth rate, free cash flow per share, income after tax, long-term growth mean, 10-year price change, mean return on equity (ROE), return on invested capital (ROIC), and 10-year total revenue compound annual growth rate (CAGR). Shareholders large and small have absorbed that evidence, and their votes reflect it.
And the evidence is about to get stronger. On July 23, 2026[AB1] , As You Sow will release its updated Diversity Benefit report, expanding the analysis to 1,676 companies over nine years (2016–2024). “The updated report which now looks at over 2 million data points shows and even greater correlation of diversity to financial outperformance,” said report author Meredith Benton, Founder of Whistle Stop Capital and workplace culture program consultant to As You Sow. “The data has been consistent in showing a positive relationship between manager diversity and corporate growth, which makes the recent discussion by the EEOC about reducing disclosure requirements more worrisome; this data is a part of the mosaic that investors need to identify strong companies.”
The message of the 2026 proxy season is clear: Diversity is not a liability to be managed, it is a dividend to be captured. The anti-DEI campaign has been tested in a democratic forum where every investor got a vote, and it was rejected almost unanimously, two years in a row, at almost a hundred companies.
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As You Sow is the nation’s leading shareholder representative, with a 30+ year track record promoting environmental and social corporate responsibility. As You Sow addresses a range of issues that affect shareholder value including climate change, ocean plastics, toxins in the food system, biodiversity, racial justice, and workplace diversity. See As You Sow’s shareholder resolution tracker.
[AB1]Do we have a link to register for the webinar? If not let’s get it set up