1792 Insights - 1792 Exchange

As You Sow Misleads Readers about Anti-DEI Proposals

July 31, 2026

Earlier this summer, as the 2025-2026 proxy season came to a close, leading progressive shareholder group As You Sow intentionally misled readers about the success of anti-DEI proposals. As You Sow suggested that voting results on anti-DEI shareholder proposals at 43 companies this season, including Disney, Costco, Visa, and Apple, proved that 99% of investors are opposed to anti-DEI measures. As You Sow claimed that the universal failure of these proposals sends an “unmistakable message” to corporate boards that DEI is a “financial asset” that directors need to prioritize for the needs of the company, labelling anti-DEI efforts as a “political threat.” A 0-43 record for anti-DEI proposals does appear striking at first. However, no ESG proposals won majority support in the 2025-2026 proxy season, which includes pro-DEI proposals at 0-10 with an average support around 13%. According to Broadridge’s 2025 ProxyPulse report, voting by retail investors “declined to 28% of their shares owned in 2025,” which is the lowest level of participation in 9 years. Low retail investor participation is the historical norm, as proxy votes are disproportionately cast by large institutions on their behalf, not by individual investors. As You Sow knows this. Furthermore, for As You Sow to suggest that “[d]iversity is not a liability to be managed, it is a dividend to be captured” when companies like IBM and Nike have recently faced intense scrutiny for their DEI practices is absurd. To learn more about the Myth of Shareholder Democracy, consider reading Stefan Padfield’s piece titled: Proxy Voting and the Myth About Shareholder Democracy.

SEC’s No-Action Retreat Proves Critics Wrong

July 22, 2026

Last fall, the SEC stopped providing informal guidance on whether companies could exclude shareholder proposals from their ballots, putting the full weight of decision in companies’ hands. But did the chaos the critics predicted ever materialize? Skeptics warned of a surge in litigation from proponents whose proposals got left off the ballot. Litigation over excluded proposals increased from its historically rare baseline, but topped out at just six cases. One was resolved in the company’s favor. Three were settled. The wave never came. Others feared an increase in shareholder proposals being left off the ballot. That was also debunked. Cooley LLP and ISS-Corporate both noted that proxy season trends remained consistent, and the proposal omission rate was similar to years past. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins put it plainly at the Society for Corporate Governance Conference earlier this month: “Nearly eight months later, it is clear that neither of these dire predictions materialized, and I am happy to report that the world did not end simply because the Commission staff stopped responding to no-action requests.” The takeaway: companies are capable of deciding what makes it onto the ballot themselves, especially given years of prior SEC guidance. If the proxy season ran …

Faith-Aligned Investors, Big Tech, and the Fight Against Child Exploitation

July 8, 2026

Some advocates say investors shouldn’t underestimate shareholders’ ability to sway a company’s views. Dustin DeVito is the director of research at the nonprofit 1792 Exchange, which encourages corporations to promote free speech, freedom of religion, and free enterprise. He said company executives sometimes aren’t aware of what’s happening down in the trenches of their businesses’ day-to-day operations, and all they may need is for shareholders to bring a concern to their attention. “When issues are being voted on at a company’s annual general meeting, if you have shares in a company, you have a vote,” explained DeVito. “If you have shares, you have the ability to get in touch with investor relations … [and] have those conversations with the executives.” DeVito also said that CSAM is a new part of the social discussion—one that companies don’t have decades of experience dealing with. “People have not really been taking this seriously or talking about it in a comprehensive way until very recently,” DeVito said. “So just based on just where these companies have been over the past few years, I think there really is a chance for people to have direct engagements with the executives.” The full article can be found …

The Course of ESG Investing

July 8, 2026

As ESG-related practices have come under increasing scrutiny in the United States and abroad, newly released data paints a clearer picture of the current state of ESG investing. Two realities stand out: Perhaps the clearest example of the ESG exodus lies in the investor movement away from ESG mutual funds. These funds have bled $65.7 billion since 2022, roughly 20% of their average assets. Additionally, new fund launches have collapsed from 116 in 2021 to just nine last year, and BlackRock has slashed its support for ESG shareholder proposals from 40% in 2021 to less than 2% (7/358) in 2025. Even the 2026 proxy season backs this up: no ESG proposal won majority support. But this does not mean ESG will disappear. Many of its most committed proponents are doubling down, pursuing ESG through less visible channels, or lying low until a more favorable political and regulatory environment emerges. For example, CalPERS has all but dropped the word “ESG,” now calling it “sustainability integration,” while still on track to nearly double its climate-related holdings to $100 billion by 2030. BlackRock’s Larry Fink stopped using the term too, calling it “weaponized.” The rhetoric has cooled, but the strategy has not. Investors have …

Mayer Brown Report Obscures Declining Support for ESG

June 26, 2026

Earlier this month, the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance published an article by authors from Mayer Brown LLP analyzing ESG and anti-ESG shareholder proposals in the 2026 proxy season. The article frames anti-ESG proposals as merely “critical of” or “question[ing] the value of” ESG policies, rather than explaining the serious legal, financial, and reputational risks raised by these proposals. To be sure, anti-ESG advocates face a steep climb in securing majority support. According to the article, anti-ESG proposals received an average of just 1.7% support in the 2026 proxy season, and no anti-ESG shareholder proposal has ever passed. But focusing only on that figure obscures an important story in the data, namely, the declining support for ESG. For the first time in many years, no ESG-related shareholder proposal received majority support during the 2025–2026 proxy season. This continues a broader trend of waning investor enthusiasm for ESG, also reflected in continued outflows from ESG-related funds. At the same time, anti-ESG proposals continue to increase in number, signaling that shareholder concerns over ESG-related risks are not going away. The 1792 Exchange is proud to equip shareholders with data on corporate behavior they can use to encourage companies to get back to business. Rather than focusing …

Bowyer Research Counter-Report to Eventide on AmEx meeting and Corporate Engagement

June 15, 2026

Faith-based and conservative institutions: * Do you know how your proxy votes are being cast? * Are your proxy voting guidelines genuinely consistent with your values, or are they “faith-based” in name only? At American Express’s recent annual meeting, detransitioner Soren Aldaco shared her story, and how corporate health insurance covering sex-denying interventions for minors feeds the tragedy. The event was an opportunity for faith-based, conservative, and pro-fiduciary investors to ask themselves whether they know how their proxy votes are being cast. The proposal Soren advocated for — asking Amex for a risk report on transgender treatments for minors on its healthcare plans — received just 0.43% support. Some faith-based groups publicly opposed the proposal, but Bowyer Research has issued a report correcting the inaccuracies behind their objections, setting the record straight on the proposal itself, on Soren’s story, and on the legal landscape companies actually face. Ultimately: holding American Express is not the problem, wasting proxy votes is. Shareholders have real power to chart a company’s course by surfacing risks it hasn’t adequately addressed. The question is whether those who recognize the harm of transgender healthcare interventions for minors are actually using that tool.