As part of a campaign launched by advocacy group Majority Action and the Service Employees International Union, a group of national foundations is calling on their asset managers to support racial justice with their 2021 proxy votes.

Led by the Wallace Global Fund and Marguerite Casey, Nathan Cummings, and Woodcock foundations, the effort follows an open letter signed by dozens of foundation and nonprofit leaders that called on asset managers to change their "business-as-usual practices" by, at a minimum, opposing all-white boards or those with an arguably token representation by a single person of color; opposing directors in charge of political spending who have failed to address their role in funding elected officials implicated in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol or those behind voter suppression efforts; and supporting shareholder demands for racial equity audits, complete transparency and accountability around political spending and lobbying, and action to address racist practices.

In their letters, the foundation leaders argue that the votes of their asset managers and outsourced chief investment officers in the upcoming proxy season with respect to racial equity resolutions, political spending and disclosure, and board diversity are a critical component of their commitment to advance racial justice.

"Our purpose as a foundation is to achieve justice, not charity," said Marguerite Casey Foundation president and CEO Carmen Rojas. "Those who manage our wealth must ceaselessly look for ways to increase justice in the world, which includes influencing the corporations that our endowment sponsors to make good on long overdue commitments to racial justice. The proxy voting demands outlined by Majority Action are an important start to the transformational change we need to achieve."

"In the wake of the historic and long overdue national outcry for racial justice, our foundation has undertaken efforts to comprehensively examine how our programs, investments, and operations contribute to building the world we intend to bequeath to the next generation," said Wallace Global Fund executive director Ellen Dorsey. "Foundation investments can prop up unjust systems or can be used as a lever for social change and accountability for injustice. To ensure our investments align with our values, today Wallace Global Fund is calling on our asset managers to cast their proxy votes in support of racial justice and demand corporations be part of the change this moment requires."