The Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the educational arm of the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) civil rights organization, released its first-ever Corporate Citizenship Report, The LGBTQ+ Corporate Citizen: A Framework for Emerging Best Practices in Allyship. The new report offers guidance to companies that want to invest in closing the ally gap. The ally gap acknowledges that LGBTQ+ allyship is a journey and describes the space between the intent to be an LGBTQ+ ally and the actions needed to get there. HRC Foundation’s Corporate Citizenship Report is first-of-its-kind, providing in-depth insight, future-focused tips and real world examples for companies looking to put values of diversity, equity and inclusion into action across all their business operations – both internal and external, becoming leading LGBTQ+ corporate citizens.
In a challenging and dangerous political and cultural landscape for LGBTQ+ people, businesses are uniquely positioned to live out their stated values – and benefit their bottom lines – by activating their core business operations in service of inclusion and belonging. HRC Foundation’s Corporate Citizenship Report identifies six pillars of business operations where businesses can make significant impacts:
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Workforce
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Supply Chain
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Products & Services
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Marketing
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Corporate Philanthropy
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Advocacy & Political Engagement
Research shows a clear business case for being a leading LGBTQ+ corporate citizen. If a brand publicly supports and demonstrates a commitment to expanding and protecting LGBTQ+ rights, Americans of ALL ages are two times more likely to buy or use the brand. Research also shows that 71 percent of LGBTQ+ adults in the U.S. are more likely to buy products from companies that purposefully reach out to the LGBTQ+ community. The onus is on companies to lean into LGBTQ+ equality because by 2040, the proportion of Americans who identify as LGTBQ+ is projected to double. According to the HRC Foundation’s analysis of the 17th Annual LGBTQ+ Community Survey, over 80 percent of LGBTQ+ adults want companies to take a political stand to support transgender rights. This is about the current and future workforce as well: Workers are 4.5 times more likely to want to work at a company if it publicly supports and demonstrates a commitment to expanding and protecting LGBTQ+ rights.
Read the full Corporate Citizenship Report HERE.