WASHINGTON, D.C. — 1792 Exchange today renewed its call on major American corporations to fully dissociate from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) following the U.S. Department of Justice’s indictment of the SPLC for secretly funneling more than $3 million to members of extremist groups—the very organizations the SPLC claims to oppose.
The DOJ’s indictment reveals the SPLC’s alleged scheme went far deeper: funneling millions to white supremacist and extremist members while profiting from fearmongering about the very threats it helped sustain. This follows the FBI’s earlier decision to terminate its relationship with the SPLC.
Sadly, many companies have supported and continue to support the SPLC both directly and indirectly. It is high time for this to stop.
“Corporate America must fully and wholeheartedly disassociate from this disgraced and now indicted organization, Southern Poverty Law Center,” said Douglas Napier, CEO of 1792 Exchange. “The DOJ’s indictment exposes the SPLC’s hypocrisy at the highest level: secretly funding the very extremists it uses to smear peaceful American organizations and raise millions from corporate donors. No responsible company should continue any support of, or association with, the SPLC.”
The SPLC’s “hate” labels have long been condemned as partisan tools designed to marginalize dissenting viewpoints. Mainstream organizations such as Turning Point USA and the Family Research Council have been falsely branded “hate groups,” despite operating lawfully and peacefully. These designations have had deadly real-world consequences, including the 2012 armed attack on the Family Research Council, where the perpetrator explicitly cited the SPLC’s website as his reason for targeting the group.
Many major US corporations have previously partnered with or donated to the SPLC. These include:
- Apple, where CEO Tim Cook announced in 2017 that the company would donate $1 million to the SPLC and create an in-app donation tool for employees that would be matched by Apple 2 to 1.
- JPMorgan Chase, which pledged $500,000 to the SPLC to support tracking and fighting “hate groups” as part of a larger commitment following the events in Charlottesville in 2017.
- Cisco, which donated $1.6 million to help the SPLC launch their tolerance.org website that hosted the SLPC “hate map” and information about SLPC-identified “hate groups.”
- Amazon, Google, and Twitter, which partnered with the SPLC to help identify and address “hate speech” on their platforms.
1792 Exchange calls on these companies, and all others with past or existing ties, to publicly distance themselves from the SPLC, remove any references to its data from policies and platforms, and cease all financial or operational partnerships.
One key area of SPLC’s ongoing influence is through Benevity, a major corporate charitable giving platform. Benevity’s platform processes billions of dollars in employee donations and corporate matching gifts annually. Benevity has implemented a default filter for companies using their platform that relies on the SPLC’s discredited “Hate Map” and “Hate List” to unfairly disqualify nonprofits. This ongoing reliance allows a now-indicted activist organization to dictate corporate philanthropy, silencing mainstream religious, conservative, pro-life, and family advocacy groups while permitting ideologically aligned organizations to receive support.
Companies using Benevity should contact their Benevity representative and demand that it immediately and entirely cut ties with SPLC. If Benevity refuses, companies should stop using their software. This viewpoint discrimination has blocked employee donations to lawful, worthwhile nonprofit organizations while allowing groups aligned with the SPLC – and the SPLC itself – to receive donations without issue.
1792 Exchange has recently expanded its Activist Filter in its Corporate Bias Ratings to flag companies continuing to use Benevity for their employee giving programs. More than 200 of the Fortune 1000 companies have been identified for partnering with Benevity. This highlights the heightened risk to shareholder value when corporations outsource moral and charitable decisions to activist groups.
1792 Exchange is urging all corporations take immediate action by:
- Fully disassociating from the Southern Poverty Law Center and removing any reference to its data or “hate” designations from internal policies, vendor contracts, and philanthropy platforms;
- Contacting Benevity and demanding it immediately eliminate the SPLC “hate filter” and end its relationship with the disgraced organization.
- Adopting viewpoint-neutral charitable-giving solutions that evaluate nonprofits based on lawful compliance, financial transparency, and mission integrity, not political ideology.
“Corporate America must choose: stand with an organization now facing federal indictment for
allegedly funding extremism, or return to neutrality and protect the free expression of all
employees,” Napier added. “The time for half-measures is over. Full disassociation from the SPLC is the only responsible path forward.”
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1792 Exchange – America’s leading provider of actionable data on corporate bias – is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that advances free speech, free exercise, and free enterprise by steering companies back to neutral on ideological issues.