Over the summer, I was inspired by a conversation between visionary author adrienne maree brown and veteran organizer Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson about organizing, power, and strategies.
I took from their conversation the wisdom that we don't need to try to do "all the things" to change the world. Instead, we should focus on doing our part really well within the larger movement.
I treasure this reminder. We are working alongside so many organizations with a shared vision. So as we work toward achieving our own goals, we are also moving toward collective liberation and justice.
But not instantaneously.
Building people power, challenging entrenched power structures, and overhauling systems is long-haul work.
And it's international. We're contending with compounding global forces: corporate power, the rise of authoritarianism, the climate crisis, and more. These require global solidarity and collaborative organizing to overcome.
That's exactly Corporate Accountability's role in the larger movement for justice: long-term, international organizing in solidarity that challenges corporate power. Together, we transform the landscape in which abusive corporations can operate—and build people power behind this mission.
And we do it well. We've won many victories over 45-plus years—from moving GE out of the nuclear weapons making business to preventing the privatization of water systems around the world.
One of the keys to our success is relationships—with supporters and activists like you, with allies, and with Global South communities. (By Global South we mean the state of people and communities around the world who are experiencing multiple and intersecting global systems of oppression.) We know true progress can only be achieved in solidarity with, shaped by, and benefiting people of the Global South.
As we look to the future, it's clear that building up global people-power is crucial. It is how we will get out of the exhausting cycles we find ourselves in. And how we will create a world where everyone can thrive—no exceptions. So at Corporate Accountability we're dedicating even more attention here.
As I near the end of my tenure as executive director, I'm grateful for how you help Corporate Accountability play our role as well as we can, as we connect to broader movements advancing liberation and justice. I hope you feel proud of the victories we've achieved together.
I've organized under a dictatorship, and I've organized under a democracy. I remain committed to the work of challenging corporate power because it is a key piece of securing and deepening democracy.
I also know that long-term campaigning under difficult circumstances is only sustainable when we take the time to celebrate our victories, large and small.
This annual report highlights hard-fought successes we achieved together as a community during this tumultuous year. Thank you for your role in making this work possible.
Corporate Accountability stops transnational corporations from devastating democracy, trampling human rights, and destroying our planet.
We are building a world rooted in justice where corporations answer to people, not the other way around — a world where every person has access to clean water, healthy food, a safe place to live, and the opportunity to reach their full human potential.
We believe that all people, no matter the color of their skin, where they live, or how much money they have, should have clean water to drink, fresh air to breathe, and the ability to live free from corporate greed. Together, we're exposing corporate abuse and dismantling the oppressive and racist systems that corporations depend on. Learn more about the years-in-the-making victories we reached with our allies this year, thanks to your steadfast support.
In 2021, a researcher on our water team sounded the alarm: The city of Houston had just released plans to turn over control of the Southeast Water Purification Plant, which serves nearly one million people, to a private water corporation—for up to twenty years.
We'd seen water privatizers march into majority Black and brown communities, prioritize profit above all else, and throw community needs out the window. If this contract went forward, Houston residents could lose reliable access to water—what we all need to survive.
We contacted local organizations like West Street Recovery, who knew the inner workings of the city, and jumped into action together. We secured local media coverage that shined a spotlight on this little-known plan and connected the dots to a criminal investigation into one of the water privatizers vying for the contract. And we mobilized a mighty coalition of labor organizers, environmental advocates, and community residents of all races and ages and abilities to keep the water plant in public hands.
Day in and day out, the passion of our allies, rooted in a commitment and love for the Houston community, kept the campaign's momentum strong. Finally, in January, the city council scrapped its privatization plans. This success shows, once again, that when people come together and take action, we can make democracy work for us and safeguard water for the public good.
Last September, Attorney General Rob Bonta of California announced a major lawsuit against Big Polluters for decades of climate deception—a huge step forward toward climate liability.
This hard-fought victory came after years of organizing among Corporate Accountability members, frontline allies like Richmond Our Power Coalition, and people across California. Since 2016, we've worked with allies to urge the California attorney general to make Big Polluters pay for the climate crisis. Thousands of people have taken action: posing for photos with a life-size cut-out of Bonta's predecessor; mobilizing local elected officials to voice their support; and amplifying the demands of the communities most impacted by climate change.
This lawsuit provides a critical opportunity to hold Big Polluters accountable and stop them from committing future harm. It could unlock funds to support people most affected by polluters' abuses—Black, Indigenous, Latine, and Asian communities. And as the fifth-largest economy in the world, California's move could set a precedent, inspiring other cities and states to follow suit.
This victory did not just happen. Bonta sued these polluters because thousands of people, including you, demanded it. By filling up Bonta's inbox and answering machine and flooding his social media channels, we gave him the backing he needed to make this move.
This is just the beginning. From here, we're organizing elected officials to make sure that communities most targeted by polluting corporations direct how the funding gets spent. Together, we're building momentum to make Big Polluters pay in the U.S. and beyond.
As a long-time climate activist, I've seen firsthand how corporations block climate solutions—in the U.S. and around the world. That's why it's so important that Corporate Accountability is organizing beyond U.S. borders, partnering with people in Africa and Latin America to hold Big Polluters accountable so that real solutions can take root.
Big Tobacco's products still kill more than 8 million people a year. And, in addition to the tragedy of lives lost, we're paying for this industry's abuses with our taxes, our health, and our planet. But it doesn't have to be this way. This year, with our allies, we achieved a major victory toward making Big Tobacco pay for its harms.
In 2022, recognizing that liability can be a powerful tool to rein in and diminish the industry's political and financial power, we launched the Make Big Tobacco Pay coalition. Since then, we mobilized legal experts, organizations, and tens of thousands of people to demand Big Tobacco pay. We briefed dozens of journalists, who published articles with extensive global reach. And we identified government officials who were ready to stand up to Big Tobacco and advocate for liability. We then brought this momentum to the annual global tobacco treaty meetings and organized government delegates to make bold, life-saving policy decisions. And it worked!
At this year's tobacco treaty meetings, governments unanimously decided to advance international work on industry liability, including the creation of a cohort of experts committed to supporting countries through the long and complex legal proceedings that come with advancing liability. This victory not only brings us a step closer to making Big Tobacco pay, it also establishes a groundbreaking precedent that could pave the way for similar measures against other industries, like Big Polluters. Together, we can rein in corporate power and make abusive corporations pay for their harms.
Corporate Accountability is at the center of climate justice work. I am a proud supporter of their efforts to maintain access to clean water, hold corporations accountable for the environmental damage they create, and fight every day for people all over the world to have a sustainable future.
Change-making doesn't happen overnight. It's a strategic process. Part of that is corporate research: finding the right levers of power to pull. Another part of that process is relationship building: bringing people together to make change. Still, another part is building pressure to stop corporate abuse and rein in corporate power. Together, we're setting a foundation for the world that we need. Flip through the gallery below to read more about what you made possible this year.
For nearly 50 years, we've made an impact organizing to win alongside organizations across the globe—from stopping water privatization and curbing the influence of Big Tobacco and Big Polluters in global policy, to advancing reparations. And these decades of experience demonstrate that the movement is strongest when we are united.
That's one of the reasons we created the Movement Solidarity Fund—to raise resources for our partners challenging the worst kinds of corporate abuse, extraction, and exploitation in their communities. We're prioritizing abundance and the collective good over the scarcity mentality.
The Movement Solidarity Fund grants resources to our longtime movement partners, who are some of the most effective and courageous campaigners around the globe that are achieving powerful victories on water, climate, and racial justice issues. We also provide one-time grants that enable organizations to complete specific projects, such as community events, public actions, and media briefings. With your support, movement builders from all over the world, with diverse skills and knowledge, come together to stop corporations from destroying the planet and our lives.
Thank you to everyone who has moved resources toward this fund this year!
For over 40 years, Corporate Accountability has been tirelessly working to compel some of the most powerful multinational corporations to stop their abusive practices, bringing about transformative change for people and the planet. We are proud to partner with them to create a more just and equitable world.
People power is Corporate Accountability's greatest strength. By coming together and taking action as a collective, we're able to accomplish far more than we could alone. Read on to celebrate all of the people around the world who play a part in the movement to stop corporate abuse.
Corporate Accountability's campaigns are fueled by you: people who reject out-of-control corporate power, resist corporations' attempts to profit from basic human needs, and act on the belief that together, we can build a better world. Below we highlight a few of the people in our community who have given their time, resources, and energy to make our collective impact possible.
This year, we honor the memory of Evelyn Fox Keller: scholar, activist, and committed member of the Corporate Accountability community.
Evelyn got her first taste of activism in high school and college, organizing in support of progressive political candidates in New York City. Over time, her passion for political transformation evolved and expanded into a passion for addressing the climate crisis.
In partnership with her son, Jeff Keller, Evelyn helped to advance Corporate Accountability's work—from exposing the fossil fuel industry's influence at the U.N. climate treaty meetings to working alongside communities to protect public water.
Evelyn, who passed away last year at age 87, had a long and storied career in physics and mathematical biology. She taught in universities around the U.S. and most recently served as Professor Emerita at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
As one of the few women to earn a Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University in 1963, she experienced harassment and exclusion. Instead of leaving the field altogether, she expanded her research and teaching into gender studies. She harnessed her perspective and experiences to challenge the binary objective mentality so prevalent in science and to build new structures for scientific discovery.
"She had a passion for intellectual change and questioning. And her way of questioning can help us to see through the so-called truths that our government and systems are run on today, and the myths that corporations feed us to set us against each other," her daughter Sarah shared.
Evelyn's support and legacy continues to shape Corporate Accountability and fuel our campaigns to expose and challenge corporate abuse.
"She admired the way that Corporate Accountability upholds the least powerful sectors of society against the most powerful interests", Sarah says. "The mission of challenging and exposing corporations is one she was so proud to support."
"I practice social justice wherever I go–when I'm in the grocery store, performing, or when I'm teaching children's acting classes," says Shanda Quintal. She believes everything in the world is connected and rejects the dominant corporate paradigm of individualism, consumerism, and separation from one another. "When you make that mental paradigm shift, you will see that this idea of separation got us into the mess that we're in." And this separation, she believes, is what enables corporations to profit from natural resources and sell products that endanger our lives and the planet.
Shanda is passionate about creating spaces where people can come together and discuss the issues they care about while feeling safe and heard. That's why this spring, she partnered with Corporate Accountability's membership team to host an event where people took action and gave money to advance our campaigns.
The party not only created the opportunity for these conversations; it also gave people a chance to relax, enjoy live music and local food, and take action to advance justice. Shanda believes that it's important for people in her community to come together and counteract the corporate abuse that affects their lives—whether its government disinvestment in infrastructure in Black communities which allows for corporate land grabs or living in the shadow of Hurricane Katrina with the threat of climate-change-fueled extreme weather.
"I like that Corporate Accountability's work is on the ground," Shanda says. "You're bringing people together to talk face-to-face and take actions that are doable and make a real difference."
And by hosting one of these gatherings, that's exactly what Shanda and other members like her are doing!
Every year, your support makes it possible to challenge corporate power and systemic racism. Here's a snapshot of how you came together this year to make this work possible.
Flooding corporations' phone lines on their annual shareholders' meeting days
Spreading the word about Big Polluters' presence at the climate treaty talks and urging the U.N. to kick them out
Demanding that Big Tobacco pay for its harms to public health and the planet
Attendees raised more than $700 in monthly income
people stretched with us and increased their giving from a previous year
in funds raised by the Giving Circle members and alumni
people who organized with us in 1977—Corporate Accountability's first year—are still involved today
From Houston to Lagos to Ecuador, the leadership and vision of our partners help guide and strengthen our campaigns to challenge corporate abuse. Below, meet a few of our fellow organizers who are shifting power and building a world where we all can thrive.
Growing up in the Philippines, Jax Bongon was no stranger to the devastating impacts of tropical typhoons. Over the years, he has seen how extreme weather events intensified—forcing communities out of their homes, knocking out electricity, and cutting off water access. This first-hand experience fueled his passion for climate justice and led him to his role at IBON International, a Philippines-based organization that provides support and resources for peoples' movements across the globe.
As a member of the Kick Big Polluters Out (KBPO) coalition, Jax partners with Corporate Accountability's climate team and hundreds of organizers worldwide to expose Big Polluters' influence in policy spaces, centering the voices of frontline communities. Together, at the U.N. climate talks, we organized actions challenging corporations' attempts to undermine urgently-needed climate action, released hard-hitting research exposing the industry's interference, and secured a groundbreaking policy that requires attendees to disclose corporate ties.
Jax sees this organizing as part of the movement to shift power to peoples in the Global South. Because of partners like him, the public demand for governments to advance real and just solutions is increasing. “More people and public officials are affirming that we need to kick Big Polluters out of the talks and our lives,” Jax says.
"As an organization that situated itself within the broad struggle against neocolonialism, we at IBON International resonate with Corporate Accountability's mandate to stop corporations—the face of the modern-day empires—from truly taking over our lives. We're grateful for their support and solidarity within Global South organizations like ours."
"The effects of Big Tobacco's harms extend from a person's head to the last part of their body," says Leonce Sessou. His mother's addiction to chewing tobacco jeopardized the health of one of his younger brothers. And having been a community development worker in Benin, Leonce was shocked by the damage caused by the tobacco industry throughout its supply chain—from farming to production to marketing.
Today, as Executive Secretary of the African Tobacco Control Alliance (ATCA), Leonce is a leader in challenging Big Tobacco's abuses across Africa. Africa's growing youth population presents an opportunity for the industry to addict a new generation to its deadly products for life. And Big Tobacco is employing its full playbook—from misleading marketing to policy influence to alleged bribery—to weaken and block lifesaving tobacco control policies throughout the region.
Leonce and Corporate Accountability have been partnering for four years to stop Big Tobacco's interference at the global tobacco treaty meetings. Together, we developed multilingual resources to guide government delegates on corporate meddling, ensured meeting participants formally disclosed their industry affiliations, and mobilized people all over the world to join the call to Kick Big Tobacco Out. The policies we advance at the global tobacco treaty will have a direct impact on the lives of the many who bear the brunt of Big Tobacco's abuse, especially children.
"The work we are doing with Corporate Accountability is having an impact today, and it's leaving a legacy," Leonce says. "Together, we're protecting our children from this abusive industry, and creating a world where they can live healthy lives."
This year, we collaborated with organizations around the world to challenge corporate abuse.
Pictured from left to right: Members of the Kick Big Polluters Out coalition demand that governments reject Big Polluters' false solutions at the climate treaty talks (Photo: Bianka Csenki). The Water Collaborative of Greater New Orleans leads a public education and solidarity event on the 10-year anniversary of the start of the Flint Water crisis (Photo VonnieArt.com).
Our team is made up of organizers who are committed to challenging corporate abuse. We each bring our expertise and the leadership that we need to win.
As a campaign organization, we raise and spend money toward achieving tangible, life-saving, and transformative victories. Our financial strategy prioritizes:
Our bold vision for campaigning is informed by our community: allies, board, activists, and donors like you. During these tumultuous years, we've made significant investments together to advance our campaigning, build power to meet the moment, and ensure our operations are aligned with our values. We're following a strategic financial roadmap that keeps us financially strong on a 5-year horizon. We've got what it takes to make a difference now. And together with you, we're ready to meet what the future brings.
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Together, we are shifting the ground where corporations operate, and making it harder for corporations to continue their life threatening abuses. This is only possible because we are connected to people like you. We're grateful to be on this journey with you!
