1792 Insights - 1792 Exchange

Faith-Aligned Investors, Big Tech, and the Fight Against Child Exploitation

July 8, 2026

Some advocates say investors shouldn’t underestimate shareholders’ ability to sway a company’s views. Dustin DeVito is the director of research at the nonprofit 1792 Exchange, which encourages corporations to promote free speech, freedom of religion, and free enterprise. He said company executives sometimes aren’t aware of what’s happening down in the trenches of their businesses’ day-to-day operations, and all they may need is for shareholders to bring a concern to their attention. “When issues are being voted on at a company’s annual general meeting, if you have shares in a company, you have a vote,” explained DeVito. “If you have shares, you have the ability to get in touch with investor relations … [and] have those conversations with the executives.” DeVito also said that CSAM is a new part of the social discussion—one that companies don’t have decades of experience dealing with. “People have not really been taking this seriously or talking about it in a comprehensive way until very recently,” DeVito said. “So just based on just where these companies have been over the past few years, I think there really is a chance for people to have direct engagements with the executives.” The full article can be found …

1792 Exchange applauds the meaningful progress at Charles Schwab

July 8, 2026

Inspire Investing deserves strong credit for years of dedicated corporate engagement and a broader commitment to policies that advance human dignity, viewpoint diversity, and long-term shareholder value. Inspire began engaging Schwab in 2023, constructively raising key issues around political neutrality, employee benefits, and workplace culture. Their persistence helped bring these matters forward and supported productive, ongoing dialogue with the company. We especially commend Charles Schwab for their action to stop covering medical gender interventions for minors and to exit the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index. The company confirmed to Inspire that its current self-insured health plan, as well as third-party administered plans available to employees, no longer cover gender-transition surgeries or pharmaceutical treatments for minors. Schwab has also ceased participation in the HRC’s index. These steps reflect strong leadership in refocusing on core business priorities rather than ideological agendas. The company further clarified that religious organizations remain eligible for its employee gift-matching program. Based on these developments, Inspire withdrew its shareholder proposal. Schwab is to be applauded as only the second major company we know to publicly taking this step to protect minors (after Walmart). We know other companies have taken or are considering taking similar action, and we encourage …

The Full CEI Equality 100 List

July 8, 2026

A verified 100 on HRC’s Corporate Equality Index means the employer has adopted every policy on the Human Rights Campaign’s checklist. To score 100, an employer must, among other things, cover gender-transition procedures in its health plans with no exclusions (including minor dependents). HRC can also strip points for any activity it deems to “undermine” LGBTQ+ equality. The CEI is voluntary. Companies choose to log into the HRC portal and submit public and private company documents for a rating. The HRC expands the criteria every few years, meaning a 100 over time indicates continual adoption of new policies and practices it introduces. A&O Shearman Attentive Mobile Inc. Avita Care Solutions Box Inc. ClearView Healthcare Partners Factor Systems, LLC dba Billtrust Griffith Foods Group Inc. The Hanover Insurance Group Inc. Hitachi Digital Services Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey Linklaters Mayer Brown LLP MERGE Moderna Inc. Neuberger Berman Group LLC NTT DATA Services, LLC PGA TOUR, Inc. PointClickCare Technologies Inc. Publicis Health RBC Capital Markets RBC Wealth Management Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC Steptoe LLP Sutherland Global Services Inc. List based on data from Human Rights Campaign as of July 8, 2026.

The Covenant of American Commerce

June 30, 2026

Dear Friends and Partners, As America approaches the 250th anniversary of its founding this week, we celebrate not just an enduring nation, but the extraordinary idea that free people, under limited government and the rule of law, can build unmatched prosperity and human flourishing, with much of this flowing from the innovative outputs of free enterprise and capitalism. This Independence Day, the Buttonwood Brief reflects on what it truly means to be an American company at a moment when that identity matters more than ever. What does it mean to be an American company? Is it simply a matter of geography – the state of incorporation, headquarters location, domestic headcount, and where taxes are paid? Location and legal domicile are merely a starting point, not the defining standard. A company can be incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in New York, yet still offshore American jobs, restrict the lawful speech of its employees, promote un-American causes that alienate customers, and treat its duties to the nation and its people as expenses to be minimized. To be an American company is to be heir to a tradition as old as the republic itself — the belief that commerce, when rightly ordered, is one of the most …

Mayer Brown Report Obscures Declining Support for ESG

June 26, 2026

Earlier this month, the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance published an article by authors from Mayer Brown LLP analyzing ESG and anti-ESG shareholder proposals in the 2026 proxy season. The article frames anti-ESG proposals as merely “critical of” or “question[ing] the value of” ESG policies, rather than explaining the serious legal, financial, and reputational risks raised by these proposals. To be sure, anti-ESG advocates face a steep climb in securing majority support. According to the article, anti-ESG proposals received an average of just 1.7% support in the 2026 proxy season, and no anti-ESG shareholder proposal has ever passed. But focusing only on that figure obscures an important story in the data, namely, the declining support for ESG. For the first time in many years, no ESG-related shareholder proposal received majority support during the 2025–2026 proxy season. This continues a broader trend of waning investor enthusiasm for ESG, also reflected in continued outflows from ESG-related funds. At the same time, anti-ESG proposals continue to increase in number, signaling that shareholder concerns over ESG-related risks are not going away. The 1792 Exchange is proud to equip shareholders with data on corporate behavior they can use to encourage companies to get back to business. Rather than focusing …

Corporations must SPLC-proof their charitable giving processes

June 26, 2026

Originally published in The Hill Washington recently turned the spotlight once again upon the Southern Poverty Law Center. In a recent House Judiciary Committee hearing, lawmakers examined allegations about the organization, questioned its leadership under oath, and scrutinized claims that it funneled money to extremists while simultaneously portraying itself as the foremost authority on extremism and hate. The hearing marked one of the highest-profile public examinations of the SPLC in its history and brought renewed national attention to allegations that continue to reverberate through corporate America. The Southern Poverty Law Center has long positioned itself as a fearless guardian against a flood of hate supposedly drowning the nation. It has nurtured this image so effectively that mainstream media, the political class (up to and including the Biden White House), celebrities, and corporate America have consumed and regurgitated its materials for decades, passing them off as true or at least authoritative. But, as it turns out, the organization itself was running the faucet that was the source of the “flood.” A federal grand jury in Alabama recently indicted the organization on multiple counts, exposing an alleged web of deceit that included wire fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Prosecutors allege that the …