Last Updated:
5/2/21 2:29 PM
overall rating:
keep going
General Mills
Internal Representation & Support
68%
Public Commitment
50%
External Communication
66%
To evaluate this pillar, we take into consideration a range of factors, including but not limited to:
- Employee representation
- Diversity, equity, & inclusion (DEI)
We weigh a company’s degree of public commitment primarily on their monetary contributions to DEI matters or organizations fighting racial injustice.
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Forms of monetary support we look for:
One-off donations
Recurring donations
Grant initiatives
Employee donation matching
Highlights
Prior to the 2020 BLM protests, General Mills has promoted racial diversity in a variety of philanthropic efforts. They have hosted the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Breakfast since 1991, which helped raise over $6mil for the United Negro College Fund for Historically Black Colleges and Universities that support Black students in getting to/through college. General Mills has also raised $40mil for philanthropy from the start of the General Mills Foundation, $14mil of which went towards tackling food insecurity especially in Minneapolis food banks, pantries, and anti-hunger orgs. General Mills regularly supports and funds food justice orgs like Feeding Tampa Bay and Global Child Nutrition Foundation, as shown in their social media content. As outlined in their specific company actions from Summer 2020, General Mills joined the Minnesota Business Coalition for Racial Equality, a group driving action on public policy, the workplace, philanthropy, and allyship.
Lowlights
General Mills could work on providing clearer information about racial diversity in their workplace demographics. Despite the quality of their racial justice posts on social media and on their blog, this content makes up a small percentage of their total content.
We scour the company’s website and official social media channels to determine what message they are sending around racial injustice, how they are communicating it, and whether their communications are perceived as genuine or performative.
Public statement: We verify that companies have made a formal statement regarding racial injustice.
Social media: We consider how a company uses their platform(s) beyond performative allyship.
Representation: For companies that have the opportunity to showcase diversity in their feed, we consider whether they have adequate Black representation and BIPOC representation across their models.
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Deep Dive
I. Internal Representation & Support:
Board of Directors:
> 15% Black, 16% - 20% BIPOC, 41% - 45% Women
Executive Leadership:
> 15% Black, 11% - 15% BIPOC, 31% - 35% Women
16% - 20% BIPOC, 46% - 50% Women
Workforce:
An appointed DEI senior leader and/or a dedicated DEI organization, A Black employee resource group
DEI Support:
II. Public Commitment
General Mills has pledged a donation of < 0.001% of annual revenue towards racial injustice, specifically for Black lives. Additionally, General Mills has engaged in actions that advance racial justice and/or uplift BIPOC communities, such as partnerships with nonprofits or mission-based organizations, sponsorship of events, and matching donations to a broad range of qualifying organizations.
III. External Communications
General Mills has issued a public statement, both on social media and in a public memo, addressing racial injustice The public statement acknowledged that they can be doing better to combat racial inequality within their company and included specific calls to action, but did not explicitly state "Black Lives Matter." Since June 2020, 21% - 30% of the brand's social media content has been centered around racial injustice with posts seeking to continue the momentum of BLM. While the brand does not regularly feature models in their social media posts, there is little to no evidence of additional actions the brand takes to show support of the LGBTQ+ community (beyond posting for Pride) or other marginalized communities.
