Friday, January 31, 2025

Feel Good Friday - Goods Unite Us

If current events are motivating you to find multiple ways to support your political beliefs, whatever they may be, you’ll want to keep reading about today’s highlighted organization, Goods Unite Us.

Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, the mission of Goods Unite Us is “to empower people to become political consumers and investors so that we can all collectively put an end to corporate political donations.” Watch this one minute overview video from CEO Abigail Wuest to learn more.


Goods Unite Us has a research team that hand curates and certifies all of the data they share on their website and app. By bringing more accountability and transparency to political donations made by corporations, they help consumers more easily align their everyday purchases with their politics. Search for a company or brand to find out “what percentage the company, its affiliates and its senior management and executives collectively donate to Republicans and Democrats, what percentage comes from the company itself versus its employees, and the top five politicians donated to.” 


After downloading and using the app, I was very sad to find out that, despite their Berkeley, California roots, Peet’s coffee gives more money to Republicans than Democrats and earns a -37 Campaign Finance Reform Score. These scores can range from -100 to +100. The higher the score, the more likely that purchases from the company or brand will lead to meaningful campaign finance reform. Time to switch to Starbucks since they rate a score of 66.


Not only can you explore brands and companies one at a time, you can also take this quiz to rate yourself, find out where your money goes, and make any needed adjustments. If you also want your investments to reflect your political beliefs, and those beliefs are Democratic, you can invest in the DEMZ fund. Designed to provide similar risk and performance as the S&P 500, it only includes companies that have made over 75% of their political contributions to Democratic causes and candidates.


If you’re ready to reclaim your voice and align your spending with your political beliefs, download the app and start checking on the brands you support. To help more people learn about Goods Unite Us, spread the word on social media. Like their Facebook page, follow them on Instagram.


2 comments:

EKane said...

I love this app! Thanks for spreading the word, Miss K.

Miss K said...

You are welcome! I already had to change coffee and tp brands.