When most nonprofits think about creating change, they think about programs, services, advocacy, and organizing. Rarely do they think about shareholders.
But here’s something that might surprise you: Some of the most meaningful leverage for change happens inside corporate boardrooms — and communities can have a voice there.
That’s where shareholder engagement comes in.
What is shareholder engagement?
Shareholder engagement is when investors use their role as company owners to influence corporate behavior. Instead of walking away from companies that cause harm, shareholders can:
- Ask companies to change policies or practices
- Meet directly with corporate leadership
- File or support shareholder resolutions
- Sign investor letters calling for accountability
- Vote on issues that affect workers, communities, and the environment
In short, shareholder engagement turns stock ownership into a tool for dialogue, advocacy, and change. For foundations and values-aligned investors, shareholder engagement is a way to align money with mission. It bridges the gap between investing and impact, turning capital into a lever for accountability. When one considers that, on average, foundations allocate 25%–34% of their assets to U.S. equities, compared with roughly 5% annually to grantmaking, shareholder engagement emerges as a powerful and underutilized tool for impact.
And you don’t need to be a financial expert to be part of it.
Why shareholder engagement matters for communities
Corporations make decisions every day that affect:
- Air and water quality
- Housing and land use
- Worker safety and wages
- Community health and well-being
- Racial and economic equity
Too often, the people most impacted by those decisions are the least heard. Shareholder engagement helps shift that dynamic by:
- Bringing community concerns directly to corporate leaders
- Elevating real-world impacts that don’t show up in financial reports
- Creating accountability where regulation or enforcement may fall short
When investors and communities work together, companies listen differently.
What’s possible when communities and investors collaborate
Shareholder engagement is not abstract — it leads to real outcomes. Over time, it has helped:
- Improve environmental practices and disclosures
- Advance racial equity audits and transparency
- Strengthen worker protections and safety standards
- Push companies to address harms in specific communities
- Open doors for ongoing dialogue between companies and stakeholders
Change doesn’t always happen overnight. But engagement creates momentum, visibility, and pressure — and often leads to concrete shifts that wouldn’t happen otherwise.
Where AJL Foundation fits in
At AJL Foundation, we believe capital should be used not just to generate returns, but to reduce harm and expand opportunity. That belief led us, and nine of our funder peers, to partner with As You Sow, a national leader in shareholder advocacy, to launch the Colorado Shareholder Engagement Campaign — a place-based effort focused on issues impacting Colorado communities.
Through this campaign:
- AJL Foundation and the co-funders invest in companies headquartered in and connected to issues affecting Colorado
- As You Sow leads shareholder engagement and dialogue with those companies
- Community organizations bring lived experience, insight, and priorities
- Together, we amplify community voices inside corporate decision-making
This is not about nonprofits becoming investors. It’s about aligning community knowledge with investor leverage. We believe shareholder engagement is strongest when it is: grounded in community experience, focused on real-world impacts, and led collaboratively, not extractively. Partners in the Colorado Shareholder Engagement Campaign may:
- Help identify priority issues affecting communities
- Inform engagement strategies and questions
- Participate in learning sessions or briefings
- Shape how success and accountability are defined
You do not need prior experience with investing or shareholder advocacy. Curiosity, perspective, and a willingness to collaborate are what matter most.
New to shareholder engagement? Start here.
If this is your first time hearing about shareholder engagement, you’re not alone. These beginner-friendly resources can help:
- As You Sow – As You Sow’s mission is to use the power of shareholder advocacy, coalition building, and innovative legal strategies to promote environmental and social corporate responsibility. Resource: Shareholder Advocacy - FAQ about Shareholder Resolutions
- Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) – A coalition of values-driven investors engaging on human rights, climate, and equity. Their guiding principle as shareholders is that sustainable corporations must look beyond the next earnings report to account for the full impact of their businesses on society, and must view the well-being of all of their stakeholders ― including their workers and the communities where they operate ― as integral to their long-term success. Resources: 1) What is Shareholder Engagement? 2) Shareholder Rights and SEC Policy and 3) Litigation
- Majority Action – Majority Action operates at the intersections of capital markets, corporate accountability, and social movements because we believe capital strategies must be part of the movement for change. We organize with investors and communities on the ground to build a fair and balanced economy—changing systems to work for all of us. Resource: How We Shift Power
- Ceres – Ceres is a nonprofit advocacy organization working to accelerate the transition to a cleaner, more just, and resilient world. Provides research and tools focused on sustainability, climate risk, and corporate responsibility. Resources: 1) Reports and 2) Investor Engagement | Ceres Roadmap 2030
- Proxy Preview – An annual guide to major shareholder issues and trends (great for learning what’s possible)
- Rhia Ventures Corporate Engagement – Rhia Ventures works with investors in publicly traded stocks who are committed to leveraging their investment portfolios to effect positive social outcomes in reproductive and maternal health. Together, they engage directly with companies in dialogue; attend shareholder meetings; file shareholder proposals; and provide thought leadership through research, reports, and other publications.
- Whistle Stop Capital – Whistle Stop Capital is a research and analytics consultancy focused on identifying pathways to long-term prosperity for investor clients and the companies they own. Whistle Stop seeks to strengthen long-term investment returns by pursuing improvements in social and environmental practices within clients’ investment portfolios.
- Nia Impact Capital – Nia seeks to use their investor voice to advocate both with their portfolio companies as well as out in the world for diversity, equality and sustainability. They use tools such as proxy voting and activist stewardship when it comes to speaking out for justice, workers’ rights, our planet and improving corporate conduct.
- Adasina Social Capital – Adasina doesn’t just invest capital, we also leverage it through coordinated investor campaigns. Because when investors mobilize in solidarity with one another and with impacted communities, we can spark change at the scale of the public markets.
Let’s explore what’s possible — together
Shareholder engagement isn’t a silver bullet. But it is a powerful, often overlooked way to influence systems that shape our communities. By partnering with nonprofits and community groups, we believe shareholder engagement can become more grounded, more accountable, and more effective.
If you’re curious about participating in the Colorado Shareholder Engagement Campaign with As You Sow, we’d love to connect. Please reach out to Kristi Petrie at kpetrie@ajlfoundation.org.
For foundations interested in learning more about how to utilize shareholder engagement, we highly recommend The Shareholder Engagement Project training program.
Because change doesn’t only happen in the streets or the halls of government — sometimes, it happens in shareholder meetings too.
