After the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, the two biggest petitions in Change.org’s history were launched. Since then, in unprecedented numbers and intensity, tens of millions of people came to Change.org to express their fury, frustration and hope about the reality of entrenched racism and systemic inequality.
In addition to petition starters and supporters joining the platform in record numbers, current Change.org staff raised the alarm that there was much work to be done for Change.org to become a more equitable organization, inside and out. Actions like open letters from Black staff set the stage for an inclusive process to reset the organization, with input from across the company. These are the stories of how we got here, what actions we’re taking, and where we’re excited about going in the future.
Kellen S. of Oregon creates a petition seeking justice for George Floyd. It amasses 15 million signatures in 3 days.
Kellen’s petition reaches 15 million signatures in 72 hours from every UN-recognized country in the world, 195 countries in total.
Calls for Change.org to engage in an internal reckoning around racial justice issues began with a letter to leadership written by Justin Lyons, Senior Director of Diversity and Inclusion.
A Tiger Team consisting of mostly Black staff meets regularly with the CEO and COO to research and decide how to best support the movement for Black lives utilizing the revenue earned from the petitions seeking justice for George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
Following Justin Lyons’s letter, Change.org Black affinity group Change.Noire wrote an open letter to leadership, demanding more resourcing and a more formal stance against white supremacy inside and outside of the organization.
Acting CEO Nick Allardice announces a series of commitments including $9.9 million to Racial Justice work and a series of internal goals and initiatives. This brought together the work of the Tiger Team focused on how Change.org could best support the Movement for Black Lives, and the internal discussions for how Change.org could improve.
As a global team, Change.org takes time to rest, focus, and interrogate big, open questions about our policies, anti-racism stance, revenue, company values, and leadership structure in an organizational reset.
Change.org announces the first recipients of the $10m Racial Justice Fund set up to support black-led organizations at the forefront of racial justice organizing led by staff member Rashawn Davis.
Change.org staff across the globe undergo anti-racism training in partnership with The Equity Paradigm to learn in open settings how best to understand, support, and respect each other.
Change.org announces a new addition to the C suite: Ansa Edim, as the VP Staff Board Chair. In this role, Ansa advocates for staff interests and concerns at the executive level, and helps to ensure staff involvement in major decision-making.
Change.org expands it’s DEI team with Inès Seddiki as a Senior DEI Specialist based in France. In this role, Inès will help Change.org grow, integrate, and deliver our diversity, equity and inclusion programming in support of our pursuits of systemic change, internally and externally.
Founder Ben Rattray wrote about the company’s journey on diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism in an address to staff.
Hear more from Change.org staff
