Terms frequently used in finance and Shareholder Engagement
- 3-legged stool
- A classic metaphor for the three levels of social investment: Screening, Community investment, and Shareholder engagement.
- 5% rule
- A portion of SEC Rule 14a-8 that generally requires the topic of a shareholder resolution to apply to more than 5% of a company’s business.
- ASE
- American Stock Exchange
- B Corp
- A company certified as a B Corp (regardless of their legal corporate structure). See bcorporation.net for more information.
- Benefit Corporation
- A company legally chartered as a benefit corporation in one of the States or jurisdictions that has adopted benefit legislation. See benefitcorp.net for more information.
- CDFI
- Community Development Financial Institution
- Closely held
- See Privately held
- Community investment
- A type of investment that makes available necessary capital access and banking services to groups of people or regions of the world traditionally underserved if not outright excluded from receiving them (= micro-credit lending)
- CPA
- Center for Political Accountability
- CRI
- Coalition for Responsible Investment
- CSR
- Corporate Social Responsibility
- DAF
- Donor Advised Fund
- DSI
- Domini Social Index
- EDGAR
- Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval. This is the SEC system by which public companies make their required filings, such as quarterly reports, annual reports, and other mandated disclosures.
- EFT
- Electronic funds transfer
- ESG
- Environmental, Social & Governance factors
- ETF
- Exchange Traded Fund
- GIIRS
- Global Impact Investing Ratings System
- Glass Lewis
- A proxy reporting service
- GRI
- Global Reporting Initiative
- ICCR
- Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility
- IPJC
- Intercommunity Peace & Justice Center
- ISS
- Institutional Shareholder Services, a proxy reporting service
- KLD
- Kinder, Lydenberg, Domini. A company originally formed by Peter Kinder, Steve Lydenberg and Amy Domini. KLD created the first SRI index in 1990 called the KLD 400 Index.
- L3C
- Low-Profit Limited Liability Corporation
- Microcredit
- See Community investment
- Microfinance
- See Community investment
- Morelos Forum
- A thought leader invitational forum created by Amy Domini. Originally, meetings were convened in Cuernavaca, Morelos State, Mexico (hence, the name).
- Muhammad Yunis
- Bangladeshi banker, economist, and Nobel Peace Prize recipient. He developed the concepts of microcredit and microfinance.
- NGO
- Non-Governmental Organization or non-profit entity
- NWCRI
- Northwest Coalition for Responsible Investment
- NYSE
- New York Stock Exchange
- Oikocredit
- A leading Community Development Financial Institution.
- Ordinary business
- A portion of SEC Rule 14a-8 that generally requires a shareholder resolution to not focus on matters that might be considered under management’s routine, day-to-day purview.
- PRI
- Program Related Investment
- Privately held
- A company whose shares are not publicly traded.
- Proxy
- The document sent by a company to its shareholders, that contains items on the formal agenda for consideration and a vote at the annual meeting of shareholders.
- Proxy reporting service
- A company or service that makes vote recommendations for items found in corporate proxies; a company or service that will vote shares on behalf of clients.
- Publicly traded
- Shares of stock that can be bought-or-sold on a stock exchange by members of the public.
- Screening
- (a) Avoiding companies whose practices are unfavorable; (b) seeking companies whose practices are better than others.
- SEC
- Securities and Exchange Commission.
- SEC Rule 14a-8
- The primary SEC rule that defines the rights and obligations of shareholders wishing to file shareholder resolutions.
- Shareholder advocacy
- See Shareholder engagement below.
- Shareholder engagement
- Using one’s rights as a shareholder to advocate for changes in a company’s practices. (Also known as shareholder advocacy).
- Shareholder proposal
- See Shareholder resolution below.
- Shareholder resolution
- An item for inclusion in a company’s proxy for a vote of all shareholders, that is submitted by a shareholder (as opposed to put forward by management). (Also known as a shareholder proposal).
- SIF
- The former Social Investment Forum, now known as US SIF – The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment.
- SIRAN
- Sustainable Investment Research Analysts Network.
- SOCAP
- The Social Capital Conference.
- SPC
- Social Purpose Corporation, enacted by WA State June 7, 2012.
- SRI
- Socially Responsible Investment, or Socially Responsive Investment, or Sustainable & Responsible Impact investment.
- SRO
- Self Regulated Organization.
- Stock exchange
- An entity or organization that creates a market for publicly traded shares of stock.
- UN
- United Nations.
- UNPRI
- United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment.
- US SIF
- The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment.