JUST Capital Foundation

Just Capital is the only independent nonprofit that tracks, analyzes, and engages with large corporations as well as their investors on how they perform on the public's priorities. Our research, rankings, indexes, and data-driven tools empower all market participants to help build a more Just economy. We poll americans every year to identify the issues that matter most in defining Just business behavior today. We then define metrics that map to those issues and track and analyze the largest, publicly traded u.s. companies. Since 2015 we've polled more than 165,000 americans on their priorities for capitalism and Just business behavior. Our survey research not only provides a clear roadmap for what issues matter most to the american public when it comes to Just business behavior, but also details timely, relevant insights into american sentiments into the most critical issues of our time.in 2023, we tracked, analyzed, and ranked 937 companies across five stakeholder groups, 20 issues, and 236 data points. Of these companies, 560 are registered for our corporate portal and 389 engaged with our data review period, representing 18 million workers, nearly 12% of the total u.s. Workforce. 77.6% of ranked company representatives surveyed say that engaging with Just Capital has helped inform the implementation of, and/or prompted internal conversation about, new policies or practices. We worked with over 115 companies to help them improve their stakeholder performance. Our annual rankings of america's most Just companies showcased the companies at the forefront of stakeholder-driven leadership, tracking how corporate leaders delivered value to all their stakeholders including their workers, customers, communities, shareholders, and the environment. In 2021, we launched a new, expansive partnership with cnbc which includes the exclusive rights to publish the Just 100 list of companies leading our ranking of america's most companies, as well as ongoing profiles and segments that elevate esg data and stakeholder metrics on par with traditional financial metrics to define what good looks like regarding corporate performance today. In addition to the rankings, throughout 2023 we built out data-driven insights and programmatic initiatives, partnerships, and products to directly encourage and support corporations to adopt more Just business practices. Below are key highlights: throughout 2023, we have been experimenting and learning from our programmatic initiatives as we prepare for the public launch of our corporate impact lab, a business-led platform where applied research meets corporate action. Corporate executives are invited to engage with Just Capital's extensive network of cross-sector experts to tackle consequential issues (leveraging Just's unique datasets, stakeholder frameworks, research capability, products, and robust network of peers and impact partners). The lab partners with executive decision-makers at the helm of the largest corporations in america to deliver value for key stakeholdersincluding workers, communities, customers, and the environmentwhile leveraging their significant market influence to scale corporate behavior change. This platform supports our three-year impact goal to generate direct outcomes for 5 million workers through improved performance on interrelated elements of job quality, including financial wellness, equity and mobility, and access to care benefits. This next phase of our work builds on Just Capital's worker financial wellness initiative, which has coalesced 15 large companies, collectively representing 1.2 million workers, to implement measurable changes that materially improve workforce well-being. This work has been a major focus of Just Capital, including hosting these and other large employers for convenings to talk about specific actions they are taking to support their workforce. Just Capital also planned the launch of its first Just jobs scorecard, a data-driven tool that pinpoints where russell 1000 companies are doing well on interrelated elements of job quality and where they have room to improve. We shared it with corporate leaders to gather their input on use cases along with the input of issue experts, academics, and other cross-sector leaders. The scorecard will serve as a significant funnel through which companies will engage more closely with our team to take steps toward greater investment in their workers. This will be a critical tool for driving progress, especially in light of our recent analysis that more than 36% of r1000 workers do not make a family-sustaining living wage. Demonstrating the investor case: Just Capital also helps drive Capital toward more Just companies through developing investment products, convening investors for timely conversations, and demonstrating the connection between stakeholder performance and market performance. As of 2024, our suite of products represented a total over $400 million in aum across 8 different investment products using Just Capital data. Our flagship index the Just u.s. large cap diversified index (julcd) which includes the top 50% of russell 1000 companies we rank, has outperformed the russell 1000 by 8.7% since its 2018 inception through december 31, 2023, and powers goldman sachs asset management's Just etf. Our Just 100 index (juone), which tracks the top 100 companies in our rankings of america's most Just companies, has also outperformed the russell 1000 by 4.06% since inception through december 31, 2023. Shifting the narrative: across broadcast, digital, and events platforms we are expanding our reach and influence with the top business and financial leaders in america helping redefine business leadership and inspire companies to take action. In 2023, we continued to highlight the leadership of the Just 100 companies through our media partnership with cnbc. Through our exclusive partnership, we're lifting up our unique polling insights, putting corporate stakeholder performance metrics on par with traditional markets data, and showcasing what good looks like through Just ceo interviews, reaching an audience of 547 million business leaders and investors across cnbc's platforms each month. Between media coverage from cnbc and other leading outlets like bloomberg, fortune, wall street journal, insider, and reuters, Just reached over 1,100 cumulative press hits since in 2023 up by 253% from 2017.overall 2023 highlights include: 120 press highlights 124 editorial bylines 1,133,000 pageviews 15,000+ subscribers to the Just report 308 donors Just Capital polling has shown a growing desire for accountability, transparency, and action from corporate america. Throughout the coming year, Just's research, polling, analysis, and programs will work to incentivize, guide, and support companies' efforts to rebuild trust with their stakeholders. We'll be especially focused on workers, helping ensure all jobs offer fair pay, opportunity for growth, and a focus on equity for employees.