Proxy Voting Resource Center
Registered investment companies—including mutual funds, closed-end funds, and ETFs—have dual roles as investors in securities of public companies and as issuers of securities with their own shareholders and boards of directors.
As investors in corporations, funds are entitled to vote on proxy proposals put forth by a company’s management or its shareholders. As part of its fiduciary duty to a fund, the fund’s board of directors, acting on behalf of the fund, is responsible for the voting of proxies relating to the fund’s portfolio securities. A fund’s board typically (but not always) delegates proxy voting responsibilities to the fund’s investment adviser but maintains oversight of this function.
As issuers of securities, funds periodically have their own shareholder meetings. In general, open-end funds do not hold annual shareholder meetings; rather, a meeting is held when a shareholder vote on a particular matter is required, such as the election of fund directors or approval of an acquisition or merger. Closed-end funds are required to hold annual shareholder meetings by the rules of the exchange on which the fund’s shares trade.
This resource center contains recent news, statements, publications, and policy work on proxy voting.
The Processing Fee and ESG Resource Centers also include information related to proxy voting.