Inspire Brands - 1792 Exchange

Rating Overview

Inspire Brands is Medium Risk.

Inspire Brands often yields to political activism in shaping corporate governance, potentially alienating consumers, dividing employees, and harming shareholders. The company implements race and identity-based policies that replace merit, excellence, and integrity with preferential treatment and outcomes. Inspire Brands 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	Lower Risk
Employment Protection	High Risk

Corporate Weaponization ⓘ

Corporate Governance and Public Policy Risk Levels
Criteria	Risk Level
Advocacy Bias	High Risk
Funding	Medium Risk
Political Actions	Lower Risk

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:

Inspire Brands subsidiaries’, Dunkin’ and Baskin-Robbins, HRC 2023-2024 CEI rating indicates the company recruits employees based on sexual identity issues. The company discriminates against vendors that do not promote divisive sex and gender policies, indicating it prioritizes sexual issues over merit (1). Inspire Brands has begun to implement ESG into all of its business practices (2). Inspire Brands 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:

Lower

Rationale:

Inspire Brands and its subsidiaries focus their charitable giving on childhood hunger, youth leadership, and career readiness, and there is no written policy discriminating against faith-based organizations (1)(2).

Criteria:

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

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

Inspire Brands hosts unconscious bias trainings for employees (1). Inspire Brands does not have written policy to protect its employees from viewpoint discrimination (2).

Corporate Governance and Public Policy

Criteria:

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

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

Inspire Brands subsidiaries’, Dunkin’ and Baskin-Robins, HRC 2023-2024 CEI rating indicates the company agrees to allow a controversial stakeholder group focused on sexual identity issues to dictate marketing or advertising strategy. By doing so, the company risks dividing employees, alienating customers and harming shareholders (1)(2). The company Inspire Brands has integrated ESG into its business practices, including unconscious bias training (3)(4). Dunkin’ launched a line of Pride-themed merchandise (5).

Criteria:

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

Risk Level:

Medium

Rationale:

Dunkin’ created Pride Month gift cards that allow customers to donate to LGBTQ organizations when purchasing the Pride Month gift card (1). Dunkin’ Brands Foundation donated $30,000 to LGBTQ organizations, though the organizations are primarily focused on providing services such as food, education, and housing to at-risk youth (2). Otherwise, there are no publicly known cases of Inspire Brands using corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies (3).

Criteria:

Uses corporate political actions and/or financial contributions for ideological, non-business purposes.

Risk Level:

Lower

Rationale:

Inspire Brands and Dunkin’ have not used its PAC donations or lobbying for ideological purposes (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6).