3M

Minnesota
Capital Goods

Risk Level:

Rating - Caution
Medium Risk

Summary:

3M has not publicly terminated business relationships because of viewpoint disagreements. It does not discriminate against religious groups in its charitable giving or use corporate funds to advance an ideological agenda. However, 3M vets vendors for their LGBTQ protections and statements on gender identity. It also supports the Equality Act while failing to protect its own employees from potential viewpoint discrimination. For these reasons, 3M receives a "Medium Risk" rating.

Criteria
Risk Level
Rationale
Corporate Weaponization
Criteria

Has denied service to customers, suppliers, or vendors due to their political views or religious beliefs OR corporately boycotts, divests, or sanctions regions, people groups, or industries.

Risk Level
Rationale

3M has not publicly terminated business relationships due to religious beliefs or political views. The company received a score of 100 on the Corporate Equality Index from the Human Rights Campaign. Among other requirements, this means 3M has pledged to vet vendors based on LGBTQ policies (1)(2).

Criteria

Charitable giving (including employee matching programs) policies or practices discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or religious beliefs.

Risk Level
Rationale

3M donates through its volunteer matching program to “Public serving, independent, non-religiously affiliated programs of houses of worship/churches (examples include food shelves or private schools)” (1)(2). 3M also has a donation program for colleges and universities and permits donations to religiously-affiliated colleges and seminaries (3).

Criteria

Employment policies fail to protect against discrimination based on political affiliation/views and/or religion.

Risk Level
Rationale

3M does not protect its employees from viewpoint discrimination (1).

Corporate Governance and Public Policy
Criteria

Uses corporate reputation to support ideological causes and/or organizations hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level
Rationale

3M signed an open letter in support of the Equality Act (1). 3M, as a member of the Business Roundtable lobbyist group, issued a statement supporting the security of voting rights but did not sign the Business Roundtable’s open letter criticizing Georgia’s voting law (2). Otherwise, it has not used its corporate reputation to advance ideological agendas.

Criteria

Uses corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level
Rationale

3M has donated to social justice organizations and many other charitable causes, but it does not fund ideological causes or organizations hostile to freedom of expression (1)(2)(3).

Criteria

Uses corporate political contributions for ideological, non-business purposes.

Risk Level
Rationale

3M used to donate in a bipartisan manner consistent with its business interests but temporarily suspended all donations to federal candidates (1)(2). 3M has recently resumed donations through its PAC (3).

All links were last accessed and all information was updated on:
March 21, 2023

Company reports are intended for educational use only. Full Disclaimer

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