Blend Labs - 1792 Exchange

Rating Overview

Blend Labs is Medium Risk.

Blend Labs often yields to political activism in shaping corporate governance, potentially alienating consumers, dividing employees, and harming shareholders. The company elevates merit, excellence, and integrity ahead of race and identity-based policies. Blend Labs occasionally embraces corporate initiatives that redirect its central focus from business goals to partisan policies and divisive issues at times. This approach fails to safeguard free exercise, free speech, and free enterprise.

Rating Criteria

Corporate Weaponization Risk Levels
Criteria	Risk Level
Cancellations	Medium Risk
Discriminatory Philanthropy	No Data
Employment Protection	Medium Risk

Corporate Weaponization ⓘ

Corporate Governance and Public Policy Risk Levels
Criteria	Risk Level
Advocacy Bias	High Risk
Funding	High Risk
Political Actions	No Data

Corporate Governance and Public Policy ⓘ

Rating Criteria Detail

Criteria Risk Level Rationale

Corporate Weaponization

Criteria:

Has canceled 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:

Medium

Rationale:

Blend Labs received a score of 55 on the 2025 Corporate Equality Index (CEI) from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), a political stakeholder group. The company recruits employees based on sexual identity issues, indicating it prioritizes sexual issues over merit (1)(2). Blend Labs has not publicly canceled customers, suppliers, or vendors based on political views or religious beliefs (3).

Criteria:

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

Risk Level:

N/A

Rationale:

Blend Labs does not publish charitable giving guidelines (1).

Criteria:

Employment policies fail to protect against viewpoint or other discrimination and/or are ideological in nature.

Risk Level:

Medium

Rationale:

Blend Labs does not provide viewpoint protections for its employees (1).

Corporate Governance and Public Policy

Criteria:

Uses corporate reputation to support causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

Blend hosted special programming for LGBTQ Pride month, including, “Allyship Beyond the Gender Binary (w/ Women@Blend); Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: 10 years later (w/ Blend Salutes); Techqueria: Intersecting Identities in Tech (w/ Blendísimo); Recoloring the Rainbow (w/ Black@Blend); and Parenting with Pride (w/ Parents@Blend)”. The company supports DEI within its business practices, employing a Diversity and Belonging Partner (1). Blend Labs General Counsel, Crystal Sumner, co-signed a letter to law firms demanding an improvement in diversity in order to retain business with the company (2).

Criteria:

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

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

Blend partners with the World Economic Forum and contributed a total of $100,000 to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Color of Change (1). Blend also partnered with Open House, which focuses on building community for LGBT seniors (2)(3). The company‘s HRC 2025 CEI rating indicates the company covers transgender related costs for its employees and their children, including paid short-term leave, puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, chest surgeries, genital surgeries, medical visits and lab monitoring, travel and lodging. By allowing a political stakeholder group to dictate operations, the company increases health care costs and risks dividing employees, alienating customers and harming shareholders (4)(5). Otherwise, there are no publicly known cases of Blend Labs using corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies 6).