Dear Colleagues,

In January, many concerned investors called on BlackRock and other large asset managers to stand up for democracy and equity by disclosing their own political spending. Investors also wrote to companies in March regarding their support for elected officials who supported legislation that will suppress voter rights in Georgia. These letters were sent to Delta Airlines, Coca Cola, Southern Company, UPS, Aflac and Home Depot. 

On April 20 some of you signed an open letter to asset managers which ran in the Financial Times calling on asset managers to demonstrate their commitment to racial justice during the 2021 proxy season using the power of their proxy votes at US companies.

SEIU and Majority Action - along with ICCR, Investor Advocates for Social Justice, Trillium Asset Management and other partners - invite you to continue this vital work that is fundamental to ensuring a stable democracy which supports economic prosperity. To that end, please consider signing on to the letter which will be sent to the board member at each company responsible for oversight of each company’s policy influence activities: http://bit.ly/28MayVoterSuppression

The form to sign onto the letter can be found at https://forms.gle/HYaXPiYvgSTzpHwN8 .

The 82 companies which will receive the letter were identified in one or more lists published by the following sources:

• Washington Post, top 30 to insurrectionist caucus
  • https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/01/19/gop-corporate-pac-fu…
• Public Citizen list of donors to insurrectionist caucus
  • https://www.citizen.org/article/bankrolling-the-disenfranchisers/
• Popular Info, donors to co-sponsors of GA legislation
  • https://popular.info/p/georgia
• Popular Info, donors to co-sponsors of AZ legislation
  • https://popular.info/p/major-corporations-announce-opposition
• Greenpeace report on donors to sponsors of state-level legislation across multiple states (anti-voter bills only)
  • https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/research/dollars-vs-democracy/
• Public Citizen report on donors to supporters of state-level legislation across multiple states
  • https://www.citizen.org/article/corporate-sponsors-of-voter-suppression…

It is not a requirement that your fund be a shareholder of each company in order to sign the letter.

The letter calls on the board to:

1. Amend [company’s] political contributions policy to preclude any direct or indirect contributions from the company, its subsidiaries, or affiliated Political Action Committees to any candidates, or campaign committees that support such candidates, that have attempted to restrict the right, impede access to vote, or otherwise disenfranchise or limit the civil rights of communities of color, including: 

• Federal elected officials that voted to object to the certification of the electoral college results on January 6, 2021; and 
• Sponsors and authors of legislation at the state level that seek to restrict voting rights or access, as identified by the Brennan Center for Justice or Voting Rights Lab.

2. Provide full public disclosure of the recipient and amount of all direct and indirect election-related spending using corporate or treasury funds, or by corporate PACs, including donations to candidates and party committees at the state and local level, contributions to 527 political committees, ballot measure committees, independent expenditures, and payments to politically-active trade associations and politically-active tax-exempt organizations, including 501c4s.

Please indicate your participation by completing this form https://forms.gle/HYaXPiYvgSTzpHwN8 .

The deadline for signing is June 9th.

If you so indicate in the participation form, the letter will make clear that you are signing on as an individual and your fund affiliation will be noted as “for identification only.”

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to me.

Best regards,

Jonas Kron

Chief Advocacy Officer

Trillium Asset Management

jkron@trilliuminvest.com