As a social change organisation, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) encourages its fund managers to integrate environmental and social issues into their investment analysis and decision-making processes. So it came as a shock to find out that one of their asset managers had voted against human rights proposals at two major weapons manufacturers at the 2021 company AGMs.

While JRF does not have holdings in these companies in its portfolios, in accordance with its ethical investment policy, it was nonetheless alarmed to hear this. This illustrates a concerning trend: that while charities may have clear expectations for their investments, many have limited visibility over their fund managers’ firmwide voting decisions.