2025 Annual Stewardship Report

Approach to Investment Stewardship

Dimensional supports stronger governance practices at the companies in which we invest on behalf of our clients because we believe it can improve returns for investors.[1]

Dimensional manages global equity and fixed income strategies for clients around the world. We aim in all areas to be responsible stewards of our clients’ assets, and one way we look to do so is through our stewardship activities. Stewardship activities include engaging with boards and management at portfolio companies, voting on behalf of our clients at shareholder meetings, and advocating for policies that we believe protect and enhance shareholder value.

Our Stewardship Philosophy

Dimensional believes that market prices reflect information about current corporate governance practices and that material improvements in corporate governance may be rewarded with higher market prices if such improvements enhance expected future cash flows or reduce perceived risks. Stewardship activities that promote better governance practices may therefore improve realized returns to shareholders.

Stewardship is an essential pillar of our investment process. Dimensional broadly considers portfolio-company-level governance in its investment management process through proxy voting, as well as by engaging with portfolio companies to share Dimensional’s areas of focus with regard to governance practices.[2]

A Focus on Good Governance

Dimensional believes that stewardship efforts should focus on people, policies, and practices that seek to improve governance at portfolio companies. As illustrated in the graphic below, shareholders delegate leadership and oversight of company management to the board of directors, which is accountable to shareholders. Company management implements day-to-day business matters and is accountable to the board. We believe the goal of good governance is to align boards and management incentives with shareholder interests. Without strong, foundational governance practices and effective boards, companies may be poorly equipped to address matters of concern to shareholders, including a broad range of environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) issues.

Dimensional’s stewardship activities focus on the following foundational issues of good governance.

Implementation Process

Investment stewardship at Dimensional is a global effort supported by multiple teams. Dimensional’s stewardship efforts are overseen by the Investment Stewardship Committee of Dimensional Fund Advisors LP. This group of senior employees and directors, listed below, is chaired by the Head of Investment Stewardship and includes members of Dimensional’s Portfolio Management, Executive, and Compliance teams, and members of Dimensional’s Board of Directors.[3] The Investment Stewardship Committee, a subcommittee of the Investment Committee of Dimensional Fund Advisors LP, is responsible for developing our policies and approach to investment stewardship, which are then executed by the Investment Stewardship Group in coordination with other groups.

GLOBAL STEWARDSHIP IMPLEMENTATION[4]

The Investment Committee: Responsible for setting Dimensional’s proxy voting policy and guidelines for voting and overseeing each Dimensional entity’s proxy voting process.

The Investment Stewardship Committee: Responsible for recommending changes to Dimensional’s proxy voting policy, considering complex proxy voting cases, and overseeing the Investment Stewardship Group.

Dedicated Investment Stewardship and Responsible Investment Staff: The Investment Stewardship Group implements stewardship efforts by conducting engagements, instructing proxy votes, and making recommendations to the Investment Stewardship Committee on potential enhancements to the firm’s stewardship policies, procedures, and operations. The Responsible Investment Team is responsible for coordinating Dimensional’s firmwide ESG investment strategy across areas such as sustainability product design, data, ESG regulatory requirements, ESG research, and ESG thought leadership.

Stewardship-Focused Portfolio Management Professionals: Cross-functional portfolio management staff offer support and insight into region-specific investment and client considerations that may impact our stewardship activities.

Dimensional’s proxy voting policy is principles-based, setting out our views on certain governance practices and providing the framework by which Dimensional analyzes key proposal types. However, a fund’s or account’s investment strategy can impact voting determinations. For portfolios that incorporate social or sustainability considerations in their design, or if otherwise instructed by clients, Dimensional applies proxy voting guidelines that specifically address matters that are deemed to be related to those considerations. The social and sustainability guidelines generally follow Dimensional’s standard set of guidelines on other matters.

When voting (or refraining from voting) proxies, Dimensional seeks to act in the best interests of its clients. We seek to maximize shareholder value, subject to the standards of legal and regulatory regimes that are applicable to Dimensional or the client, and any particular investment or voting guidelines of specific funds or accounts. In addition to voting activities, the Investment Stewardship Group may engage with portfolio companies directly to understand their perspective on a particular topic or to provide our point of view.[5] Engagement can take the form of meetings and calls with board directors and company executives or written letters. Each year, Dimensional identifies focused stewardship topics and may conduct letter campaigns to engage with a broader set of portfolio companies and pinpoint opportunities for additional engagement on these key issues.

The Investment Stewardship Group may consider news and other developments that might affect portfolio companies when undertaking stewardship activities. As part of our risk management process, we monitor daily the securities in our eligible universe for reports of potential involvement in significant controversies, including ESG-related controversies. If we believe that these controversies are likely to have a material impact on a portfolio company’s financials, Portfolio Management may temporarily exclude the portfolio company from purchase, and the Investment Stewardship Group may follow up on this controversy with engagement.

To keep track of upcoming general meetings and execute votes on behalf of clients, Dimensional retains certain third-party proxy service providers, though we remain responsible for proxy voting decisions. The Investment Stewardship Group may conduct its own independent research, gather additional data, and engage with a portfolio company’s board or its management, if needed, before coming to a decision.

Outcomes for Shareholders

The goal of our approach to stewardship is to effectively use engagement and voting to protect and enhance shareholder value. Stewardship is an important element of our investment process and commitment to our clients, and the following sections summarize notable activities and examples of stewardship work conducted by Dimensional’s team during the proxy year

Investment Stewardship Activities

(July 1, 2024–June 30, 2025)

Dimensional’s investment stewardship efforts seek to improve governance practices at portfolio companies in a way that we believe may protect and enhance shareholder value. The following statistics provide a broad overview of Dimensional’s engagement and proxy voting activities during the proxy year.

Global Engagement: 743 Engagements.[6]

Global Proxy Voting: 23,275 Meetings Voted & 193,134 Proposals Voted.

Company Engagements

Dimensional engages with portfolio companies to better understand their governance practices and if their practices are consistent with our support of strong corporate governance.

Proxy Voting

Dimensional votes (or refrains from voting) proxies at shareholder meetings globally to hold boards and management of portfolio companies accountable to shareholders and promote governance best practices.

VOTING AND ENGAGEMENT CASE STUDY

1 “Dimensional,” “our,” “us,” or “we” may refer to the Dimensional separate but affiliated entities generally, rather than one particular entity. These entities are Dimensional Fund Advisors LP, Dimensional Fund Advisors Ltd., DFA Australia Limited, Dimensional Fund Advisors Canada ULC, Dimensional Fund Advisors Pte. Ltd., Dimensional Ireland Limited, and Dimensional Japan Ltd.(go back)

2 Dimensional from time to time may discuss governance matters with portfolio companies to represent client interests; however, regardless of such conversations, Dimensional acquires securities on behalf of its clients solely for the purpose of investment and not with the purpose or intended effect of changing or influencing the control of any portfolio company.(go back)

3 Board of Directors of the general partner of Dimensional Fund Advisors LP.(go back)

4 Headcount and locations as of June 30, 2025.(go back)

5 Dimensional from time to time discusses governance matters with portfolio companies to represent client interests; however, regardless of such conversations, Dimensional acquires securities on behalf of its clients solely for the purpose of investment and not with the purpose or intended effect of changing or influencing the control of any portfolio company.(go back)

6 Includes calls with portfolio companies and dissident and shareholder proponents.(go back)

7 Engagements may cover multiple topics. Total number of topical discussions will exceed total number of portfolio company discussions due to many discussions covering multiple stewardship topics. Categories based on SEC Form N-PX. See “Appendix: Form N-PX Voting Categories” for additional details. Compensation category includes the following N-PX categories: Compensation; and Section 14A say-on-pay. Oversight of Environmental and Social Risks includes the following N-PX categories: Environment or climate; Other social issues; Diversity, equity, and inclusion; and Human rights or human capital/workforce. Compensation and Oversight of Environmental and Social Risks as represented above remove duplicate engagement counts. Categories without data, such as investment company matters and other, are not included.(go back)

8 Categories based on SEC Form N-PX. See “Appendix: Form N-PX Voting Categories” for additional details. Proposals may cover multiple categories. Compensation category includes the following N-PX categories: Compensation; and Section 14A say-on-pay. Oversight of Environmental and Social Risks includes the following N-PX categories: Environment or climate; Other social issues; Diversity, equity, and inclusion; and Human rights or human capital/workforce. Categories with fewer than 10 votes are not represented above.(go back)