Our Business
We’re committed to fair access to opportunity and innovation for our people, communities, and business partners, regardless of their background or identity. As a company founded and based on science, we are committed to working collaboratively with all government and community partners to advance our customer-focused innovation and improve lives around the globe.
2023 served as a foundational year for 3M's environmental and community resilience journey. The 3M team focused on increasing community connections through listening sessions in multiple locations where we have manufacturing facilities. We believe it is important to gather local perspectives to better understand our neighbors’ goals and challenges they’re facing. Those local insights informed the development of 3M's environmental and community resilience principles, which aim to improve our global business practices through monitoring of our environmental and community impacts.
Providing environmental grants also furthered our progress in 2023. 3M supported NGOs that are focused on accelerating positive change in a range of communities. Grant recipients like Forum for the Future's American Climate Future initiative and the World Resources Institute contribute to community impact by working, collaborating, and convening across sectors, both locally and globally.
In Q4 of 2023, 3M hosted its first Environmental Justice (EJ) Summit at our Innovation Center in Minnesota. With the theme "Connecting Perspectives for Greater Impact," the summit brought together diverse viewpoints and best practices from over 30 organizations across various sectors, including government, academia, NGOs, community groups, and corporations. Throughout the event, experts shared objectives, refined our approach to community engagement, and emphasized the importance of incorporating community voices into the decision-making process.
3M’s progress in building a diverse and inclusive workforce well-positioned to serve our employees, customers and shareholders has earned recognition from the Center for Economic Inclusion, a third-party organization that supports businesses working to build more inclusive workplaces. In 2023 - for the second year in a row – 3M was recognized as a leading Minnesota-based company on its Racial Equity Dividends Index.
Twenty-two companies voluntarily participated in the 2023 Index to evaluate their existing practices against 43 standards across seven dimensions, compare their progress to peers, and consider the next steps in their journey.
3M was recognized as a high-scoring business in 4 of the dimensions: Leadership; Culture, retention & advancement; Procurement; Philanthropy & investment.
“We are proud of the sustained progress we have made and are always on the journey to do better," Garfield Bowen, Vice President, Social & Environmental Justice, said. “We have a responsibility to build inclusive workplaces and create opportunities in communities where we operate around the world."
In 2021, 3M announced new commitments within each of our three current business groups (BGs) to drive opportunity for all in our communities:
- Transportation & Electronics Business Group (TEBG) to support urban mobility and transportation safety
- Consumer Business Group (CBG) to increase access to homeownership
- Safety & Industrial Business Group (SIBG) to promote diverse representation within the skilled trades
2023 saw steady progress from our business groups, including these highlights:
Transportation & Electronics Business Group
In October of 2022, TEBG and 3Mgives, in partnership with the Providence Streets Coalition, Thriving Places Collaborative, Rhode Island Bicycle Coalition, SPIN Streets and AARP, worked to install the Hope Street Temporary Trail. The project was a community-led effort that consolidated parking to the west side of Hope Street in Providence and created a one-mile trail for walking, jogging, rolling and biking. In addition to providing grant funding and volunteerism to this project, 3M also donated the temporary pavement markings used for the installation.
The project specifically aimed to serve the Mount Hope neighborhood, which is the most culturally and racially diverse neighborhood on the East Side of Providence.
In 2023, we continued our work with the Providence Street Coalition with a $25,000 grant to further their efforts to make transportation safer, more accessible and fairer for all members of the community.
Consumer Business Group
CBG raised awareness of the homeownership gap and racial disparities in housing in the Twin Cities through the immersive experience: Unlocking the Power of Home.
In partnership with Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity, CBG redesigned a shipping container into a home that told the impactful story of the Copelands, a Minneapolis family whose home was rehabbed by the organization. Attendees could also learn about our 3M/Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity partnership, share what “the power of home” means to them and scan QR codes to donate to, volunteer with and advocate for Habitat for Humanity. CBG also granted $20,000 to Atlanta Habitat for Humanity and $5,000 to Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity to promote housing availability in low-income communities.
In 2023 alone, 143 3M volunteers participated in five CBG-led events in the Twin Cities for a total of 572 hours of service. Mike Roman, 3M’s previous CEO, also served as co-chair to the Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity CEO Build in October.
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Safety & Industrial Business Group
3M is committed to diversifying the pipeline of talent in the skilled trades, which helps our business by increasing availability of qualified talent. 3M awarded 50 $1,000 scholarships in 2023 to students pursuing skilled trades during the National Signing Day event in partnership with NC3, the National Coalition of Certification Centers. These scholarships help enable current high school students who are enrolled in or intend to enroll in a technical education program in the fall. The 50 Scholarship recipients planned to attend 22 technical schools and community colleges spanning 14 different states, and more than 90% identified as women and/or members of a racial/ethnic minority group.
In addition to scholarships, 3M is broadly committed to increasing awareness of the huge variety of roles available within the skilled trades. View the documentary film, 'Skilled', to learn more about how different people found their way into the trades and built fulfilling careers. In addition, we created the 3M Skilled Trades website at 3M.com/skilledtrades to share information on key industrial skilled trades, stories about young people who have entered these fields, and opportunities available in skilled trades.
Our New Product Introduction (NPI) teams strive to create products that all can use to their benefit. Through 3M’s Sustainable Value Commitment, our NPI process helps ensure that every new 3M product will make a positive impact on the world. We look forward to creating new 3M products that serve every customer, including using inclusive design principles to create products for every ability.
For example, our weighted Post-it Note and Scotch tape dispensers use accessible design to enable single-handed use through a clip or weighted base. These products can help a person with a mobility or diverse abilities but are also made to serve any user who finds greater convenience in their unique design.
We continued our engagement efforts for governmental advocacy in 2023. 3M supported the California Legislative Black Caucus Policy Institute’s scholarship program, which awarded 150 deserving students the Frederick M. Roberts College Scholarships to support young leaders’ educational endeavors.
3M advocated in favor of anti-discrimination legislation. We supported the CROWN Act, which was signed into law by the Minnesota Governor in February 2023.
