On Wednesday, February 19, 2025, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), a philanthropic organization run by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, shuttered its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts.
“Given the shifting regulatory and legal landscape, we will no longer have a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility team at CZI,” CZI Chief Operating Officer Marc Malandro said.
In addition to disbanding its diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility team, CZI also cut its Diverse Slate Practice, a measure implemented to ensure candidates from diverse backgrounds are interviewed for all open roles. CZI also terminated all “social advocacy funding,” which includes grants and contributions for organizations pushing for immigration reform, advocating racial equity, and other social issues.
“There are a small number of multi-year grant commitments we made previously that we will still honor, but none of these will support political activism,” Malandro added.
Zuckerberg’s Meta eliminated its diversity, equity and inclusion programs in mid-January, including the company’s Diverse Slate Practices and Supplier Diversity initiatives. As Donald Trump and his administration continue to push back against DEI practices and initiatives, Meta, McDonald’s, Walmart, Target, and several other corporations have eliminated related programs and initiatives.
“At its best, DEI is about developing talent, measuring it in a fair way and finding hidden talent and disadvantaged talent in a world where not everybody has an equal chance to exhibit their abilities,” former Merck CEO Ken Frazier said.
