As You Know is a data-centered affiliate of As You Sow, a left-of-center advocacy organization that engages in shareholder action to force companies to adopt various left-of-center positions and practices known by the term “corporate social responsibility.” As You Know uses As You Sow’s 30 years of left-of-center environmental, social, and governance principles (ESG)-themed data gathered from over 3,000 companies to provide quarterly and custom reports to business and academic clients in order to help clients achieve ESG-related goals. ^{1 2}

Activities

As You Know is a company that curates data using an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered platform to help clients and companies improve the implementation of left-of-center ESG principles. As You Know is the sole licensor of data from its affiliate organization, As You Sow, and aims to provide its clients curated data and actionable insights drawn from As You Sow’s 30 years of data gathered from over 3,000 companies. ^{3 4}

As You Know provides quarterly or custom reports focused on financial data and the ESG impact of clients’ investments with the goal of helping clients make investment decisions that align with their values and risk preferences. ⁵ The organization claims that ESG data can help organizations achieve sustainable growth that achieves profitability while attaining left-of-center environmentalist goals; can help organizations achieve their racial justice and equality goals; and can help organizations identify and mitigate environmental, social, and equality risk factors guided by “racial justice and DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] metrics.” ⁶

For business partners, As You Know aims to deliver data to help clients enter markets find market opportunities and alter business strategies to align with ESG goals. ⁷

For academic clients, As You Know aims to help universities shape curricula in line with ESG principles and support ESG-related academic research. ⁸

In January 2024, As You Sow issued a report based on data from As You Know claiming ethnically diverse business management outperforms non-ethnically diverse management on eight financial metrics. In the report, authors claimed Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of Twitter (known since 2023 as “X”), was antisemitic and racist in part for his opposition to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. ^{9 10}

Clients and Partners

As You Know has both business and academic clients and partners. Clients and partners include Griffith University, As You Sow, Rice University, Georgia Tech, Texas A&M University, DePaul University, University of Oregon, Concordia University’s John Molson School of Business, Princeton University, Claremont Graduate University, Proxy Impact, Kataly Foundation, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Natixis Investment Managers, Bailard, Xponance, Everest Consulting, Promarium, and Hong Kong Baptist University. ¹¹

People

The CEO of As You Know is Mersiha “Meri” Podzic. ¹² Podzic was previously a contract communications specialist at the United Nations’ Office on Drugs and Crime’s Programme to End Violence Against Children. She was also previously a contract communications consultant for the World Bank, a freelance communications consultation at International Press Institute, and the co-founder of Claim.Impact, an organization devoted to gender equity and ESG. ¹³

Board members of As You Know include Andrew Behar and Brady Quirk-Garvan. Behar is the board chair and president and is also the CEO of As You Sow. Quirk-Garden was previously the chairman of the Charleston County Democratic Party and is a South Carolina advisor on the presidential re-election campaign of President Joe Biden. ^{14 15}

Relationship with As You Sow

As You Know is the exclusive data licensor of As You Sow. As You Sow is also the majority shareholder of As You Know. ¹⁶

Funding

According to tax filings, As You Know received $67,664 in cash payments from As You Sow in 2022. As You Know received $8,000 of that total as a gift, grant, or capital contribution and $59,664 if that total as a reimbursement for expenses. ¹⁷

1. “As You Know.” As You Know. Accessed March 26, 2024. https://asyouknow.com/.
2. “Merisha Causevic Podzic.” LinkedIn. Accessed March 26, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mericp/.
3. “As You Know.” As You Know. Accessed March 26, 2024. https://asyouknow.com/.
4. “Merisha Causevic Podzic.” LinkedIn. Accessed March 26, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mericp/.
5. “As You Know.” As You Know. Accessed March 26, 2024. https://asyouknow.com/.
6. “As You Know.” As You Know. Accessed March 26, 2024. https://asyouknow.com/.
7. “Commercial.” As You Know. Accessed March 26, 2024. https://asyouknow.com/clients/commercial/.
8. “Academic Institutions.” As You Know. Accessed March 26, 2024. https://asyouknow.com/clients/commercial/
9. Behar, Andrew and Meredith Benton.” As You Sow. January 25, 2024. Accessed March 26, 2024. https://www.asyousow.org/blog/musk-says-dei-is-racist-cuban-says-its-good-business-heres-the-data.
10. “As You Know.” As You Know. Accessed March 26, 2024. https://asyouknow.com/.
11.  “As You Know.” As You Know. Accessed March 26, 2024. https://asyouknow.com/.
12. “As You Know.” As You Know. Accessed March 26, 2024. https://asyouknow.com/.
13. “Merisha Causevic Podzic.” LinkedIn. Accessed March 26, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mericp/.
14. “Brady Quirk-Garvan.” LinkedIn. Accessed March 26, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradyqg/.
15. “As You Know.” As You Know. Accessed March 26, 2024. https://asyouknow.com/.
16. “As You Know.” As You Know. Accessed March 26, 2024. https://asyouknow.com/.
17. As You Sow. Return of an Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990). 2022.