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ADF, Inspire Investing call on 100 Fortune 1000 companies to be transparent on viewpoint diversity

New companies surveyed include Disney, Netflix, Lyft, Uber, Verizon, Progressive Insurance

Tuesday, Aug 30, 2022

WASHINGTON – As part of an ongoing Viewpoint Diversity Score initiative, Alliance Defending Freedom and collaborating partner Inspire Investing last week invited 100 companies on the Fortune 1000 list to participate in the survey component of the upcoming 2023 Business Index.

Corporations have until Nov. 18 to respond to the survey, which accounts for at least 21 index criteria. Many more of the over 40 total questions that comprise the index are scored partially based on company-provided disclosures.

“Leaders of corporations are quick to tout their transparency on a host of ESG issues and other politically motivated indexes produced by left-wing interest groups. We should all expect equal transparency from corporations when it comes to their respect for religious and viewpoint diversity,” said ADF Senior Counsel and Senior Vice President for Corporate Engagement Jeremy Tedesco. “These factors are important to every American no matter their political or religious beliefs—and that’s even more urgent when it comes to companies that control access to essential business services. Shareholders, employees, and consumers want to know whether corporations are providing impartial access to these services or becoming tools of cancel culture. Filling out this survey is an important step toward gaining that understanding.”

Survey questions explore topics such as respect and accommodation for employees with diverse ideological and religious beliefs, vendor and contractor policies, charitable giving policies, public advocacy practices on hot-button social issues, and more.

Released in May, the inaugural Business Index is the first comprehensive benchmark designed to measure corporate respect for religious and ideological diversity in the market, workplace, and public square. The index focuses on industries that have the greatest potential to impact free speech and religious freedom. These include industries that provide essential banking, payment processing, and cloud services, or that serve as platforms for third-party expression in the digital space.

Many of the companies are household names, like Meta (Facebook, Instagram, etc.), Twitter, and Bank of America. The current survey is also soliciting responses from Disney, Netflix, Lyft, Uber, Verizon, and Progressive Insurance, among new companies added to the list. Along with scoring companies, Viewpoint Diversity Score also provides them with workable solutions through model policies, research, toolkits, polling, and constructive dialogue.

“There are millions of shareholders, consumers, and employees who feel left behind by corporate America,” said Inspire Investing CEO Robert Netzly, whose Christian investing and financial technology firm informs investment decisions on billions of dollars around the globe. “Corporate leaders have a golden opportunity to reassure each of these key groups that they are doing their part to preserve the foundational freedoms that make a thriving marketplace possible.”

Find out more about Viewpoint Diversity Score and the 2022 Business Index, including the results and methodology, at www.viewpointdiversityscore.org.

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.

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ABOUT Jeremy Tedesco

Jeremy Tedesco serves as senior counsel and senior vice president of corporate engagement for Alliance Defending Freedom. In this role, Tedesco leads ADF’s efforts to combat corporate cancel culture and build a business ethic that respects free speech, religious freedom, and human dignity. Immediately preceding his current role, Tedesco served as senior vice president for communications, during which time he was a lead convener of the Philadelphia Statement, a movement dedicated to restoring free speech and civil discourse. Previously, Tedesco litigated First Amendment cases at the highest levels. He was part of the legal team that represented cake artist Jack Phillips in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission before the U.S. Supreme Court and argued Phillips’ case at the Colorado Court of Appeals. He was also the lead brief writer in two other U.S. Supreme Court wins, Reed v. Town of Gilbert and Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn. Tedesco has also argued six times before five different federal appellate courts and founded and directed the ADF Center for Conscience Initiatives, where he led efforts to protect individuals from government-coerced speech. Tedesco earned his Juris Doctor in 2004 from the Regent University School of Law.