The Grab Your Wallet Alliance is a catalyst for positive social change, a benevolent, rapid response army of people organized to flex their economic power in ways that promote equity, belonging, and respect. 

Whether you're a consumer, a worker, an investor or all three, the mission of the alliance is to help you use your economic power in ways that encourage companies to evolve in positive directions and expand opportunities for systemically marginalized people.

A recent example is our Force the Issue database, a project aimed at ending the damaging, pre-MeToo era practice of corporations requiring arbitration for sexual harassment claims. The Force the Issue project is backed by a statement of support from over 40 institutional investor groups with over $54 billion in managed assets. 
 

In general, we serve those who want to understand how to use their fiscal power in favor of progress. We serve the big-hearted, fair-minded people of the world and especially women who make or influence the vast majority of the world's consumer decisions.

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National News Sparks Change
In 2016, the release of the Access Hollywood tape revealed a lewd conversation about women between then presidential candidate Donald Trump and television host Billy Bush. The news came amidst an already controversial campaign that frequently stigmatized immigrant communities and communities of color. 

At the time, the Trump team was using the presidential run a way to monetize its brands from the campaign trail. This raised concerns that several major U.S. retailers were inadvertently profiting from a campaign of racism, xenophobia, and denigration of women. 

A Grassroots Movement is Born

In response, Shannon Coulter launched the grassroots #GrabYourWallet boycott along with Sue Atencio. The action was aimed at demonstrating the purchasing power of women and to provide big hearted, fair minded people with a peaceful, impactful way to protest the Trump administration’s serial targeting of already marginalized people.

The public Grab Your Wallet spreadsheet offered an always-up-to-date listing of which companies had financial ties to the Trump administration. It encouraged visitors to contact these companies, respectfully express their concerns, and refrain from doing business with them until they severed financial ties with the Trumps. 

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Lightning in a Bottle 

The #GrabYourWallet hashtag was viewed over a billion times on social media. Over 70 companies severed ties with the Trump brand. In February 2017, The New York Times reported Grab Your Wallet was pivotal in Nordstrom’s decision to do so.

Grab Your Wallet has been covered by The Washington Post, The New York Times, NPR, BBC, CNN, TIME, The Guardian, Vogue, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Nightline, The Paris Match, and The Sydney Herald among many other national and international media outlets.

Along the way, a number of notable figures have highlighted or amplified the #GrabYourWallet movement including: Gloria Steinem, Roseanne Cash, Pam Grier, Joyce Carol Oates, Greg Louganis, Lucy Lawless, Neko Case, George Clinton, John Leguizamo, Robert Reich, and Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry's.

In 2019, Grab Your Wallet became a 501c4 nonprofit and has evolved into a more general resource aimed at helping people flex their economic power in ways that promote equity and respect.