As You Sow
The nation's leading non-profit shareholder advocate, changing corporations for good
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Dear John,

In wake of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of police and the nation-wide uprisings, many corporations are making statements supporting racial equity. Some are saying the right things. Some are hiding their words on rarely visited web pages. Some are remaining silent.
 
Words are easy. Ensuring that people of color are hired, paid, promoted, and retained equitably is less so. Black Lives Matter is the largest social movement in the history of this country. We cannot allow the corporate response to be merely perfunctory or missing altogether. We must compel action.
 
Compelling corporate action is what As You Sow does, through original research, direct corporate engagement, shareholder resolutions, and other tactics — in fact, Ethos named us the #1 Top Corporate Watchdog for 2020. We’re launching a Racial Justice initiative to refuse to allow corporations to be silent, or to get away with statements not backed by real progress. To hold corporations accountable.
 
Will you join us?
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We’re starting by gathering data from 1,000 of the nation’s biggest corporations. We’ll analyze it from multiple angles, use it to separate leaders from laggards, and make it public in a Scorecard. Then we’ll hold the laggards accountable.
 
Right now, we’re gathering the raw data. We don’t have any funding to do this work — we’re launching it because it’s necessary and because we can’t stand idly by when our expertise can move the needle.  
 
Will you help us compel corporations to move swiftly toward a just work environment?
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We’re going deep and paying attention to the details, as we always do. There won’t be any wiggle room for corporations to say one thing publicly and take no action privately, or to stay silent in the face of this imperative.
 
Black Lives Matter. Corporations’ response to the racial justice imperative matters too. Today, you can help make sure corporations step up and do the right thing.
 
Thanks for all you do.

For the future,
 
Andrew Behar
CEO

P.S. We've got help shaping this work. The Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr., President & Founder of Hip Hop Caucus, is advising us, along with Patience Marime-Ball, CEO of Women of the World Endowment, and Dr. Michael Dorsey, a founding partner of IberSun Solar and Member of the Club of Rome.​​​​​​​ 

P.P.S. Some of the details we’re analyzing for each corporation are whether, how, and where they’ve made a public statement; explicit statements of being antiracist; concrete actions; plans for future support; and commitment to racial justice and equity. We’re analyzing the statements’ language and content for key terms such as systemic racism, Black Lives Matter, and the names of victims of police violence. We’re assessing whether the CEO and the Board of Directors have acknowledged a personal corporate responsibility for racial disparities within their organization. We’re examining whether companies have established or are establishing internal processes to overcome diversity disparities in hiring, recruitment, and retention policies, in their own company and throughout their supply chains; and whether they’re engaging in targeted racialized marketing. We will evaluate companies on their monetary, political, and material investment in the racial justice movement moving forward.

P.P.P.S. Have you checked out Prison Free Funds ([link removed]) yet? It’s As You Sow’s latest Invest Your Values tool, screening mutual funds for companies profiting from mass incarceration and private prisons. Always freely available on our website, under the “Our Work” tab.



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As You Sow

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DISCLAIMER: As You Sow is not an investment advisor, nor do we provide financial planning, legal or tax advice. The content of our programming, publications and presentations is provided for informational and educational purposes only, and should not be considered as information sufficient upon which to base any decisions on investing, purchases, sales, trades, or any other investment transactions. We do not express an opinion on the future or expected value of any security or other interest and do not explicitly or implicitly recommend or suggest an investment strategy of any kind.

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