What is proxy voting?
When you deposit money with Illuminate and invest in the guided portfolios, Illuminate purchases shares in individual stocks and exchange-traded funds (or ETFs). Once you're an investor in those stocks and ETFs, you get to weigh in on important issues with a vote. Your vote is proportional to the number of shares you own. Proxy voting as a shareholder is a lot like mailing in your ballot for an election. Many shareholders don't vote in person, so voting by proxy makes sure your vote is counted as the shareholder.
How Illuminate automates your votes
88% of people don't vote at the companies they're invested in. Automated proxy voting, what we call "Your Money, Your Vote," is when we vote your shares at company meetings to advance sustainability-forward policies. This is one of the most powerful tools for having your say and creating change at the companies you're invested in.
Here's how it works: When you invest through Illuminate, you own shares in companies either directly or through Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). As a shareholder, you have the right to vote on company decisions at annual meetings and special meetings. These decisions can include environmental policies and emissions reduction targets, board member elections, and other major company decisions.
Instead of you having to research and vote on hundreds of proposals across all your investments or not vote at all, Illuminate automatically votes your shares to advance sustainability policies. In the Your Money, Your Vote section of your app, you can see how your shares were voted and the outcomes of votes.
Illuminate sets a comprehensive voting framework that determines how we'll vote across all possible proxy voting topics. As your investment advisor, Illuminate receives notifications when it's time to vote at any of the companies you're invested in. We work with Iconik to securely administer the voting of all shares without sharing any personally identifiable information, and then we communicate to you through the app how these votes were cast.
