2025 shareholder proposals address social issues that matter

Praxis Investment Management believes that proxy voting is a fundamental privilege and responsibility of stock ownership. Many ballot items are routine proposals necessary for regular corporate operations, while others, particularly shareholder proposals, offer us the opportunity to provide input on significant issues of environmental, social, or governance concern.

According to Proxy Preview, 355 shareholder proposals were filed on pertinent social topics in 2025. The most common proposal topics were items related to our changing climate, concerns around corporate political influence (lobbying and political involvement), and approaches to environmental risk management.

There was a 34% drop in total shareholder proposals filed compared to 2024, partly due to new SEC rules that make it more difficult for investors to file proposals and easier for companies to exclude them. In addition, many mainstream investors are taking a cautious approach with a new Administration. Also, more companies chose to engage with investors than in the past, resulting in many proposal withdrawals and making other filings unnecessary.

Praxis is a longtime member of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), which is a faith-based, member-driven organization that supports investor engagement with companies. ICCR’s 2025 Proxy Resolutions and Voting Guide highlights more than 216 shareholder proposals filed by organization members and provides background and commentary on the issues they cover. The largest portion of ICCR member proposals focused on issues of human rights and corporate governance.

Growing out of its 50-plus years of experience, ICCR contends that shareholder proposals have enabled investors to meaningfully engage with corporations on issues of public interest across a range of topics and industries. Praxis has been part of many successful engagements that began with shareholder proposals, including improvements in online child safety by tech companies, better pollution prevention and clean energy adoption with utilities, and enhanced attention to worker health and safety.

Praxis holds stock in more than 1,000 companies in our funds, and we annually vote on more than 16,000 unique proposals that appear on corporate ballots. Proxy voting offers us the opportunity to uniformly express our values and concerns to all the companies we own on a wide range of issues. Despite new legal hurdles that make it more difficult for investors to use their rights to communicate with companies, Praxis will continue to reflect our values through our votes and oppose attempts to curtail shareholder rights.