Posted on January 7, 2016
6 Questions for Heidi Hess, CREDO’s lead women’s rights campaigner
Heidi Hess is a Senior Campaign Manager with CREDO Action. If you passed by her on the sidewalk, you probably wouldn’t guess that she’s our strategic campaign mastermind on all things women’s rights. But she’s that and more, including a mom of two boys who fill her non-work time with basketball, reading, and lots of silliness.
1. How did you become a progressive organizer?
I worked in public education for a long time, as a teacher and a coach. Then in 2005, after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, I worked with my husband James Rucker and our friend Van Jones to start ColorOfChange.org. ColorOfChange’s mission is to strengthen Black Americans’ political voice in order to improve the lives of Black people all over the country. Helping with ColorOfChange’s early campaigns was how I got my start as a progressive organizer.
2. Why is the right wing intensifying its attack on women? Why now?
Actually, attacking women is nothing new for the right-wing. It’s an essential part of the Republican platform, a key way Republicans pander to their anti-woman base, and it’s rooted in a fundamental desire to take away women’s rights. I think we’re seeing an increase in rhetoric now because of the Republican presidential campaign. The candidates are all trying to bolster their anti-choice, anti-Planned Parenthood credentials.
Posted on January 6, 2016
3 must-read mobile stories you may have missed in 2015
I can’t believe 2015 has come to an end. Last year I read lots of articles about mobile devices, and here are few worth saving:
1) Are you coming across as insincere in your texts?
A study conducted at Binghamton University found that using a period at the end of your one-word replies is read as being “insincere” by the recipients. So, the next time you’re tempted to simply type “OK” in your text message—think twice. Read More.
2) Where is it OK to use your mobile phone?
Posted on January 5, 2016
Votes are in, checks are cut: How CREDO donated in December
In December 2015, more than 70,000 CREDO activists and customers voted on how we donate $205,263 to three amazing progressive nonprofits. We’re excited to share the results with you:
$98,629 to Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which provides impartial medical relief to the victims of war, disease, and natural or man-made disaster, without regard to race, religion, or political affiliation.
$57,207 to InsideClimate News, a Pulitzer Prize-winning environmental news organization whose investigative reporting exposed that Exxon knew decades ago that fossil fuels cause climate change.
$49,427 to ReThink Media, an organization helps progressive organizations by providing critical media resources to push back against military conflicts, Islamophobia and money in politics.
Posted on December 31, 2015
2015 CREDO Donations roundup: celebrating $2.4 million given
Thanks to our members, CREDO made a lot of positive progressive change in 2015. We raised $2.4 million for some of the nation’s best progressive organizations—and we couldn’t have done it without our customers.
Just by using our donation-linked products and services like CREDO Mobile, members helped generate close to $200,000 each and every month for three organizations working on the frontlines of social change. We deliver these donations monthly so that we can support timely issues in our nation’s ever-changing political landscape. In 2015, we provided vital funding to 36 organizations working in issue areas from reproductive rights to marriage equality to climate change.
Posted on December 28, 2015
How progressives won in 2015
But let’s not forget: 2015 has been an amazing, groundbreaking year for CREDO Action and the 3.9 million members who led us to some of the most important progressive victories in our 30-year history.
Posted on December 21, 2015
3 reasons why your Android is better with Marshmallow OS
The Marshmallow operating system (OS) is coming soon to many of our Android devices, and has some delicious new features you’ll want to try. This free software upgrade will become available over the next few months, and you’ll receive a notification on your device to update your software when it’s ready.
Here are some of my favorite features from the upgrade:
Posted on December 17, 2015
What Republicans can actually do to make us safer
This week marks three years since 20 first graders and six educators were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut.
Since Sandy Hook, gun violence has continued unabated in the United States because Congress has done nothing to prevent it.
Republicans in Congress offer their “thoughts and prayers” to the victims and their families each time there’s a mass shooting, but they consistently fail to act to make Americans safer. Just one day after the horrific shootings in San Bernadino, California, Senate Republicans voted to block four gun control bills that could actually begin to address gun violence.
Posted on December 10, 2015
Now and always, CREDO stands with Planned Parenthood
The violent attack on a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado last month shook us all. But it also strengthened our resolve to defend women’s rights from extremists everywhere, whether in our communities or on Capitol Hill. Planned Parenthood is here to stay—and so is our support. We’ve donated over $3 million to Planned Parenthood since our founding in 1985, and we’ll be giving much more in the years ahead.
Posted on December 4, 2015
7 questions for CREDO cofounder Laura Scher
It’s not easy to run a socially responsible business, to offer products that make sense for your customers, make revenue for your company—and make change for the world. But it can be done. CREDO has done it for 30 years. Recently we sat down with cofounder Laura Scher to discuss her social-change journey with CREDO.
1. Obviously you’re proud of building a company like CREDO. What gives you the most satisfaction?
The victories we win for progressive change. For example, CREDO was instrumental in stopping the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have been a disaster for our climate. We fought against Keystone for over five years. We raised more than $2 million for groups opposing the pipeline. We generated 42,000 phone calls, over half a million public comments and 4 million petition signatures against it. We organized a civil-disobedience pledge with nearly 100,000 anti-pipeline demonstrators. We even protested at the White House, where our cofounder, Michael Kieschnick, got arrested—twice!—by the D.C. police.
But I’m equally proud of all our victories, because all of them have made positive change in the world. CREDO is the largest corporate donor to Planned Parenthood, so I’m proud that action by our members helped convince the Susan G. Komen Foundation to reverse its decision to defund Planned Parenthood. For years we fought destructive oil drilling in the Arctic Refuge. And we’ve been working for marriage equality and LGBT rights since the day we opened our doors. I was thrilled when the Supreme Court made same-sex marriage legal.
