Lowe's - 1792 Exchange

Rating Overview

Lowe’s is Medium Risk.

Lowe’s is Medium Risk. The company 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. Lowe’s 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	Lower Risk
Discriminatory Philanthropy	High Risk
Employment Protection	High Risk

Corporate Weaponization ⓘ

Corporate Governance and Public Policy Risk Levels
Criteria	Risk Level
Advocacy Bias	Medium 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:

Lower

Rationale:

Lowe’s has not publicly canceled customers, suppliers, or vendors based on political views or religious beliefs (1).

Criteria:

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

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

Lowe’s likely uses Benevity as its charitable giving platform. Benevity vets charities according to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Hate List, which includes mainstream libertarian, conservative, family, and religious advocacy organizations (1)(2)(3).

Criteria:

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

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

Lowe’s advocated for critical race theory training, teaching employees to apologize for their inherent characteristics (1). The company offers unconscious bias training for its employees (2). Lowe’s does not provide viewpoint protections for its employees (3).

Corporate Governance and Public Policy

Criteria:

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

Risk Level:

Medium

Rationale:

Lowe’s CEO Marvin Ellison is a member of the Business Roundtable, which supports stakeholder capitalism over traditional shareholder obligations (1). The company’s CEO, Marvin Ellison, signed the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion pledge, which includes a commitment to promote DEI through bias education training in the workplace, strategize on DEI programs/initiatives with other signatories, and engage boards of directors when developing and evaluating DEI strategies (2)(3). Lowe’s also spoke out against HB2, the North Carolina “bathroom bill” passed by the state legislature (4). The company scored a 100 out of 100 on the 2023-2024 Corporate Equality Index (CEI) from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), a political stakeholder group (4)(5). However, in August 2024, the company pledged to shift some of its corporate policies and practices back to neutral. Lowe’s pledged to stop sponsoring nonbusiness activities, stop engaging with a political activist group, and end divisive employee resource groups. Lowe’s also disavowed diversity quotas and affirmed merit-based employment practices (6)(7)(8).

Criteria:

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

Risk Level:

Medium

Rationale:

Lowe’s had a history of giving to groups outside of its business interests. However, in August 2024, the company pledged to shift some of its corporate policies and practices back to neutral. Lowe’s pledged to stop sponsoring nonbusiness activities and focus all community and philanthropic giving to align with its business interests (1)(2)(3). The company ignored shareholders who proposed the company should start looking into the costs of providing abortion-related travel benefits to employees (4). Lowe’s is a coalition member of OneTen, appearing to prioritize diversity over merit in its hiring (5)(6)(7). Otherwise, there are no publicly known cases of the company using corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies (8).

Criteria:

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

Risk Level:

Lower

Rationale:

Lowe’s has donated to PACs outside of its business interests. However, in August 2024, the company pledged to shift some of its corporate policies and practices back to neutral. Lowe’s pledged to focus its giving to align with its business interests (1)(2)(3)(4). The company has not lobbied for ideological purposes (5).