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Calvert Proxy Voting Guidelines Blend Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility.


Business Editors

BETHESDA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 19, 2003

Socially Responsible Firm Says Good Governance The terms governance and good governance are increasingly being used in development literature. Governance describes the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented (or not implemented).  Plus Social

Responsibility Creates Sustainable Corporate Performance and

Shareowner share·own·er  
n.
See shareholder.

Noun 1. shareowner - someone who holds shares of stock in a corporation
shareholder, stockholder

investor - someone who commits capital in order to gain financial returns
 Value

Calvert, the nation's largest family of socially responsible mutual funds, announced today that it has adopted revised Proxy Voting Proxy voting is the delegation to another member of a voting body of that member's power to vote in his absence. It is essentially synonymous to delegated voting.

Proxy voting is commonly used in corporations for voting by members or shareholders, because it allows members
 Guidelines that integrate corporate governance Corporate Governance

The relationship between all the stakeholders in a company. This includes the shareholders, directors, and management of a company, as defined by the corporate charter, bylaws, formal policy, and rule of law.
 and corporate social responsibility into what Calvert calls a "sustainable governance" model that it is recommending to other mutual fund companies. The guidelines are available at www.calvert.com/pdf/proxy_voting_guidelines_new.pdf. Although Calvert has for several years cast its proxies according to according to
prep.
1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.

2. In keeping with: according to instructions.

3.
 detailed voting guidelines - and has publicly disclosed its votes - the new Guidelines are the first Calvert has issued since the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted new rules requiring all mutual funds to disclose their proxy voting practices and policies, as well as their actual proxy votes Proxy vote

Vote cast by one person or entity on behalf of another.
.

"At Calvert, we have long believed that healthy corporations are characterized both by sound corporate governance and overall corporate social responsibility, and that companies combining the two are best positioned for long-term success," said Barbara J. Krumsiek, President & CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. , Calvert. "We've re-designed our Proxy Voting Guidelines to better promote and achieve this integration of good governance and social responsibility on the part of the companies we invest in on behalf of our shareholders."

"In the aftermath of recent corporate scandals, it has become increasingly clear that well-governed, socially responsible companies are better positioned to deliver long-term, sustainable value Sustainable Value

Sustainable Value is an approach to measure and manage sustainability performance. The concept was developed by researchers who are working today for Queen's University Belfast
 to their shareholders," continued Krumsiek. "Calvert's Proxy Voting Guidelines provide a model that we encourage other mutual funds and institutional investors to adopt - using the proxy to encourage good governance and social responsibility on the part of corporations, which in turn will help restore investor confidence in markets."

Calvert's proxy voting guidelines, are designed to promote three important attributes of well-governed, socially responsible companies:

-- Long-Term Value. Calvert's Proxy Voting Guidelines support

governance structures and policies that keep the focus of

company management on long-term corporate health and

sustainable financial, social and environmental performance.

-- Accountability. Calvert's Proxy Voting Guidelines support

governance structures that create and reinforce

accountability, including independent and diverse boards; full

disclosure of company performance on financial, environmental

and social metrics; shareowner participation and empowerment;

and compensation structures that align management and

shareowner interests.

-- Sustainability. Calvert's Proxy Voting Guidelines support

sustainable governance that attends fairly to the long-term

interests of shareowners and other stakeholders Stakeholders

All parties that have an interest, financial or otherwise, in a firm-stockholders, creditors, bondholders, employees, customers, management, the community, and the government.
, including

workers, customers, communities and the environment.

The Guidelines contain detailed proxy-voting policies on board elections, composition and governance; executive compensation and stock ownership; mergers, acquisitions and takeovers; workplace, environment, and human rights issues; product safety and impact; indigenous peoples' rights; and community interactions.

Calvert's new Proxy Voting Guidelines are part of a larger "Good Governance" initiative the firm has undertaken to promote healthier companies, stronger markets and improved opportunities for investors. This includes fully integrating governance guidelines into Calvert's investment analysis, encouraging open and honest reporting Honest Reporting (also HonestReporting or honestreporting.com) is a watchdog organisation that monitors the media for what it deems to be media bias against Israel.  by companies, advocating for greater board diversity and promoting high standards of corporate ethics and other "sustainable governance" practices that align the long-term interests of management, shareholders and other stakeholders, and can be reviewed at http://www.calvert.com/goodgov.html.

"For mutual funds and other institutional investors, proxy voting is the most basic and direct form of participation in corporate governance, and the SEC has now clarified that proxy voting is a fiduciary duty Noun 1. fiduciary duty - the legal duty of a fiduciary to act in the best interests of the beneficiary
legal duty - acts which the law requires be done or forborne
 of fund managers, who must adopt proxy voting policies and disclose their votes," explains Krumsiek. "We hope Calvert's revised Guidelines will be of use to other mutual funds, many of whom will be adopting and disclosing their proxy-voting policies for the first time. By fully integrating corporate governance and corporate social responsibility, we believe mutual funds can positively influence corporate behavior in a way that creates long-term value for their shareholders."

Calvert is the nation's largest socially responsible mutual fund firm with approximately $9.0 billion in assets under management Assets Under Management (AUM) is a term used by financial services companies in the mutual fund and money management or investment management business to gauge how much money they are managing. . Calvert offers twenty eight funds that allow individual and institutional investors to pursue a broad range of investment objectives within a single fund family. Calvert launched the Calvert Social Index The Calvert Social Index is a stock market index created by the Calvert Group as a benchmark of large companies that are considered socially responsible or ethical. It currently consists of 468 companies, weighted by market capitalization, selected from approximately 1,000 of the (TM) a benchmark for measuring the performance of large, U.S.-based socially responsible companies. Calvert also has an extensive lineup of tax-free and taxable fixed income investments. For more information on Calvert, click on www.calvert.com.

Calvert mutual funds are underwritten and distributed by Calvert Distributors Inc., member NASD NASD

See: National Association of Securities Dealers


NASD

See National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD).
, a subsidiary of Calvert Group. (6/03, 4427)
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No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 2003, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Publication:Business Wire
Date:Jun 19, 2003
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