Social Investment Forum Wary of SEC Shareholder
Proposals Opening Door to Possible Curbs

WASHINGTON. D.C.///July 25, 2007///Social Investment Forum Chair Tim Smith, who also is senior vice president of Walden Asset Management, and SIF CEO Lisa Woll issued the following joint statement today:

"While the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) did not explicitly endorse a proposal today that would limit the rights of shareholders to file advisory resolutions, we are concerned that one of the two proposals put out for public comment has opened the door for possible new curbs on such shareholder resolutions. We need to study the questions the SEC has put forward for public comments. As we noted in our news conference yesterday, we want to be very clear that we will vigorously oppose any step by the Commission to restrict the advisory resolution process.

At the same time, we share the concern of other shareholder advocates that the 5 percent threshold for director nomination is too high.

We are thus going to remain on 'high alert' until this whole situation is resolved in a way that makes it clear that the rights of shareholders have not been diminished.

The SEC needs to understand that any new limit on the rights of investors to participate in the advisory resolution process would trigger a repeat of the contentious 1997-1998 battle in which more than 300 socially responsible investment, religious, labor and other groups coalesced to oppose an SEC staff plan to gut the shareholder resolution process by increasing the threshold for reconsideration of resolutions in subsequent years.

Our members have been deeply involved in the process of shareholder advocacy through letters and dialogue with companies, sponsorship of shareholder resolutions and by voting proxies. For decades, this process has been a central means for formalizing communication between concerned investors and management on social, environmental and governance issues."

EDITOR'S NOTE: A streaming audio recording of a related July 24, 2007 news event is available on the Web at http://www.socialinvest.org.

If you are a member of the press who would like to speak with an ICCR representative about the proposed rule changes, please CONTACT:

Laura Berry
Executive Director
ICCR
212-870-2294
lberry@iccr.org

Margaret Weber
Chair
ICCR Board of Directors
313-938-1133
mweber@adriandominicans.org

John Wilson
Director of SRI
Christian Brothers Investment Services
212-490-0800 x 1918
wilsonj@cbisonline.com

Frank Rauscher
Senior Principal
Aquinas Associates
214-502-5950
rauscher@acquinasassociates.com

Tim Smith
Senior VP
Walden Asset Management
617-726-7155
tsmith@bostontrust.com

Adam Kanzer
Managing Director and General Counsel
Domini Social Investments LLC.
212-217-1027
akanzer@domini.com

Gary Brouse
Director, Corporate Governance Working Group
ICCR
646-388-1492
gbrouse@iccr.org

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