FDC Corporate Pledge
A Public Standard for Activating a Brand’s Yes
Add-Us-In is FDC’s rallying cry and public request for equal affirmation. It asks institutions to answer a simple Y/N question:
Will you Welcome, Embrace, Celebrate, and Affirm Faith Driven Consumers equally with every other community your company publicly welcomes, engages, supports, or celebrates?
That question determines whether a brand will Add-Us-In. The answer is reflected and recorded in the Faith Equality Index.
The FDC Corporate Pledge is the next step for a brand that says Yes. It provides the public standard for operationalizing and activating that Yes by engaging Faith Driven Consumers through the brand’s policies, practices, culture, communications, and stakeholder engagement.
This is a pledge in acceptance and a standard in application.
A company accepts the pledge by publicly committing to live out its Yes through meaningful engagement of Faith Driven Consumers. The pledge becomes meaningful when that commitment is visible, credible, and sustained.
This standard does not ask brands to withdraw welcome from any community. It asks brands to extend equal welcome to Faith Driven Consumers as well.
The call is inclusion, not exclusion. Equality, not displacement.
The Corporate Pledge:
We pledge to Welcome, Embrace, Celebrate, and Affirm Faith Driven Consumers equally—honoring their identity, convictions, contributions, and participation across our policies, practices, culture, communications, and stakeholder engagement.
The Standard:
Welcome. Embrace. Celebrate. Affirm Equally.
This four-part standard defines what meaningful engagement with Faith Driven Consumers should look like:
1. Welcome
A brand welcomes Faith Driven Consumers when it creates open, visible, and intentionally equal pathways for their participation, representation, and belonging across customer, employee, and stakeholder experiences.
2. Embrace
A brand embraces Faith Driven Consumers when it builds meaningful and sustained relationships with them through listening, consultation, representation, and engagement.
3. Celebrate
A brand celebrates Faith Driven Consumers when it positively recognizes their values, stories, contributions, service, holidays, cultural moments, and lived experiences.
4. Affirm Equally
A brand affirms Faith Driven Consumers equally when it gives FDCs the same level of respect, recognition, visibility, policy protection, cultural inclusion, and stakeholder engagement that it extends to every other community the company publicly welcomes, engages, supports, or celebrates.
Equal affirmation is the standard. It asks a company to make its stated values consistent across communities.
Proof of Performance:
A Yes to the Faith Equality Index question becomes meaningful when it is visible, credible, and consistent.
The FDC Corporate Pledge is not intended to create a complicated activation process. It provides a clear public standard by which a brand’s Yes can be understood, evaluated, and sustained.
A brand demonstrates a real Yes through reasonable evidence in three areas:
1. Public Commitment
The brand publicly names its commitment to Faith Driven Consumers and makes that commitment visible to relevant stakeholders.
2. Practical Application
The brand reflects the commitment in appropriate policies, practices, culture, communications, and stakeholder engagement.
3. Equal Standing
The brand treats Faith Driven Consumers consistently with every other community the company publicly welcomes, engages, supports, or celebrates.
The standard is not the length of a checklist. The standard is consistency.
A company’s Yes should not be reduced to a statement, slogan, or one-time communication. It should be reflected in the way the company lives out the pledge across its public commitments and daily practices.
How FDC Will Use This Standard:
Faith Driven Consumer will use the FDC Corporate Pledge as the public reference standard for brand engagement and accountability.
The standard will help:
- Brands understand what a meaningful Yes requires
- FDCs evaluate whether a brand’s commitment is visible, credible, and sustained
- Stakeholders distinguish symbolic language from real action
- The Faith Equality Index report whether companies are taking meaningful steps to Welcome, Embrace, Celebrate, and Affirm Faith Driven Consumers equally
This is the accountability measure attached to the public call.
The Public Call:
Faith Driven Consumers are present in the marketplace, workplace, and public culture. Their faith guides their daily lives, choices, identity, and participation.
When brands publicly welcome, engage, support, or celebrate other communities, they should extend the same dignity and equal standing to Faith Driven Consumers.
Welcome us.
Embrace us.
Celebrate us.
Affirm us equally.
That is the pledge.
That is the standard.
That is the public call.