Social Equity
In shortfall: the 2025 Doughnut assessment finds a median 35 percent of the global population, around 3 billion people, falling short of the social foundation. The poorest 40 percent of countries bear most of that shortfall.
Owners remove an obstacle nothing else removes. Others must also act.
Why shareholder democracy is necessary
Inequality within the formal economy runs through wages, hiring, credit and executive pay, all corporate conduct. Listed employers are the largest wage-setters, and shareholder votes already reach this behavior. As You Sow's Racial Justice Scorecard rates Russell 1000 companies on 26 racial justice indicators and found 85 companies scored below zero for net harm to communities of color. Racial equity audit proposals averaged 44 percent support with six majorities in 2022, and more than 125 investors signed onto the ICCR living-wage statement. Corporate political influence is the standing obstacle to redistributive policy. The US Chamber of Commerce pressed the Senate in 2025 to keep the 21 percent corporate rate permanent. Restaurant and small-business lobbies opposed the Raise the Wage Act while the federal minimum wage has been frozen since 2009. The Tax Justice Network estimates multinational profit shifting costs governments about 348 billion dollars a year. Owners have voted on precisely this conduct. Country-by-country tax reporting proposals won 21 percent of independent votes at Amazon and 27 percent of the vote at Cisco in 2022. Fiscal redistribution, social protection and the informal economy, which holds almost 58 percent of all workers worldwide, remain governmental terrain. In one narrow corner, remittance pricing, listed money movers could nearly deliver the outcome alone. Across the dimension, owners remove a necessary obstacle and supply a necessary input while legislatures must pass and fund the policies.
How this was scoredNecessary
Necessary. Owners remove an obstacle nothing else removes. Others must also act.
We have not yet written down the two answers behind this rating. Recording them on every item, so a reader can check the reasoning and not only the conclusion, is work in progress.
Every rating is the higher of two answers, one for what companies do and one for what they spend to stop the outcome, because the same vote reaches both. See the full method.
Sources
- New research shows global economy doubles, but poverty persists and planetary damage deepens, EurekAlert (Fanning and Raworth, Nature), 2025-10-01
- Doughnut of social and planetary boundaries monitors a world out of balance, Nature (Fanning and Raworth), 2025-10-01
- Equity in the Boardroom: How Asset Manager Voting Shaped Corporate Action on Racial Justice in 2022, Majority Action, 2023-02-14
- Letter to Senate Finance Committee on the Tax Subtitle of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 2025-06-20
- World losing half a trillion to tax abuse, largely due to 8 countries blocking UN tax reform, annual report finds, Tax Justice Network, 2024-11-19
- Microsoft, Cisco Shareholder Votes Demonstrate Increasing Investor Demand for Tax and Offshore Transparency, FACT Coalition, 2022-12-21
- Decent Work Reality Check: Informality Across the World of Work, ILOSTAT (International Labour Organization), n.d. (accessed 2026-08)
- As You Sow Racial Justice, Workplace Equity Scorecards Expand to Include Russell 1000 Companies, As You Sow, 2021-11-16
21 campaigns on record
FEP's proposal pressed Capital One on its climate- and social-responsibility-linked spending, including its sponsorship relationship with the Human Rights Campaign.
Result: Withdrawn after Capital One reached a settlement with FEP.
According to FEP's own account, Capital One ended its sponsorship of the Human Rights Campaign, removed related corporate-partnership designations, and agreed to further engagement with FEP.
The proposal asked Disney to end its participation in the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index, which the filer described as reflecting a partisan and increasingly racial agenda rather than neutral corporate governance.
Result: Rejected by shareholders, receiving about 1% support at the 2025 annual meeting.
we found no documented change; Disney continued its participation in the index.
The proposals asked each company's board to revisit its executive incentive-pay guidelines and consider eliminating what NLPC characterized as 'discriminatory' DEI-related milestones from executive compensation plans.
Result: The companies sought SEC no-action relief to exclude the proposals from their proxy statements; the SEC's Division of Corporation Finance declined to allow exclusion on 'substantial implementation' grounds, so the proposals had to be included.
we found no documented change to the companies' executive pay plans as a result of these specific proposals in the source reviewed.
Asked the board to evaluate and report on how the bank's public promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion affects its risk of discriminating against people on the basis of race, colour, religion including religious views, sex, national origin, or political views.
Result: Filed under Rule 14a-8 on 9 December 2024 for the 2025 annual meeting. East West Bancorp asked the SEC staff on 13 February 2025 for permission to leave the proposal off its proxy card, arguing under Rule 14a-8(b) and Rule 14a-8(f)(1) that Inspire had not proved a full year of continuous share ownership, since the custodian letters covered different periods and named clients rather than Inspire itself. Inspire withdrew the proposal, and on 1 April 2025 the SEC staff said the matter was moot and it would have no further comment. The proposal was not voted on.
We found no documented change by East West Bancorp.
Asked the company to publish a report evaluating how its policies affect employees on the basis of protected characteristics, which Inspire framed as a question of respecting the civil liberties of the workforce.
Result: Voted on at the annual meeting of 21 May 2025 as Item 8, 'the stockholder proposal regarding a report on respecting workforce civil liberties'. The company reported 1.50% in favour, which is the share of votes cast for and against (11,233,860 for, 738,347,843 against, 7,943,266 abstentions, 182,350,030 broker non-votes). The proposal was not approved. Three other shareholder proposals were voted at the same meeting, on a simple majority vote standard (44.60%), fossil fuel disclosure (7.34%) and a net zero audit (1.71%). Inspire also filed a notice of exempt solicitation urging a yes vote, signed by about fifty investors and financial professionals.
We found no documented change by The Southern Company that any source attributes to this vote.
Form 8-K, results of the 2025 annual meeting of stockholders, The Southern Company via SEC EDGAR
Asked Alphabet to evaluate and report on whether its generative artificial intelligence products treat people differently according to their religion or their political opinions, and on the civil liberties risks that would follow.
Result: Voted on at the annual meeting of 6 June 2025 as Item 10, 'a stockholder proposal regarding a report on risks of discrimination in GenAI'. About 0.46% of the shares voted for and against were in favour (57,074,931 for, 12,419,353,797 against, 39,186,294 abstentions, 619,907,425 broker non-votes). The proposal was not approved. Inspire also filed a notice of exempt solicitation urging a yes vote, signed by about sixty investors and financial professionals.
We found no documented change by Alphabet that any source attributes to this vote.
Form 8-K, results of the 2025 annual meeting of stockholders, Alphabet Inc. via SEC EDGAR
Asked Apple to disclose each year how its corporate charitable contributions affect the risk that the company discriminates against people over their speech or their exercise of religion.
Result: Voted on at the annual meeting of 25 February 2025 as Proposal 7, 'Report on Charitable Giving'. About 1.87% of the shares voted for and against were in favour (169,119,141 for, 8,884,470,350 against, 87,816,017 abstentions, 3,038,264,304 broker non-votes). The proposal was not approved. Three other shareholder proposals were on the same ballot from other proponents, including a request that Apple cease its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, which drew 210,451,697 votes in favour.
We found no documented change by Apple that any source attributes to this vote.
Form 8-K, results of the 2025 annual meeting of shareholders, Apple Inc. via SEC EDGAR
Asked Deere to publish a report on its charitable giving, and in particular on how its employee matching gift programme treats religious organisations. Bowyer Research says Deere's rules exclude seminaries, schools of theology, Bible schools and organisations working only for sectarian purposes from matching, which the firm describes as inconsistent treatment of employees of faith.
Result: Precatory proposal filed under Rule 14a-8 and voted on as Proposal 8 at the annual meeting of 26 February 2025. Votes for 2,549,298; votes against 200,450,816; abstentions 2,066,411; broker non-votes 31,663,030. That is 1.26% of the votes cast for and against, or 1.24% if abstentions are counted in the base. The proposal was not approved. Deere's board recommended a vote against it.
We found no documented change to Deere's charitable giving or matching gift rules that any source we retrieved attributes to this proposal.
Requested disclosure of the company's diversity, equity and inclusion policies and programs, as part of the same Colorado place-based shareholder effort described above.
Result: Resolution withdrawn after the company agreed to take action, according to the filer's own case study; exact vote percentage (if any vote occurred) not confirmed in the sources retrieved. Filed under SEC Rule 14a-8.
According to the filer's own account, the company committed to steps addressing the resolution's demands; the specific commitments made were not detailed in the source retrieved.
Requested disclosure of the company's diversity, equity and inclusion policies and programs, as part of a broader place-based effort by Colorado funders to hold Colorado-headquartered companies accountable to local community standards.
Result: Resolution withdrawn after the company agreed to take action, according to the filer's own case study; exact vote percentage (if any vote occurred) not confirmed in the sources retrieved. Filed under SEC Rule 14a-8.
According to the filer's own account, the company committed to steps addressing the resolution's demands; the specific commitments made were not detailed in the source retrieved.
Asked the bank's board to publish a report on how it oversees the risk that it discriminates against people on the basis of race, colour, religion including religious views, sex, national origin, or political views, and on whether such discrimination affects people's exercise of constitutionally protected civil rights.
Result: Voted on at the annual meeting of 1 May 2024 as Proposal 4, titled by the company 'Stockholder proposal requesting a report on the risks of politicized de-banking'. About 2.4% of the shares voted for and against were in favour (552,843 for, 22,687,494 against). Counting the 118,146 abstentions in the base also gives about 2.4% (3,844,720 broker non-votes). The proposal was not approved. Inspire also filed a notice of exempt solicitation urging a yes vote.
We found no documented change by First Citizens BancShares that any source attributes to this vote.
Asked the bank's board to publish a report on how it oversees the risk that it discriminates against people on the basis of race, colour, religion including religious views, sex, national origin, or political views, and on whether such discrimination affects people's exercise of constitutional civil rights.
Result: Voted on at the annual meeting of 26 April 2024 as Item 5, a request for a report on risks of politicised de-banking. About 1.3% of the shares voted for and against were in favour (1,322,381 for, 101,929,606 against). Counting the 1,129,492 abstentions in the base also gives about 1.3%. The 8-K as retrieved did not disclose broker non-votes for this item. The proposal was not approved. Inspire also filed a notice of exempt solicitation urging a yes vote, signed by more than 100 investors and financial professionals.
We found no documented change by Zions Bancorporation that any source attributes to this vote.
Form 8-K, results of the 2024 annual meeting of shareholders, Zions Bancorporation via SEC EDGAR
Asked the bank's board to publish a report on how it oversees the risk that it discriminates against people on the basis of race, colour, religion including religious views, sex, national origin, or political views, and on whether such discrimination affects people's exercise of constitutionally protected civil rights. Inspire described the practice it was targeting as politicised de-banking.
Result: Voted on at the annual meeting of 17 April 2024 as Proposal 5, titled by the company 'Shareholder Proposal Relating to a Report on Risks of Politicized De-Banking'. About 1.6% of the shares voted for and against were in favour (10,634,204 for, 673,164,762 against). Counting abstentions in the base gives about 1.5% (19,189,364 abstentions, 110,818,886 broker non-votes). The proposal was not approved. Inspire also filed a notice of exempt solicitation urging a yes vote, signed by more than 100 investors and financial professionals.
We found no documented change by Regions Financial that any source attributes to this vote.
Asked BNY Mellon to publish a report on the risks the bank faces from what the proposal called politicized de-banking, including the risk of discriminating against potential clients on the basis of their religious or political views.
Result: Precatory proposal filed under Rule 14a-8 and voted on as Proposal 5 at the annual meeting of 9 April 2024. Votes for 19,467,731; votes against 588,664,175; abstentions 11,780,709; broker non-votes 50,755,114. That is 3.20% of the votes cast for and against, or 3.14% if abstentions are counted in the base. The proposal was not approved. The company's Form 8-K records that the corporate secretary presented the proposal at the meeting because neither the proponent nor the proponent's representative was there to present it. No representative of the proponent attended the meeting; the corporate secretary read the resolution so that it could be voted on.
We found no documented change to BNY Mellon's client-selection or account-closure policies that any source we retrieved attributes to this proposal.
Asked Walmart's board to commission an independent, third-party racial equity audit analyzing the company's impact on Black, Indigenous and People of Color communities and employees, with the results made public and improvements recommended. Related investor materials tied this to workers' difficulty advancing into management.
Result: Sources give slightly different figures for the same vote. Sourcing Journal, via Yahoo Finance, reports 18.1% of votes cast in favor. Majority Action reports 18.2% of all shares voted, and 42% of shares voted by shareholders independent of the Walton family. The 0.1 percentage point difference may reflect rounding or a different vote-count base. The proposal did not pass. Filed under SEC Rule 14a-8.
We found no documented racial equity audit completed by Walmart in response to this vote. Refiled versions of the same ask failed in 2024 and 2025, drawing 15.4% and 6.9% support respectively per the Sourcing Journal account, which indicates the audit had not been carried out.
Walmart faces racial equity audit shareholder proposal, Governance Intelligence
Asked McDonald's board to commission a third-party audit of the company's policies and practices and their effects on franchisees, corporate and franchise workers, and consumers.
With CalPERS, New York City Retirement Systems, Color of Change (supporting)
Result: Passed with 55.1% of shares voted in favor (June 2022).
McDonald's said it would 'engage a third party to conduct an assessment,' calling it a civil rights 'assessment' rather than 'audit.' By September 2023 the company had begun focus groups with franchise owners as part of that process, per CNBC. We found no documented publication of final assessment findings in the sources retrieved.
McDonald's engages third-party diversity audit after shareholder vote, Nation's Restaurant News
Asked the company to address housekeeping starting wages cited at $12.00/hour against a benchmark $20.40/hour living wage, alongside racial-representation gaps in leadership and a large CEO-to-median-worker pay ratio (cited at 346 to 1).
Result: Vote percentage not confirmed in the sources retrieved for this research. Filed under SEC Rule 14a-8.
we found no documented change confirmed in the sources retrieved.
Cost Externalization: A Bad Trade for Diversified Shareholders, Proxy Preview
Asked Walmart's board to report on whether the company's starting hourly wages for new associates are consistent with Walmart's own racial-justice commitments.
Result: 13.4% of votes cast were in favor at the June 1, 2022 annual meeting; the proposal did not pass. Filed under SEC Rule 14a-8.
We found no documented change to Walmart's starting-wage policy that any source attributes to this vote. Walmart's CEO cited an average hourly wage above $17 (as of April 2022) in opposing the proposal, not as a result of it.
Walmart Announces 2022 Annual Shareholders' Meeting Voting Results, Business Wire
The proposal asked Activision Blizzard to publish an annual public report on the effectiveness of its efforts to reduce workplace discrimination, harassment, and abuse, including settlement figures and pending case data.
Result: Approved by shareholders at the June 2022 annual meeting despite the board's recommendation to vote against it; proxy advisors ISS and Glass Lewis both endorsed the proposal.
Activision Blizzard published a transparency report in 2023 disclosing 114 harassment, discrimination, or retaliation reports received in 2022, of which 29 were substantiated, along with more than 36 corrective actions taken.
Activision Blizzard shareholders approve proposal for report on abuse and harassment, CNBC
Asked Amazon's board for an independent examination of the company's policies, practices and products on civil rights, equity, diversity and inclusion, including pay and advancement and the disparate racial impacts on hourly warehouse workers, and how those affect the business.
Result: Sources give slightly different figures for the same vote. The Comptroller's office reports 44.18% support, which it described as a record level of support for an environmental or social shareholder proposal at Amazon at that time. ICCR reports 44% of total shares voted and 55% of independent shareholders' shares in favor. The proposal was refiled for the 2022 proxy season and then withdrawn before that vote.
Amazon agreed to commission an independent racial equity audit led by former Attorney General Loretta Lynch. We found no documented publication of the completed audit's findings and no other resulting policy change that sources attribute to this vote.
Shareholders' ESG Proposals Make Significant Gains at Amazon, ICCR
Pressed Citigroup, through a shareholder resolution and direct engagement, to disclose its median (unadjusted, company-wide) gender and racial pay gap rather than only a narrower 'equal pay for equal work' adjusted figure.
Result: On January 16, 2019, Citigroup became the first major U.S. bank to disclose median pay gap data: women earned 29% less than men and minorities earned 7% less than non-minority employees on an unadjusted, company-wide basis.
Citigroup committed to increasing female representation in mid-to-senior roles to 40% by 2021. Separately, per HR Dive, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Mastercard, Wells Fargo and Bank of New York Mellon each agreed to work on closing pay gaps for women and non-white employees following similar shareholder pressure from Arjuna Capital, though the sources retrieved do not give those banks' specific disclosure figures.
Citigroup reveals it pays women 29 percent less than men in unprecedented disclosure, CBS News
How this rating was made
Every item on every one of our maps is read against one question: how far does this depend on the people who own companies voting their values? We answer it twice, once for what companies do and once for what they spend to stop the outcome, and take whichever answer is higher, since the same vote reaches both. The score carries its reasoning and its sources so that a reader can check it rather than take it.
- Pivotal. Owners voting their values can deliver most of the outcome.
- Necessary. Owners remove an obstacle nothing else removes, and others must also act.
- Helpful. Owners voting their values help, and others carry most of it.
- Independent. This moves without owners. Other levers carry it.
The advocacy record on this page holds only what a source we opened says happened. Where we searched and found nothing, the page says so rather than leaving a silence. Where a campaign names a filer the source does not name, it says that too. Ratings are ours; the list of subjects is Doughnut Economics's, and we link to their original.
How we score dependency, in full.