Virgin Group
Risk Level:
Summary:
Virgin Group has not terminated business relationships due to religious or political beliefs. Though company founder Richard Branson has been public in his support for LGBTQ agendas and his opposition to Donald Trump in pieces published on the company's site, Virgin Group has not used corporate dollars to support ideological organizations hostile to freedom of expression. The company does not discriminate against faith-based charities in its giving. For these reasons, Virgin Group receives a "Lower Risk" rating.
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.
Virgin Group has not publicly terminated business relationships due to religious or political beliefs.
Charitable giving (including employee matching programs) policies or practices discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or religious beliefs.
Virgin Unite, the charitable foundation of Virgin Group, does not have a written policy prohibiting donations to faith-based charities (1).
Employment policies fail to protect against discrimination based on political affiliation/views and/or religion.
Virgin Group does not protect employees from viewpoint discrimination (1).
Uses corporate reputation to support ideological causes and/or organizations hostile to freedom of expression.
Virgin Group founder Richard Branson issued a statement on the company website expressing his support for pro-choice policies (1). In another company site-published post from 2016, Richard Branson expressed his support for Hillary Clinton and opposition to Donald Trump in that year’s general election (2). The Virgin Unite site has urged users to support organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign and the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network and to oppose state-level LGBTQ bills in North Carolina and Mississippi (3).
Uses corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.
Virgin Group has not donated to any ideological organizations hostile to free expression (1).
Uses corporate political contributions for ideological, non-business purposes.
The only active PAC in the conglomerate is the PAC founded by Virgin Galactic, of which Virgin Group holds an 11.9% stake (1). Although the Virgin Galactic PAC has not made any contributions since 2018, the PAC has historically donated in a bipartisan manner in accordance with business interests (2).
All links were last accessed and all information was updated on:
December 22, 2022
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