Influence Corporate Policies: Vote Your Shares

Shareholder resolutions are a way to require companies to adopt new policies and practices. Yet only 12% of individuals vote their shares. Third Act is partnering with the iconik app to make it easy to vote your shares and make a difference in minutes.

Shareholders are legally entitled to a vote, and a voice. And what can be an unwelcome intrusion for management has proven to be a growing solution for activists. In the last few years, we’ve seen unprecedented activism in the form of environmental, social and governance proposals, and the reshuffling of board members. If you own the company, it’s harder to lock you out.

But it’s not as simple as putting a good idea on the shareholder ballot. Many good shareholder resolutions on climate, environment, and indigenous rights have failed. The problem is most individual shareholders – 88%! – don’t vote their shares. The shareholder proxy voting system is broken: it’s a voting system that is too difficult and cumbersome for most people to participate in. And the vast majority of advisors either send these ballots to a proxy advisor such as Institutional Shareholder Services, or simply don’t vote them. Proxy advisors routinely vote against environmental, social, and governance issues. This is happening in the dark, unbeknownst to most investors. The end result is that if you have a financial advisor and are not receiving your shareholder ballots, those shares are likely being voted against your values.

Investors: Vote Your Values in Minutes

That’s why Third Act is partnering with iconik, the technology company that built the first personalized, automated proxy voting platform available to investors of all sizes across all brokerage firms. Third Act’s voting profile on iconik is like an umbrella covering every company you own, helping to ensure that your shareholder voting rights are exercised in a manner consistent with your goals, values, and preferences. You have two methods for using the iconik app to vote your shares.

iconik’s secure platform is simple and if you sign up for iconik through ThirdAct, the service is free, and automatically votes your shares to match Third Act’s voting profile. Our profile supports voting on key initiatives including climate finance, Indigenous Rights, primary forests, oil and gas activities, and political activity of the company.

How to Participate: Method 1

If you receive shareholder ballots by email, you can have them automatically voted to match the Third Act voting profile by forwarding them to:

proxies+thirdact@iconikapp.com

Using this method, you do not need to first create an iconik account. However, if you would like to be able to add or adjust voting rules, view impact reporting, and exercise more control over your profile, consider Method 2 below.

How to Participate: Method 2

Creating an iconik account allows you to automatically vote your shares to match the Third Act voting profile while giving you full control over the process. It’s free, only takes a few minutes to set up, and we have videos, like the one below, to guide you through the process. The platform is built to be open and transparent, allowing you to adjust automatically-generated votes, if desired. As election results are recorded, iconik will generate a personal impact report, so that you can monitor your impact on the issues that matter to you.

To get started, visit Third Act’s page on iconik:

https://iconikapp.com/third-act

If you’d like to further personalize your voting profile, and delve into other issues—such as animal rights, diversity and equity, executive pay, and many others—you can set up a personalized iconik account for $5.00 a month.

Shareholders Can Make Real Impacts

Third Act is helping to lead the way, forging an alternative capitalism that prioritizes people and the planet over a strict focus on profits. It’s simple, it’s easy, and it’s empowering.

If you own even a single stock, you can join! Get started on voting your shareholder values today.