Consumer products company Colgate-Palmolive will urge shareholders to reject a conservative organization’s attempt to eliminate diversity considerations from the company’s board member selection criteria, according to correspondence obtained by Reuters on February 24.
The National Legal and Policy Center submitted the proposal as numerous major corporations including Goldman Sachs, Walmart, Target and Meta have either abandoned or are reconsidering their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. This shift comes as President Donald Trump and conservative advocacy groups intensify their campaign against corporate diversity programs.
Many businesses expanded their diversity initiatives beginning in 2020 following the Black Lives Matter protests, but have since retreated from these commitments over the last year due to increasing political pressure from the current administration.
By maintaining its diversity standards, Colgate would align with a limited number of companies like Costco and Apple that have preserved their inclusion policies during this period. In its response to the conservative group, Colgate noted that approximately two-thirds of its revenue comes from international markets beyond U.S. borders.
In the company’s Monday submission to the National Legal and Policy Center, Colgate stated: “It is important that our directors bring a broad range of skills, experiences, perspectives and backgrounds to the Board.”
The company has not yet provided an independent statement to Reuters regarding this matter.
According to Colgate’s 2025 proxy filing, three board nominees represent “members of underrepresented communities,” though the National Legal and Policy Center noted the company failed to define what constitutes “underrepresented.”
Bloomberg News initially broke the story about Colgate’s response to the conservative group’s proposal.
