In this report published in August 2008, Dr. Carl Horowitz analyzes ICCR’s increasingly effective tactics, and the lack of will by shortsighted executives who submit to the demands of anti-business activists. Click here or on the cover to the right to download a 32-page pdf.
ICCR is a nonprofit coalition with a claimed membership of about 275 institutional investors, most of them of a religious nature, with a combined stock portfolio of more than $110 billion. The group operates on the belief that the best way to revolutionize a publicly-traded company is to become part of it. Investor affiliates introduce proxy resolutions at shareholder meetings, as part of campaigns to alter corporate behavior on a variety of issues, especially health care.
During the 2007 spring corporate meeting season, ICCR circulated a memo urging investors to vote against an NLPC-sponsored shareholder proposal asking companies to disclose their charitable giving. Ironically, ICCR has supported similar resolutions when introduced by left-wing groups.
ICCR’s objection to NLPC’s resolution was NLPC itself. The memo quoted NLPC’s website, which states that NLPC, through its Corporate Integrity Project, emphasizes “combating practices that undermine the free enterprise system, including philanthropic giving to groups hostile to a free economy.” In doing so, ICCR showed its true colors. When seeking investor support, ICCR insincerely claims its positions are “good for business.” Its real target is the capitalist system itself.