Dachverband der Kritischen Aktionärinnen und Aktionäre

The Dachverband der Kritischen Aktionärinnen und Aktionäre (Umbrella Association of Critical Shareholders) is a German non-profit association founded on 23 February 1986 by corporate-critical groups. It is both a shareholder association and a non-governmental organization, and it describes itself as campaigning since 1986 for more environmental and climate protection, compliance with labour and human rights, greater transparency, a stop to arms exports to autocratic states, and an end to profit maximization at the expense of third parties. Its members are 29 individual organizations, and roughly 1,200 shareholders have transferred their voting rights to the association so that it can represent them at annual general meetings. The association attends up to about 30 annual general meetings of listed companies each year, where its board members, managing director and members submit counter-motions and speak to shareholders. It analyses and criticizes the activities of companies such as Adidas, BASF, Bayer, Mercedes-Benz, Deutsche Bank, RWE, Siemens and Thyssenkrupp. Beyond shareholder advocacy, it runs campaigns, produces corporate studies, offers training such as "Konzernkritik mit einer Aktie" (corporate criticism with one share), and issues press and public-relations work. Each year it awards the Henry Mathews Prize to individuals who have distinguished themselves as committed shareholders in pursuit of the association's goals. The Dachverband is a registered non-profit association (eingetragener gemeinnütziger Verein) financed through membership fees and donations. Its member organizations include urgewald, the Coordination gegen BAYER-Gefahren, the Bundesverband Bürgerinitiativen Umweltschutz, the Kritischen AktionärInnen Daimler, the Gen-ethische Netzwerk and the Bundesverband Information und Beratung für NS-Verfolgte. Its office is in Cologne, and its managing director since the death of Henry Mathews has been Markus Dufner. The association is a member of the Initiative Transparente Zivilgesellschaft and maintains a public presence through its website, press releases and campaigns.

The Dachverband der Kritischen Aktionärinnen und Aktionäre was founded on 23 February 1986 by corporate-critical groups in Germany. Among its founding members were Axel Köhler-Schnura of the Coordination gegen BAYER-Gefahren and Helmut Paschlau of the Arbeitskreis Kein Geld für Apartheid. From the outset the association combined two roles: it is a shareholder association that represents the voting rights of small shareholders, and a non-profit non-governmental organization that campaigns on environmental, social and human-rights issues. Over the decades the Dachverband grew into an umbrella body of 29 member organizations. Its work centres on attending annual general meetings of listed companies, where its representatives submit counter-motions and speak to shareholders. The association states that its board members, managing director and members take part in up to about 30 annual general meetings per year. Roughly 1,200 shareholders have transferred their voting rights to the association, enabling it to raise issues that individual small shareholders would struggle to place on the agenda. A key figure in the association's history was Henry Mathews, who served as managing director and whose name is commemorated in the Henry Mathews Prize, awarded annually to individuals who have distinguished themselves as committed shareholders in pursuit of the association's goals. After Mathews's death, Markus Dufner became managing director and has represented the association's transferred voting rights at general meetings. The association has initiated campaigns such as STOP Greenwashing! in 2011. It also produces corporate studies, offers training under the title "Konzernkritik mit einer Aktie" (corporate criticism with one share), and maintains press and public-relations work. Its campaigns have addressed topics including arms exports, coal power, bank financing of cluster munitions, and the planned export of 200 Leopard 2 tanks to Saudi Arabia. In autumn 2012 it launched the campaign "Neue Energie für die Wende" (New energy for the transition), aimed at preventing the construction of further coal-fired power plants by RWE and E.ON and stopping lignite mining. The association is a registered non-profit association financed by membership fees and donations. It is based in Cologne and is a member of the Initiative Transparente Zivilgesellschaft. Its member organizations include urgewald, the Coordination gegen BAYER-Gefahren, the Bundesverband Bürgerinitiativen Umweltschutz, the Kritischen AktionärInnen Daimler, the Gen-ethische Netzwerk and the Bundesverband Information und Beratung für NS-Verfolgte. It continues to analyse and criticize companies such as Adidas, BASF, Bayer, Mercedes-Benz, Deutsche Bank, RWE, Siemens and Thyssenkrupp.

• Founded by corporate-critical groups, including Axel Köhler-Schnura and Helmut Paschlau.

• Initiated the STOP Greenwashing! campaign.

• Ran campaigns "Raus aus der Sackgasse Profitgier" and "Neue Energie für die Wende".

• Announced the campaign "Neue Energie für die Wende", continued into 2013.

A non-profit shareholder association and NGO that uses shareholder rights, campaigns and public relations to push listed companies toward environmental, social and human-rights accountability.

• Shareholder voting-rights representation

  The association represents the voting rights of about 1,200 shareholders who have transferred them, attending up to about 30 annual general meetings per year.

• Corporate studies

  Analyses and critiques of listed companies such as Adidas, BASF, Bayer, Mercedes-Benz, Deutsche Bank, RWE, Siemens and Thyssenkrupp.

• Training "Konzernkritik mit einer Aktie"

  Training offered by the association on corporate criticism using a share.

• Henry Mathews Prize

  Awarded annually to individuals who have distinguished themselves as committed shareholders in pursuit of the association's goals.

1. 1Dachverband Kritische Aktionärinnen und Aktionärekritischeaktionaere.de
2. 2Über uns | Dachverband Kritische Aktionärinnen und Aktionärekritischeaktionaere.de
3. 3Dachverband der Kritischen Aktionärinnen und Aktionärewikidata.org
4. 4Dachverband der Kritischen Aktionärinnen und Aktionärede.wikipedia.org