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Methodology

Every Woke Broke List report grades a company from A to F, with a score out of 100. Grades and scores are our opinion, based on the public, sourced facts shown in each report. Every company starts at 100 and loses points for each finding, so a higher score is better. This page explains how we get there.

Grades and scores

We look for public, sourced findings in 17 categories. Each category has a maximum number of points:

  1. DEI hiring, pay & suppliers (up to 15 points)
  2. Internal policies & benefits (up to 10 points)
  3. Free speech, debanking, deplatforming & anti-military/anti-American conduct (up to 15 points)
  4. Political giving (PAC, treasury, leadership) (up to 10 points)
  5. Advocacy, lobbying & public statements (up to 15 points)
  6. Marketing, products & content (up to 10 points)
  7. Charitable & activist funding, including Soros/Open Society (up to 10 points)
  8. ESG, activist investing & industry/regional boycotts (up to 10 points)
  9. China & foreign-adversary ties (up to 5 points)
  10. Election & voting-law activism (up to 10 points)
  11. Border & immigration enforcement (up to 10 points)
  12. Faith, family & children (up to 10 points)
  13. Climate & anti-fossil-fuel advocacy (up to 10 points)
  14. Second Amendment & lawful-firearms commerce (up to 10 points)
  15. Government-coordinated content moderation (up to 10 points)
  16. Abortion advocacy, benefits & funding (up to 10 points)
  17. American Workers & H-1B Displacement (up to 10 points)

The 17 categories add up to 180 points. We add up the points a company has lost, multiply by 100 and divide by 180, then round to a whole number (halves round up). We subtract that from 100 to get its score out of 100, which can’t go below 0. The score sets its grade:

  • A: 95 to 100
  • B: 90 to 94
  • C: 84 to 89
  • D: 75 to 83
  • F: 74 or less

Only companies graded D or F appear on our boycott list. Only brands graded A, B or C appear on our Better Alternatives pages. Our editors set these grade ranges and weights by testing them against well-known cases. We review them every three months, and we will announce any change on this page.

Sources

Every finding links to its source. A company’s own documents (filings, news releases, policies) and statements, including a company statement quoted word for word by a news outlet, count in full, as do government records. Other reporting by reputable news outlets, and reports and ratings published by outside groups, count at half weight, and the report marks them “reported.” One exception: when a company filled out the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index survey, its resulting score counts in full, because the company supplied the information. If a company has publicly denied a finding, that finding counts at half weight.

How serious a finding is

Each finding is weighed by how serious it is.

  • Serious findings count double and are not limited by the category’s maximum.
  • Standard findings count at their normal value, within the category’s maximum.
  • Minor findings count at half value, within the category’s maximum. These are diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) language in a company’s annual report (Form 10-K) or proxy statement, and a stated net-zero or climate goal.

These count as serious findings:

  • A named DEI office or strategy, while it is in place.
  • A race or sex hiring requirement, or a race or sex target tied to hiring, promotion or pay.
  • Cancelling or removing someone for their views, removing or refusing someone on vague grounds, or an anti-military or anti-American act.
  • A national ad promoting gender ideology, or an ad or brand partnership with an activist influencer.
  • Refusing service to a lawful industry, or refusing to do business in a lawful market or region. (Limits on selling or financing firearms count as standard findings in the Second Amendment category.)
  • Active campaigning for gun-control laws, such as gun-control letters or coalitions, or funding for gun-control groups; or destroying firearms inventory as a statement.
  • Paying for employees’ travel to get an abortion.
  • A documented case of U.S. workers being replaced by H-1B visa workers.
  • A company’s own act aimed at children and gender ideology: drag events for children, or children in drag in its ads or content; children’s or family content centered on a transgender child character or a child’s gender transition; or promoting, funding or advocating gender transition for minors. A donation or partnership counts here only if the group was already advocating gender transition for minors when the company gave or partnered.

A finding of one of these kinds counts as serious only if it comes from the company’s own documents or statements (including a statement quoted word for word by a news outlet) or from government records, and the company has not denied it. Otherwise it counts as a standard finding.

The D floor and the 83 cap

Any serious finding means a grade of at least D, however few points the company has lost. A serious (MAJOR) finding caps the score at 83, a D, so the score never shows a better grade than the letter. When the cap applies, the displayed score is not 100 minus the company’s points; its report says so and shows the score it would have without the cap. The floor and the cap last as long as that finding counts as serious. They are lifted if the company publicly walks back that specific finding by at least half, or once the finding no longer counts (for example, a policy that has ended, or a one-time finding more than 10 years old).

Walk-backs

When a company publicly reverses a policy or action, it earns credit back in the category where the points were earned. A new name for the same program earns no credit. No category, and no finding, can go below zero.

How findings age

  • A policy, program, membership or product line that is still in place counts in full, however old it is.
  • A one-time serious finding, such as an ad, a letter or a removal, counts in full for 5 years and at half weight for the next 5 years.
  • Other one-time findings count in full for 6 years and at half weight until they are 10 years old.
  • After 10 years, a one-time finding no longer counts toward the score. It may still appear in the report’s history.

Because findings age, a company’s score can rise over time even if nothing new happens.

How we review alternatives

Each brand on the Better Alternatives pages was checked, as of Oct. 20, 2026, against:

  • HRC’s 2026 Corporate Equality Index (the company’s page on hrc.org, if one exists);
  • FEC records, for a federal PAC connected to the company;
  • news coverage of Pride, DEI and political activity; and
  • these seven published coalition letters and court briefs:
    1. HRC’s March 31, 2022 business statement opposing anti-LGBTQ state legislation.
    2. The 2019 “Don’t Ban Equality” business statement on state abortion restrictions (its 2019 signer list).
    3. The “We Stand for Democracy” statement on state election laws (April 2021), as listed by the Black Economic Alliance.
    4. The Sept. 12, 2019 letter from 145 business leaders to the U.S. Senate on gun background checks and red-flag laws (published by Everytown).
    5. Patagonia’s April 2021 “Business Leaders: Actions Speak Louder Than Words” voting-rights letter.
    6. The brief of 32 businesses in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia (U.S. Supreme Court).
    7. The “Brief of 143 U.S. Business Associations and Companies” in DHS v. Regents (the DACA case, U.S. Supreme Court, Oct. 3, 2019).

The 2022 “Don’t Ban Equality” signer list was unavailable when we checked (its page returned an error), so it was not part of this review.

This is not a full audit. A “No findings” note means none of these checks turned up a scored item; it does not mean the company has no record.

Reviews and corrections

We review each report at least once a year, and within 30 days of a major event.