Posted on March 8, 2021
Center for Disaster Philanthropy COVID-19 Response Fund: A Year in Review and a Look Forward
The global COVID-19 pandemic has affected us all, although not equally. As the United States mourns the deaths of more than 500,000 of its population due to the COVID-19 virus, we solemnly consider the past year of tragedy, loss and survival, while also looking forward with hope and a sense of community.
We saw many of our friends, neighbors, families and communities come together for each other. At Center for Disaster Philanthropy, we saw unparalleled generosity from our donors and vital life-saving work from our grantee partners. And yet, as the pandemic continues and the impact on lives and livelihood mount, there is much work to be done.
Early response to COVID-19
The CDP COVID-19 Response Fund has become the largest pooled fund CDP has ever managed at nearly $42 million. As a result of gifts from more than 8,000 donors, we have granted $21.8 million to 137 organizations in the U.S. and abroad through January 2021.
Since its founding, CDP has prioritized mid- to long-term recovery following disasters. Yet, we knew that providing organizations with the resources to educate, inform, provide for basic needs and prevent the spread of COVID-19 was critical in mitigating long-term recovery from the pandemic. So we made our first grants just as we began to see the pandemic’s effects on the world.
Now, our grantmaking moves to support recovery from the pandemic. But what does “global recovery” look like? What will be our focus as vaccines are approved and distributed?
Evolving impact of COVID-19 on communities worldwide
The economic impact of social distancing, social isolation and stay-at-home orders has far-reaching implications for working people, especially those with already limited resources and those who rely on a gig economy.
Job losses, the closing of businesses and limited access to basic needs and other resources continue to be critical challenges, even as communities reopen. Some are being forced to shut down again as outbreaks and virus mutations continue.
Refugee camps, homeless camps or shelters, informal urban settlements or any place with high occupancy in enclosed areas where social isolation protocols are near-impossible continue to experience devastating effects and are at greater risk for viral transmission.
Vaccines are now available, but getting those vaccines to enough of the population to control the virus will take time, particularly in locations most difficult to reach.
“This past year has been one of uncertainty and heartbreak. But we must be steadfast in our commitment to helping one another –sometimes simply being there for one another – even if being “there” is a bit different…We appreciate CREDO, its subscribers and the many donors who have contributed to the CDP COVID-19 Response Fund for putting their trust in us to do what we can to support a global recovery.”
Our approach
The CDP team examines who has the greatest needs, what the needs are and where needs are greatest.
In the U.S., it is clear that immigrants, refugees, communities of color and low-income communities are the most affected by the pandemic – as is the case in all disasters. We seek to fund organizations that advocate for these populations and those providing direct support for them.
We are committed to mobilizing our resources to create real, transformative change by listening, learning, understanding and investing in organizations led by Black, Indigenous and other leaders of color.
Supporting COVID-19 Recovery in 2021
The CDP COVID-19 Response Fund is now focusing on addressing the following issue areas worldwide:
- Mental health: Psycho-social support is a major priority as the pandemic, alongside multiple disasters affecting our communities, has caused layered trauma.
- Physical health: We will support communications about the virus and vaccines to combat disinformation and misinformation and equitable vaccine distribution so that even those populations most challenging to reach will have access.
- Economic impact: We will provide for basic needs as we continue to see economic uncertainty, food insecurity, homelessness and job loss.
- Health care systems: We will support health care systems to enable them to provide prevention and treatment for the virus.
- Most affected populations: We will support efforts that mobilize and amplify the voices of communities and populations most devastated by the pandemic to improve their access to resources.
Appreciation and hope
This past year has been one of uncertainty and heartbreak. But we must be steadfast in our commitment to helping one another – sometimes simply being there for one another – even if being “there” is a bit different.
We’ve seen this commitment in the creative ways teachers have managed remote learning, and friends and families have celebrated events together but apart.
We’ve seen this in the financial commitment from donors like Dolly Parton, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and others who helped ensure vaccines were developed quickly and will be shipped and shared universally.
We appreciate CREDO, its subscribers and the many donors who have contributed to the CDP COVID-19 Response Fund for putting their trust in us to do what we can to support a global recovery.
And, as we wait our turn for a vaccine, we will continue to support one another by remaining committed TOGETHER – masked up and from a distance of at least six feet apart.
Posted on March 4, 2021
Vote for Amazon Watch, Center for Disaster Philanthropy and UltraViolet this March
Every month, CREDO members vote to distribute our monthly donation to three incredible progressive causes – and every vote makes a difference. This March, you can support climate justice, disaster relief and women’s rights by voting to fund Amazon Watch, Center for Disaster Philanthropy and UltraViolet.
Amazon Watch
For 25 years, Amazon Watch has worked to protect the Amazon rainforest and advance Indigenous rights in solidarity with Indigenous and environmental organizations in campaigns for human rights, corporate accountability and climate justice.
With support from CREDO, Amazon Watch will step up its COVID-19 rapid-response for Indigenous peoples in the Amazon, elevate Indigenous women’s voices, and demand climate justice.
Center for Disaster Philanthropy
Center for Disaster Philanthropy is the only full-time national resource dedicated to maximizing disaster-related giving. CDP leverages the power of philanthropy to mobilize resources that strengthen communities’ ability to withstand disasters and recover from them equitably.
Full disaster recovery takes years, and many of those most affected don’t have the resources to rebuild. A donation from CREDO members will fund housing, health care, mental health support and other long-term community needs caused by a disaster.
UltraViolet
UltraViolet drives feminist cultural and political change. Through people power and strategic advocacy, UltraViolet works to improve the lives of women of all identities and backgrounds by disrupting patriarchy and creating a cost for sexism.
Funding from CREDO will allow UltraViolet to drive more feminist cultural and political change. It will enable the organization to ramp up its tactics to combat the spread of disinformation as well as racist and sexist attacks in the media and on social media platforms.
Your vote this month will determine how we divide our monthly donation among these three progressive groups. Be sure to cast your vote to support one, two or all three by March 31.
CREDO members who use our products and services everyday are the reason we are able to make these donations each month. Learn more about CREDO Mobile and CREDO Energy and join our movement.
Posted on March 4, 2021
How to quickly scan documents right from your mobile phone
Whether you’re applying for a new apartment or loan, or saving old recipes or receipts, at some point you’ve probably needed to scan a document or two.
But scanning can be tedious yet necessary — an analog task that somehow still exists in the digital age — and it can be especially difficult if you don’t own a scanner or all-in-one printer, or don’t want to shell out hundreds for a piece of equipment you may only use a few times.
We have a great solution for you found right in your pocket! Here’s a quick tip on how to scan documents from your phone without the need for a scanner or all-in-one printer.
Scanning documents from your iOS device
You can easily scan documents from your iPhone or iPad from right inside the Notes app. Here’s how to scan documents from your iOS device:
- Open the Notes app.
If you can’t find the Notes app, search for it by swiping down from the middle of the home screen (on older devices, you might need to swipe right). Tap the search bar, start typing “Notes,” then open the app. - Create a new Note
or open an existing Note. - Tap the Camera button
, then tap Scan Documents
- Hold your phone over the document or object you want to scan and follow the instructions on the screen (for example, your device may ask you to move closer or farther away).
- If Auto is enabled, your device should automatically scan. If not, manually press the shutter button
. Drag the corners to adjust the scanned area, and press Keep Scan. Then, scan a new document to add to the Note or press Save. - In order to use the document outside of the Notes app, you may want to send it to yourself or someone else. To do that, tap the More button
to bring up a list of commands, including Send a Copy.
Scanning documents from your Android device
Scanning documents and saving them as PDF files from your Android device is also equally as simple. Here’s how to do that from your Android phone or tablet:
- To begin scanning, open Google Drive
- Next, tap Add
in the bottom right corner of the app. - Then, tap Scan
- You can now adjust the scan area, take the photo again, or scan another page.
- Tap Done
when you’re finished. Your file will be saved in your Google Drive.
Posted on March 1, 2021
Our February grantees thank you for your support
Each month, CREDO members vote on how we distribute funding to three incredible nonprofits. Those small actions add up – with one click, you can help fund groups fighting for women’s rights, the environment and economic justice. In February, over 40,000 CREDO members voted to distribute our monthly donation to the National Women’s Law Center, Rainforest Action Network and Social Security Works.
These donations are made possible by CREDO customers and the revenue they generate by using our services. The distribution depends entirely on the votes of CREDO members like you. And for that, our February grant recipients thank you.
National Women’s Law Center
$38,738
“Thank you for your support of the National Women’s Law Center! Supporters like CREDO and its members, make it possible for the Law Center to help lead the fight for gender justice in such a critical time for women and their families.” – Fatima Goss Graves, President & CEO, National Women’s Law Center
To learn more, visit www.nwlc.org.
Rainforest Action Network
$52,035
“Thank you for supporting Rainforest Action Network (RAN)! CREDO members like you further RAN’s mission to protect people and the planet by addressing the root causes of climate change, deforestation, and exploitation within extractive industries.” – Ginger Cassady, Executive Director, Rainforest Action Network
To learn more, visit https://www.ran.org.
Social Security Works
$59,227
“10 years ago, when SSW was founded, it was a lonely time to be against Social Security cuts. CREDO members stood with us and stopped every deficit commission they threw at us, and we built a movement that will expand Social Security. Thank you!” – Alex Lawson, Executive Director, Social Security Works
To learn more, visit http://socialsecurityworks.org.
Now check out the three groups we are funding in March, and cast your vote to help distribute our donations.
CREDO members who use our products are the reason why we are able to make these donations each month. Learn more about CREDO Mobile, the carrier with a conscience.
Posted on February 23, 2021
How March For Our Lives used CREDO funding to turn out the youth vote in 2020
This month marks a sad and tragic milestone: The third anniversary of the mass shooting massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL when a gunman murdered 14 students and three staff members.
Out of this tragedy sprung the largest youth-led mobilization to protest against gun violence and the creation of March For Our Lives, which harnesses the power of young people across the country to fight for sensible gun violence prevention policies that save lives.
Last May, CREDO members donated $51,944 to MFOL which helped the organization drive record-breaking young voter turnout — and huge victories — across key battleground states. This funding from CREDO, which was powered by our customers who use our products every day, came at a critical time in MFOL’s infrastructure-building and growth phase and helped provide stability during a challenging year.
“Thank you for believing in our youth-led movement to save lives! CREDO members enable us to mobilize our 250+ chapters nationwide and ensure gun violence is front of mind for lawmakers and Americans from all walks of life until we end this epidemic.” – Alexis Confer, Executive Director, March for Our Lives
The donation in part helped the organization set out to catalyze a movement of young voters to turn out in record numbers — just like it did in 2018.
And it was a great success: Young people defied predictions and played a decisive role in the 2020 election. Specifically, young voters of color drove the results, and the young people of MFOL were at the forefront of national efforts to get out the vote.
As part of those efforts, MFOL launched Our Power 2020 last March, its campaign to drive record youth turnout and continue gun violence prevention advocacy through grassroots direct action. Our Power engaged all of MFOL chapters but was heavily focused on nine priority states: AZ, CO, FL, MI, TX, WI, GA, PA, NC. Here’s how they helped drive what was potentially the highest youth voter turnout in history:
- Over 780,000 text messages sent to young voters through our peer-to-peer program in the final 10 days.
- More than 800,000 calls made to young voters in the final 10 days.
- Engaged over 1,700 volunteers in a GOTV program.
- At least 2.8 million people reached in key states by MFOL’s digital ad program
- In August, MFOL released Our Power: Next Time which garnered over 1 million views organically within 48 hours of being released, and in the final GOTV stretch, they released The Power Of Our Vote driving viewers to make a plan to vote.
- MFOL also worked with its chapters, local artists, and national/local partners (including UWD, CJAF, Sunrise, Dream Defenders, NextGen, Voto Latino, LCV) for Our Power in the States to host digital rallies and on-the-ground art interventions in major cities in each of our 9 key states.
- March for Our Lives Florida worked for the last two years to get Precinct 538 at the University of Central Florida to a 100% turnout rate (yes, you read that right!).
- Built an infrastructure for 300 chapters to do organizing work on the ground in their communities on issues most important to them.
- Held countless zoom rallies, phone banks, and text banks.
As MFOL continues its gun violence prevention work in 2021, it looks to continue building on these successes to organize and advocate to move funding from police budgets to community-based violence intervention programs proven to reduce gun violence. The organization has also recently launched a process to further refine its gun violence prevention policy platform and identify where they can have the most lifesaving impact in the coming year.
We hope you’ll follow the incredible and inspiring work by the great leaders and activists at March For Our Lives in 2021. You can follow them on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, or sign up for text or email updates on their website.
Posted on February 19, 2021
Onward: RAN’s 10 Environmental Justice Demands for the Biden Administration
Our allies at the Rainforest Action Network are fighting to preserve forests, protect the climate and uphold human rights by challenging corporate power and systemic injustice. We hope you take a few minutes to read this story, then vote for the RAN to receive a share of our monthly donation this February.
This story was featured on the Rainforest Action Network blog, The Understory, on January 19, 2021 and was written by Ginger Cassady, RAN’s Executive Director.
Onward. That’s our mantra at this historic juncture — post impeachment, pre-new administration, mid-pandemic.
We need to move forward for racial justice, move forward to keep forests standing, and move forward to halt climate catastrophe.
Of course, we can’t simply forget the past four years. We have a *lot* of work in front of us to repair the damage of climate denialism, egregious corporate welfare and recklessness, and the intentional dismantling of voting rights, civil rights, and our faith in science and facts.
But now is the time to build for a just and sustainable future. Because even during the worst administration in modern history, we have still been able to make incredible progress — forcing PepsiCo, the biggest snackfood company, to clean their supply chains of deforestation and human rights abuse; pushing JPMorgan Chase to announce alignment with the Paris Climate Agreement; bringing insurance companies like AXIS and Chubb to announce policies restricting fossil fuel coverage.
The foundation of this movement forward must be built upon racial justice. Over the past seven years, the Black Lives Matter movement has uplifted the need for true progress; and in January, the Capitol invasion embodied the ugly culmination of four years of an openly racist president. We must now take this opportunity to begin the reparation process for our people and our planet.
RAN is proud to be a convening partner in a growing coalition of hundreds of organizations calling for immediate action on multiple fronts to move us forward. We need to act aggressively and urgently to launch such a large-scale transition in a just and equitable way. We need to limit global warming to below 1.5°C and we need to ensure that working families and frontline, fenceline and Indigenous communities are leading the decision making and implementation of these solutions.
This will require effort from all of us. But it will also require leadership that we have not seen up until now.
TEN ACTIONS THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION & CONGRESS MUST TAKE:
- Declare a national climate emergency under the National Emergencies Act.
- Keep forests standing and keep fossil fuels in the ground: Take regulatory actions to shift financial flows from fossil fuels and commodities driving deforestation to climate solutions.
- Stop fossil fuel exports and infrastructure approvals: Thank you for banning KXL. Now please do the same for the Line 3 and DAPL pipelines within your first 100 days in office.
- Pass the BREATHE Act: Re-invest in the safety of our communities. Defund budgets for police forces that have consistently demonstrated that they are fundamentally designed to sustain white privilege at the expense of Black, Brown, and other marginalized communities. This means re-investing in schools, job programs, affordable housing, health, and human resources, and environmental justice. These are the services that keep communities safe.
- Make polluters pay: Investigate and prosecute fossil fuel polluters for the damages they have caused and end all fossil fuel subsidies. Make fossil fuel companies reimburse the government for the COVID funding they received. Commit to veto all legislation that grants legal immunity for polluters, undermines existing environmental laws, or advance false solutions.
- Advance climate justice: Direct federal agencies to assess and mitigate environmental harms to disproportionately impacted Indigenous Peoples, People and Communities of Color, and low-wealth communities.
- Protect our right to protest: we are calling for a national recommitment to protect the fundamental first amendment right of people in every state to peacefully protest injustice without the fear of being maced, beaten, bitten, shot, or thrown into a van by unmarked, unidentifiable government agents.
- Ensure the transition to a clean economy is just: to protect our communities, workers, and economy.
- Power the electricity sector with 100% clean and renewable energy: by 2030 and promote energy democracy.
- Strengthen the Clean Air Act: to set a science-based national pollution cap for greenhouse pollutants. Then, use all Clean Air Act programs to drive emissions towards zero economy-wide.
While there is hope and opportunity in this moment, there is also plenty of work to do — and that will include exercising the basic and vital right to protest and dissent. We are also calling for a national recommitment to protect the fundamental right of people in every U.S. state to peacefully protest injustice without the fear of being maced, beaten, bitten, shot, or thrown into a van by unmarked, unidentifiable government agents.
At Rainforest Action Network, we know a lot about protests and peaceful civil disobedience. That is one of the great levers of positive social change in this country.
We will continue to fight for people and planet. We will continue to join together with committed activists and frontline communities across the globe against systemic injustice. We hope you will join us by voting to increase our CREDO grant now.
Posted on February 19, 2021
Social Security Works is Fighting to Protect and Expand Earned Benefits
At Social Security Works, our mission is to safeguard the economic security of all current and future Social Security beneficiaries. Since our founding in 2010, CREDO has been one of our closest partners in that fight. We are honored to be one of this month’s candidates for a CREDO grant.
We chair the Strengthen Social Security Coalition, a group of 350 national and state organizations. These groups include women’s, labor, aging, disability, veterans, civil rights, and many other stakeholders, representing over 50 million Americans. Over the past decade, we’ve worked with these groups and with grassroots activists around the country to transform the conversation around Social Security.
Back in 2010, DC was in the grip of austerity mania. Politicians and pundits spent their time debating how much we should cut Social Security and Medicare. Even many Democrats were open to cuts. But we fought back, defeating the benefit cutting Bowles-Simpson Commission.
That was only the beginning. With our country facing a retirement income crisis, not cutting Social Security’s modest benefits (which average only $18,000 a year) isn’t good enough — we need to increase them. At first, only a few Congressional champions, like Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and former Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) supported expanding Social Security benefits. But the movement grew quickly.
By the end of President Barack Obama’s time in office, he had endorsed Social Security expansion. So did the 2016 Democratic Party platform. Rep. John Larson (D-CT), chair of the House Social Security Subcommittee, introduced the Social Security 2100 Act to expand Social Security and require the wealthy to pay into the system at the same rate as the rest of us. We’ve spent years working alongside Rep. Larson to build support for the bill, which is now co-sponsored by about 90 percent of House Democrats.
In 2019, Rep. Larson held a hearing on the bill in front of the full House Ways and Means Committee. Our President, Nancy Altman, testified.
The Democratic Party is united in support of expanding Social Security. Now that Democrats control Congress and the White House, it’s time to make it happen. During his presidential campaign, Joe Biden pledged “We’ve got to protect and expand Social Security — I’ll get it done as President.” 
We’re prepared to hold President Biden to that promise. We’re working with our allies in Congress, and with activists across the country, to build support for a strong Social Security expansion bill.
In addition to expanding benefits, Biden also needs to remove Donald Trump’s toxic appointees from the Social Security Administration (SSA) and replace them with public servants who support the program. Our petition calling on Biden to clean house at SSA has over 220,000 signatures — and it’s already beginning to deliver results.
Thanks to our steadfast allies at CREDO, you have the opportunity to power our fight to protect and expand Social Security. Cast a vote for the economic security of current and future generations by supporting us for this month’s CREDO grant.
Posted on February 19, 2021
National Women’s Law Center: Stop Using Girl Athletes to Justify Your Transphobia
The National Women’s Law Center uses the law in all its forms to change culture and drive solutions to the gender inequity that shapes our society and to break down the barriers that harm all of us—especially women of color, LGBTQ people, and low-income women and families.
The below was featured on the NWLC blog on February 16, 2021 and was written by Gillian Branstetter, NWLC Media Manager. We hope you take a few minutes to read this post and then vote for the NWLC to receive a share of our monthly donation this February.
Almost 50 years since Title IX was passed into law—mandating the equal treatment of boys and girls in school athletics—young women and girls still face barriers their male counterparts do not. While the rate of girls participating in high school athletics has increased more than tenfold since 1972, it’s never reached the level of participation boys had when the law was passed.
And even those few gains have left behind Black, brown, and indigenous girls. According to a joint report between the Law Center and the Poverty & Race Research Action Council, schools where less than 10% of the student body is white are more than twice as likely to have opportunity gaps for girl athletes than schools where 90% of the student body is white.
Overall school athletic participation reached a 30-year low even before the coronavirus pandemic shuttered school sports programs nationwide. But instead of addressing these genuine crises facing women and girl athletes, a vocal minority of lawmakers are more interested in weaponizing the forced scarcity facing girls’ athletics programs against transgender students, themselves facing a long litany of barriers including physical violence, sexual violence, mental health crises, and rejection by their own families.
Inclusive policies for transgender students are already in place for millions of students, covering 16 states and countless districts nationwide that have given trans kids the same opportunities as their peers for years. They’re also supported by a broad base of organizations with lengthy records fighting for more opportunities for female athletes, including the Women’s Sports Foundation, the YWCA, the National Organization for Women, and many more. But lawmakers in 12 states have introduced bills to categorically ban all transgender girls from school athletics in 2021, baselessly accusing them of “stealing” opportunities from their cisgender peers.
In 2020, Idaho passed such a bill into law, banning all transgender girls from competition. The ACLU challenged the law on behalf of Lindsey Hecox, a Boise State cross country runner and transgender girl. A federal judge agreed the law violated Hecox’s right to compete, ruling the state acted in “an invalid interest of excluding transgender women and girls from women’s sports entirely, regardless of their physiological characteristics.”
Now we—along with feminist sports icons like Megan Rapinoe and Billie Jean King—are fighting alongside Hecox as the case goes to appeal. Given the many forms of violence and prejudice trans kids already face at school, banning trans girls from participation further tilts the scales against them while doing nothing to solve the genuine problems facing girls’ athletics programs. In fact, many of these laws would subject all girl athletes to invasive medical examinations—all in the name of policing the bodies of trans students and any girl who doesn’t conform to their school’s stereotypes of femininity.
If, as many of these lawmakers claim, fairness is their goal, they should turn their attention to the unfair advantages many cisgender, white athletes receive by virtue of little more than their zip code—including the remaining gap in resources between boys and girls programs. Auditing school funding for racial disparities, funding efforts to integrate sports programs in racially segregated areas, and making the Department of Education an active partner in this fight are all critical steps lawmakers can take to strengthen girls’ sports opportunities and close the gaps many girls still fall through.
Banning transgender students solves none of these problems and reduces female athletes to a political and bigoted talking point. Title IX remains a landmark civil rights law, and its prohibition on sex discrimination includes any effort to lock out any student because of who they are. But caring about girls’ sports means tearing down the barriers athletes face—not using them as a cudgel against transgender girls.
Posted on February 17, 2021
Supporting Black-Owned Small Businesses This Black History Month (And Every Month)
The pandemic has been tough for so many small businesses across the country, and Black-owned small businesses have been hit especially hard.
A recent poll conducted by CREDO grantee Color Of Change found that almost half of all Black-owned small businesses may have to close their doors by this April, which would have a devastating and long-lasting effect on Black communities.
That’s why it’s so important to shop with Black-owned small businesses this Black History Month — and every month. To help you find where to shop Black in your community and online, Color Of Change has created a “Black Business Green Book” — and we’ve selected a few Black-owned small businesses for you to check out.
Color Of Change, a long time ally who has received more than half a million dollars in donations from CREDO members, created the “Black Business Green Book,” a site where you can search Black-owned small businesses by state or keyword, or browse by a number of categories, including Health/Wellness, Food & Drink, Home Goods and more.
For Black History Month, we’ve curated a selection of businesses below — or feel free to browse the entire directory at the Black Business Green Book.
Bklyn Bakery
A 100% vegan bakery that sources organic, local, and seasonal ingredients, Bklyn Bakery (pronounced Brooklyn Bakery) was started by self-taught baker Keyana Bourne, who has a passion for baking, sustainability, and animal welfare. Place an order online to get your fill of tasty vegan, sustainable and cruelty-free treats.
MahoganyBooks
Founded by husband and wife duo Derrick and Ramunda Young, Washington, DC-based independent bookstore MahoganyBooks originally opened online in 2007 to meet the needs of those searching for books about the African Diaspora. Today, the family boasts a brick and mortar shop in DC’s Anacostia neighborhood (with another coming soon) and has been featured on a number of local and national media outlets. They pride themselves on giving back to the community and promoting reading across the greater Washington area.
Healthy Roots Dolls
65% of the world has curly or wavy hair, but only 4 out of 10 girls love their curls. Enter Healthy Roots Dolls. They create dolls and storybooks to help empower young girls to celebrate and represent their diversity. Founder Yelitsa Jean-Charles created the popular doll Zoe “so that children can have a product that makes them feel seen. No one should feel less than because of the kink of their curl or the color of their skin.”
Adorned Abode
Featured in Forbes and NY Magazine, this Tacoma, Washington gift shop owned by Benita Smith sells locally made goods and fair trade items, from mugs and chocolates to stationary and kitchen items. If you’re in the area, make an appointment for a COVID-safe shopping experience, or shop and order a gift online.
Revolutionary Healing
Owner Meckell Milburn’s Revolutionary Healing provides holistic wellness services for Black womxn, including one-on-one yoga sessions and virtual wellness coaching. Meckell (she/her) is deeply invested in black liberation through healing, and holds a number of professional health and wellness certifications. Check out her website and book an appointment online.
Afro Triangle Designs
“Using art and stories of women in history to inspire, teach and empower” is the tagline for Denver artist Adri Norris’ website and small business, where you can purchase paintings, prints and t-shirts from the artist’s “Women Behaving Badly” series that features Toni Morrison, Josephine Baker, Shirley Chisholm, Sojourner Truth, Audre Lorde, Malala Yousafzai, Billie Jean King and other iconic women.
Beyond Classically Beautiful
This online apparel design shop got its name from a New York Times article that called actress Viola Davis “less classically beautiful” and out sprung a viral black & white t-shirt sensation with its namesake across the front. In addition to this classic tee, you can purchase apparel with slogans like “Protect Black Women,” “Believe Black Women,” and “I Asked God. (S)he Said I’m Killin’ It.”
Posted on February 16, 2021
The results are in: CREDO members put their money where their values are
CREDO was founded on the idea that consumers can do business with companies that share their values and do good for people and the planet.
And it’s been more successful than we ever imagined: We’ve donated over $91 million to progressive nonprofits since 1985 — all at no extra cost to our customers who love using our products and services every day.
We recently surveyed members like you on their purchasing habits to get a better sense of what motivates them to spend money with a company that gives back — which will ultimately help us better serve you. Nearly 2,000 CREDO members answered with some incredible and surprising responses, and here are the results.
Which word feels best to describe your political views?
We know very well that personal values and political leanings intersect symbiotically. The majority of our members who value progress on civil rights, reproductive freedom and climate justice tend to identify as progressive, liberal or socialist. According to our survey, our hunches were right — with nearly 77% of respondents identifying as one of the three.
Which, if any, of the below do you do on a regular basis?
Next, we asked our members what political or value-driven activities they engage in regularly. The top four responses align with some of the same activities most of us here at CREDO enjoy, too: Donating to progressive candidates and causes, discussing politics, advocating for important causes, and, of course, buying from companies that share our values.
Which causes are most important to you?
Next, we wanted to know which causes were most important to our members. We know that every issue is important, but when asked to pick the *most* important, climate justice was the overwhelming choice, followed by income inequality, pandemic relief, democracy reform and racial equality.
How often are your buying decisions influenced by your values?
Not surprisingly, more than 96% of our members who responded always, usually or sometimes consider their values when making purchases!
If you learned your current phone company supported causes that don’t align with your values, would you switch?
When it comes to phone companies that align with progressive values, CREDO stands alone. We donate millions to nonprofit groups that fight for LGBTQ rights, economic equality and more — and we never, ever donate to right-wing causes, unlike our competitors.
In fact, AT&T has long been a funder of Republican politicians and conservative causes, and T-Mobile cozied up to the Trump administration by spending nearly $200,000 at Trump’s DC hotel at the same time it needed federal approval for a mega-merger.
When asked, the vast majority of CREDO members would switch to a carrier that aligns with their values.
We also know that some folks or their family members have hesitations about switching to a new cell phone provider — and that’s okay! If you aren’t yet a CREDO customer and want to know how easy it is to make the switch, please give us a call at 866-997-0235.
