Risks Associated with HRC Foundation Partnership

The Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRCF) is the educational and charitable affiliate of the Human Rights Campaign, operating as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. HRCF advances LGBTQ+ priorities through research, resources, benchmarking tools, programs, and public education intended to shape policies and practices across workplaces, municipalities, healthcare systems, schools, and other institutions.^1,2

• Administers an annual Corporate Equality Index (CEI), which evaluates companies based on workforce protections, benefits, culture, and outreach and engagement related to LGBTQ+ issues.^3–5
• Administers an annual Municipal Equality Index (MEI), which evaluates cities based on their non-discrimination laws, benefits, contractor standards, municipal services, law enforcement, and local leadership related to LGBTQ+ issues.^6–8
• Administers a biannual Healthcare Equality Index (HEI), which evaluates hospitals and healthcare facilities based on their training, patient services, employee benefits and policies, community engagement, and responsible citizenship related to LGBTQ+ issues.^9,10
• Operates a Welcoming Schools program that provides LGBTQ+ training, lesson plans, booklists, in-person training/programming, and other resources for youth-serving professionals to create “gender-inclusive” schools and support transgender and non-binary students.^11–15

Partisan Alignment Risk

• HRCF’s programs promote policy frameworks and institutional standards widely associated with progressive policy priorities.^16,17
• As a result, corporate support for HRCF may be perceived as alignment with a broader ideological agenda extending beyond nondiscrimination into highly contested issues such as gender identity.
• Partnering with an organization with progressive values may be viewed as partisan if support is not balanced by comparable partnerships with organizations aligned with conservative or traditional values.

Controversial Policy Advocacy

• HRCF’s LGBTQ+ programming extends into highly contested areas of policy across business, government, healthcare, and education.¹⁸
• This corporate partnership supports broad institutional reform rather than a narrow charitable commitment.
• Specifically, HRCF’s promotion of “affirming” policies and practices places it within active public controversies over gender identity.^19,20

Reputational & Stakeholder Risk

• As seen with Bud Light and Target, corporate association with highly contested LGBTQ+-related initiatives can contribute to a decline in sales, brand damage, consumer backlash, and investor concern.²¹

Governance & Confidentiality Risk

• Participation in HRCF benchmarking programs requires companies to submit non-public information for review and validation, creating governance, confidentiality, and reputational considerations.^22,23
• Corporate sponsorship of a group using public scorecards to shape institutional behavior may be perceived as alignment with its preferred policy priorities—and as allowing an external advocacy organization to unduly influence internal governance decisions.

Market & Peer Risk

• Since June 2024, 26 major companies—including several with perfect CEI scores and former HRCF partners—have publicly indicated they will no longer participate in external diversity surveys such as the CEI amid growing legal, political, and reputational pressure.²⁶

• HRC also notes that many companies withdrawing from CEI participation are federal contractors. This suggests concern that continued participation could create risk for federal contracts following recent Executive Orders and DOJ guidance addressing DEI and unlawful discrimination.^27–31