Trump’s second term has started off with a slashing of DEI funding, programs, and mandates. It’s lead to corporate boycotts, job losses, and the loss of funding for programs that study everything from car safety to women’s health.
If you’d like to support DEI companies, or you just don’t understand what all the drama is about, let’s break it down together.
What Does DEI Mean?
DEI stands for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
It’s a shorthand for programs that help traditionally marginalized groups of people. It’s a continuation of legislation and social change that stems from the Civil Rights movement.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 barred employment discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion and other criteria. Before this legislation, it was perfectly legal to not hire someone simply because of as aspect of their personhood.
DEI today strives to make even further commitments to overcoming workplace biases.
That looks many different ways. At some companies, they offer employee resource groups (ERGs) where people that belong to the same community can meet and support one another.
Some companies have flexible work hours for parents, which is a DEI initiative. Some companies recognize holidays for religions that are not federally recognized.
Why is DEI Under Attack?
The second Trump administration is following the Project 2025 playbook, which wants to ban all DEI initiatives.
As a result, Trump issued an executive order (a tool designed to be use sparingly, since the US is a democracy and broad changes are designed to run through Congress) that bans DEI “mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear.”
This has lead to a lot of firings and funding loss. Words such as “women” and “inclusion” have been flagged as DEI words.
If you were to write a grant for federal funding about wanting to study the effectiveness of different oil mining technologies, and you had a line that said “Several mining technologies merit inclusion in this project,” that would be flagged as DEI, and you would not receive funding.
These kind of broad and general EO are dangerous, and they’re having a negative economic impact already.
How Can You Use Your Money To Send a Message?
In the US, we have an economic system that runs on people spending money. 70% of the US economy is powered by consumer spending!
That means that if enough people choose to shop in one business, that company will become the most profitable company in the country.
Similarly, if enough people stop spending at a specific company, it’s value will plummet.
For example, Target announced in January 2025 that it would rescind it’s DEI programs. For the next 10 weeks straight, foot traffic within stores across the US declined. More than 200,000 are currently participating in boycotting Target.
Your dollars are powerful!
I literally wrote a book called Money For Change that addresses the power individuals have in using their money to create social change. Money really does power our world, so where you choose to spend it matters a lot.
Which Companies Support DEI Initiatives?
That said, despite the executive order from the White House, privately owned companies can sun their businesses however they see fit. And some companies have chosen to keep their DEI initiatives in place.
Here’s a list of companies maintaining their DEI iniatives as of May 2025:
HEB groceries
Of course, having a DEI policy doesn’t make a company perfect! But as always, perfection is not the goal when we’re trying to make better choices. Companies that support DEI programs are making an effort to do better.
Spending Money is Just One Avenue of Protest
Spending or withholding money from a company is a powerful way to use your voice in today’s world, but it’s still just one way of expressing yourself and your ideas.
You can volunteer for causes that are meaningful to you.
You can donate money.
You can attend protests, call your reps, or write letter.
I encourage you to design your every day spending in a values aligned way, but also have grace with yourself. If the only grocery store in your town doesn’t have a DEI policy, you still need to eat.
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