The Heritage Foundation recently withdrew its shareholder proposal filed with Salesforce, Inc. after the employer software company agreed to end its reliance on the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as a diagnostic tool for corporate partnerships and charitable giving.
The proposal, filed by The Heritage Foundation in October 2025, called for greater transparency about the risks of relying on politicized corporate partners. In a 2022 blog post, Salesforce stated it uses the SPLC list "to identify hate groups and keep hateful material off our platform."
Andy Olivastro, chief advancement officer at Heritage, lauded the development.
"This is a significant victory," Olivastro said. "Salesforce's decision to drop the SPLC's politicized metrics demonstrates that corporate leaders are beginning to recognize the risks of partnering with organizations that unfairly target mainstream conservative and faith-based groups. We commend Salesforce for responding constructively to shareholder concerns and taking this important step toward more balanced practices."
Following engagement with Heritage and other concerned shareholders, Salesforce has agreed to discontinue use of the SPLC's tools—including its controversial "hate map"—and has directed Benevity, the corporate giving and employee engagement platform it uses, not to rely on SPLC lists when administering services for Salesforce.
Allen Mendenhall, senior advisor for the Capital Markets Initiative at Heritage, added, "The SPLC has strayed far from its original civil rights mission and has become a partisan actor that labels legitimate policy organizations as 'hate groups' simply for holding traditional views."
"Salesforce's decision to end its reliance on SPLC metrics sets an important precedent for other corporations to follow," Mendenhall said. "Shareholders have a right to expect that their companies will not partner with organizations that engage in ideological discrimination."
The SPLC has faced renewed scrutiny in recent months following the assassination of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) founder Charlie Kirk. TPUSA had been placed on the SPLC's "hate map" just two months prior. FBI Director Kash Patel has publicly described the SPLC as a "partisan smear machine."
In light of Salesforce's commitment to eliminate reliance on SPLC metrics, Heritage has determined that the objectives of its shareholder proposal have been met and has formally withdrawn the proposal.
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