Corporate Equality Index: Is There a Fee to Participate?
There is no fee for businesses to participate in or be recognized by the Corporate Equality Index -- this includes survey submission, all consultation provided by the HRC Foundation staff, access to our web resources and inclusion in the Corporate Equality Index report and Buying for Equality guide.
Businesses that earn 100 percent ratings are also included in the Best Places to Work list and invited to attend the annual CEI awards reception, held in early Spring in New York. Businesses are invited to help offset the costs associated with the awards reception.
As of 2008, copies of the printed CEI and Buying for Equality publications are no longer available free of charge. Businesses are asked to purchase copies of these printed publications for a nominal fee. The reports continue to be available for download from the website at www.hrc.org/cei at no charge.
Criteria and Donations to HRC
The CEI criteria are designed to recognize employers' engagement with the broader LGBT community, including financial or in-kind donations to LGBT organizations. The HRC Foundation does not require employers to make financial contributions to HRC in order to obtain credit for this criterion. The CEI is administered and run by staff of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the 501(c)(3) educational arm of the Human Rights Campaign, who do not have fundraising responsibilities.
Employers that have received credit on this criterion have collectively contributed to hundreds of local, state and national LGBT groups and events throughout the U.S. since 2002; HRC is just one of the many recipients of such support.
