Services for Institutional Investors

1. Proxy Information, Policy and Voting Advisory Services

GIR social proxy reports provide detailed background of the specific proxy proposals, including the overall context, relevant issues, and the positions and argument presented by both the proposal sponsors and company management. In addition, GIR provides a voting recommendation, based on balanced social and financial analysis, for each proposal.

In Canada, as in the United States, pension funds and other institutional investors have the power to vote the proxies of the shares they hold, either directly, or through an intermediary specialist advisor. Investors may mandate their portfolio managers to adopt a specific proxy voting policy, except where an investor holds shares in a pooled fund.

At GIR, we encourage institutional investors to take an active role in voting their proxies in a manner that aligns their institutional mission with their investments. This is achieved through the development and implementation of a proxy voting policy covering both standard and social issues.

GIR has worked with institutional investors on the development of proxy voting guidelines and in helping build an understanding of the issues. In working with our clients on the development of proxy issues and voting systems, we undertake the following steps:

1.Build understanding and trust between GIR and a client's portfolio managers. This critical first step ensures that proxies will be voted in a timely manner and in accordance with the client's policy.
2. Prepare a preview of the upcoming proxy season, highlighting pertinent issues. This process helps to build client understanding that facilitates the proxy policy development process.
3. Develop a proxy voting policy that meets a client's needs and conforms to the institution's mission.
4. Identify appropriate voting mechanism. At this point, a client may chose to retain its proxy voting function in-house, have ballots voted by GIR in accordance with the client's proxy voting policy or have ballots voted by a third party voting agent.
5. GIR will provide our clients with monthly proxy voting reports, detailing the results of the client's votes.

2. Social and Environmental Analysis

GIR can provide investors with sound industry analyses that offer a detailed look at the risks and opportunities inherent to corporate environmental performance. Currently, GIR is developing research capacity in the area of the environment and sustainability. Within the coming months, GIR will publish reports on the Canadian Oil and Gas and Forest products sectors.

3. Global Asset Management Advisory Services

For institutional investors considering social investment options, GIR provides comparative analysis of both social and financial returns of SRI products in the following markets:

Canadian equities and fixed income, including community investments

American equities and fixed income, including community investments

International equities and fixed income

GIR can also provide information on community investment products working in the developing world.

4. News Services

GIR keeps its clients up-to-date with news highlights through the monthly Note aux professionnels, an email information service on the latest in the SRI and corporate social responsibility. GIR also covers a range of corporate social and environmental issues with a monthly newsletter Finance Citoyenne (Financial Citizen).

5. Workplace and Human Rights Issues

In certain circumstances, institutional investors may be in a position to ask that companies held in their portfolios undertake an independent verification of their supplier's workplaces to ensure that the conditions are acceptable under the standards set by the International Labour Organization (ILO).

We provide clients with research on the several agencies providing monitoring services of suppliers' working conditions and on company codes of conducts on labour rights. We are presently working with other organizations to develop monitoring capacity for Canadian companies and provide investors with more detailed information on working conditions, trends and issues.

6. SRI Consulting Services

GIR has undertaken many consulting project in areas of interest to institutional investors, often identifying areas of opportunity and strategic importance. We offer expertise in the fields of issue research, strategic planning, partnership and product development, and communications. It is our goal to respond to client needs, whether related to an initial investigation for an organization exploring the concept of social investment for the first time, or a specific project request from an experienced player. Past clients include the Fonds de Solidarité and the Caisse de dépôt et de placement du Québec.