The Church Pension Fund (CPF) uses its position as a large institutional shareholder to engage companies on corporate social responsibility issues that have long-term investment implications. We promote productive dialogue and, if necessary, file shareholder resolutions to encourage these companies to conduct business in a manner that addresses the concerns of The Episcopal Church.

Our shareholder engagement activities encourage companies to

• focus on environmental sustainability, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions,
• address human rights issues, and
• increase diversity among their executives and boards of directors.

We collaborate with the Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility (CCSR) of the Executive Council of The Episcopal Church and The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society (DFMS) to discuss and address our shared concerns. We also coordinate our shareholder engagement efforts with other investor groups having similar interests, including the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) and Ceres.

Examples of our efforts include

• engaging with a fossil fuel company to provide increased transparency around climate risk reporting,
• encouraging technology companies to increase the diversity of their corporate boards, and
• working with transportation companies to enhance their policies and training to combat human trafficking.

Voting Proxies

Every publicly traded company conducts an annual meeting during which its shareholders cast votes on a variety of issues, including the election of corporate directors, executive compensation, and other issues proposed by shareholders. We work closely with CCSR and DFMS to decide how to vote on the proxies we receive for the shares we hold.