TOMS - 1792 Exchange

Rating Overview

TOMS is Medium Risk.

TOMs 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. TOMs 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	Lower Risk
Employment Protection	High 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:

Lower

Rationale:

TOMS 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:

Lower

Rationale:

TOMS does not appear to discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or beliefs (1)(2).

Criteria:

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

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

TOMS does not provide viewpoint protections for its employees (1). TOMS staff is trained and potential hires are evaluated by the DEIA chair, and all employees are required to attend a two-day Anti-Racist learning (2). However, in 2022, the company removed DEIA training and language from its impact report. To date, the company has not publicly addressed these changes, leaving shareholders without clarity regarding the company’s reasoning or future direction (3).

Corporate Governance and Public Policy

Criteria:

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

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

TOMS has a Unity Collection that celebrates the LGBTQ+ community (1). The company’s CEO is signatory to CEOs for Gun Safety (2).

Criteria:

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

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

TOMS is a Bronze Tier corporate sponsor of the Trevor Project, an organization that advocates for controversial sex and gender ideology, including “gender transition” drugs and surgeries for minors, through legislation, litigation, advertising, and PR campaigns. The organization also hosts online chatrooms that allow adults to communicate with minors as young as 13 about sexually explicit topics. Adults in these chatrooms have encouraged minors to adopt transgender identities and withhold this information from their parents (1)(2)(3)(4)(5). TOMS created and sponsored, Brave Trails, an LGBTQ+ Leadership camp for youth (6). The company donates to the Los Angeles LGBT Center, Colors, and ProjectQ (7)(8). Additionally, in 2022, 19% of TOMS funds were donated to “ending gun violence” (9). In 2020, TOMS pledged a donation to Black Lives Matter and partners with multiple LGBTQ+ groups including AFFIRM and Colors (10)(11)(12). Otherwise, there are no publicly known cases of TOMS using corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies (13).