Fighting Racial Injustice
"To realize our Mission to Save and Sustain Lives, it is our shared responsibility to fight racism, end marginalization and advance social justice within Baxter and around the world. There is hard work ahead, but we must continue to build on our longtime global embrace of diversity, equity and inclusion to shape the future we want for ourselves, our children and generations to come."
– Joe Almeida, Chairman, President and CEO
Racism, intolerance, marginalization and discrimination are not bound to U.S. borders. They affect our colleagues, families, friends and communities worldwide in countless forms - overt and veiled. We condemn all acts of hate.
Baxter is a tapestry of difference. We comprise a vast, magnificent spectrum of employees united in a single Mission: Save and Sustain Lives; which rests on our strong commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion globally.
As a testament to our commitment, in 2020, we launched ACT: Activating Change Today, a multidimensional and multiyear initiative to advance inclusion and racial justice within the workplace and within the communities and markets we serve. Since ACT launched, we have expanded our efforts to address needs in more than 20 countries around the world.
As the name suggests, our commitment through ACT is about taking action and driving results. We aim to achieve meaningful, sustainable change to the complex, longstanding, multifaceted societal issue of racial injustice, within and beyond Baxter. We are acting with a sense of urgency, prioritizing initiatives that we believe will provide the biggest impact.
Recent Examples of ACT:ions in Flight
Talent
Baxter addresses how best to hire, retain, and advance diverse talent
- Baxter aims to increase diverse representation in its pipeline by collaborating with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs); Predominantly Black Institutions (PBIs); and U.S. organizations with diversity-focused recruitment fairs
- The Baxter MultiCultural Network business resource group was launched to support diversity, equity and inclusion across the EMEA region and to maximize the impact of Baxter's work toward addressing racial injustices
- Baxter partnered with McKinsey & Co. in the U.S. through the Connected Leaders Academy leadership development program, which aims to advance racial equity by investing in future leaders from diverse companies
Communities
Baxter addresses the needs of communities affected by systemic racism and aims to cultivate meaningful diverse supplier partnerships
- The Baxter International Foundation provided $3 million in grants to organizations in the U.S. to demonstrate a commitment toward advancing racial justice. Baxter's ongoing 2:1 ACT Matching Gift program for these organizations increases our impact
- The Baxter International Foundation committed $3.5 million to the Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TCMF) to support U.S. students pursuing STEM degrees over a three-year period from 2022-2025
- Baxter joined more than 1,100 corporate, government and not-for-profit organizations to make a formal commitment to reconcile with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations People of Australia) communities across Australia and New Zealand with the goal of improving economic and health equity in these communities
- Baxter donated $150,000 to the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) to support women executives and minority entrepreneurs in the U.S.
Marketplace
Baxter addresses healthcare disparities that disproportionately affect racially diverse communities
- Baxter provides grants and scholarships to HBCUs in the U.S. and universities in the United Kingdom and Ireland to support students pursuing health and science degrees, with the goal of increasing the diversity of healthcare providers in the medical community
- Baxter continues to drive conversations around health disparities by establishing a Critical Care Racial Disparities Advisory Board, which aims to understand why Black patients are disproportionately impacted by health disparities in critical care to help identify potential solutions
- Baxter partners with the National Kidney Foundation of Illinois and The Links, Inc. to establish Black K.A.R.E., a community engagement program to address disparities in chronic kidney disease through awareness, resources and education. The program has reached more than 3 million community members in the U.S.
Just Voices Video Series
Just Voices is a video series that seeks to shine a light on the real experiences people have encountered with racial injustice in healthcare.
Fostering Open, Honest Conversations
"How can you honor, and take pride in, the experiences of your fellow Black colleagues? And how can you champion them to ensure that we have diversity in every crevice of our marketplace?"
– Nosa Eguae, Portfolio Manager, Cardiovascular