Socially Responsible Investing Rose During Downturn

community investing. All of these developments show that the key principles of socially responsible and sustainable investing are being more widely embraced. All signs point to more investors looking for investments that support good governance and greater transparency and disclosure on ESG issues."

The issue of fiduciary duty is an important element. Nearly a quarter of respondent institutions to the questionnaires for the report, managing $651 billion in ESG assets, say that they incorporate ESG criteria to fulfill fiduciary duty.

The report also tracks shareholder resolutions, and Voorhes noted that there was a spike in those in 2010, relative to both environmental and social issues. "In 2007, 2008, and 2009," she said in response to a question, "16% or so of proposals on environmental and social issues that came to a vote would get support of 30% or more. This year," she noted, "instead of a mere 15-17% getting this support, it leapt to 29% of proposals that came to a vote through early August." While she says part of this is the learning curve shareholders must go through as they get more knowledgeable about issues, the other factor is the events of 2010.

She cited "a number of events" early in the year, including the disaster at the Massey coal mine, in which 29 miners were killed; the BP oil spill; and even the Supreme Court decision on Citizens United; as having a substantial effect on resolutions.

The first two, she said, occurred just as the corporate annual meeting season was getting under way, "and safety issues have material impact on companies." The Citizens United ruling, she added, "raised concern among many investors that corporations might be devoting a lot more corporate funds to political campaigns, and that could hurt their reputations. Growing support for a group of proposals has been around now for five years, asking companies to develop strong governance controls and board oversight on political spending."

Smith said that while this fall there had been a noted increase of votes for such shareholder resolutions, "the cycle of time [for filing resolutions] is much longer than that, so I would expect we would see an increasing number of resolutions filed in the fall and winter that will come up in the spring of 2011. The votes increased this year, and resolutions and votes [will both] increase next year."