Shareholder Advocacy

Bring Equality to the Workplace.

Pride Foundation uses our endowment for more than grants and scholarships; we also use it to bring equality to the companies in which we invest. To date we have worked with eleven companies to update their non-discrimination policies to include sexual orientation and/or gender identity and expression. These changes have meant better protections for over 2.9 million workers worldwide.

Pride Foundation began our shareholder advocacy work in 1997 with McDonald’s and General Electric. Since that time we have worked with WalMart, Emerson Electric, Expeditors and many more companies (a full list is below). Pride Foundation begins our work with companies by requesting in writing that they update their policies.

If the company decides not to update their policy to include protections for LGBTQ workers, then we file a shareholder resolution, which goes before all shareholders in the company. A Pride Foundation volunteer attends their annual meeting, to explain to management and other shareholders on the necessity of these policies.  After the vote management decides if it will implement the new policy or not.

Timeline of Shareholder Activism Work

McDonald’s
Year filed- 1999
Year added Sexual Orientation to EEO policy- 1999
Number of employees- 390,000

General Electric
Year filed- 1999
Year added Sexual Orientation to EEO policy- 2000
Number of employees- 327,000

Wal-Mart
Began  conversations with senior management in Bentonville, AK beginning in September 2001 which continued until policy adopted in July 2003.
Number of employees- 2,100,000

Emerson Electric
Year filed- July 2000
Year added Sexual Orientation to EEO policy- 2005
Number of employees- 137,700

Exxon-Mobil
Year filed- 2005
Year added Sexual Orientation to EEO policy- Has not added

Expeditors International
Year filed- 2006
Year added Sexual Orientation to EEO policy- 2008
Number of employees: 12,310

IdaCorp
Year filed- 2008
Year added Sexual Orientation to EEO policy- 2008 (did not go to a vote, as management implemented the policy after we filed resolution).
Number of employees- 2,044

Washington Group International (Now the Washington Division of URS Corporation (NYSE: URS)
Year filed- December 2006
Year added Sexual Orientation to EEO policy- March 2007

Glacier Bancorp
Year filed- 2008 – resolution did not go to a vote as management contacted us and said their would include gender identity & expression
Year added gender identity & expression to EEO policy-2009

Commercial Metals
Year filed- 2008
Have not added protections to date

Procter & Gamble
Began conversations with management regarding adding gender identity & expression to EEO policy in March 2008 until policy updated in April 2009.