CREDO Mobile
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CREDO Mobile (formerly Working Assets Wireless) is an American
History
Working Assets was founded by
Credit cards
Working Assets's initial product was a credit card that generated donations to progressive nonprofit groups every time the card was used.[2] Soon, the company introduced a ballot process for its customers to vote on how to distribute the money raised among nonprofit groups. The ballot is still used today.
Long-distance phone service
In 1991, the company launched long-distance phone service, promoting the fact that it would donate 1% of its customer charges to nonprofit groups. It also featured political actions in the customers' monthly bills, urging them to make free calls to elected officials. And it let customers pay for "CitizenLetters" to be sent in their name to the officials. By 1993, these actions included calling for a single-payer healthcare system and for allowing gays in the military.
Mobile phone service
The company started its mobile phone service as a
Name change
In November 2007, Working Assets Wireless announced that it was changing its name to CREDO Mobile to better reflect the company's values: A belief that people, through donations to nonprofits and political activism, can effect progressive change.[3] The names of its phone services were changed to CREDO mobile and CREDO Long Distance.[4] However, its credit card is still called the Working Assets Credit Card.
Environmental policy
In keeping with its commitment to protect the environment, the company offers free phone recycling, prints its bills on 100% post-consumer recycled paper, and offsets its electricity and shipping costs through Carbonfund.org's "carbon-free" program. CREDO plants 100 trees for every ton of paper it uses (enough to generate another ton) and it has donated more than $15 million to environmental groups in the US and abroad.[5]
In 2009, CREDO Mobile was recognized by the nonprofit Planning and Conservation League as the Environmental Business of the Year.
Political activism
CREDO Mobile's mission of social change takes the form of two primary activities: its donations to progressive nonprofits, and its CREDO Action activist arm.
Donations to nonprofit groups
Donations from its credit card, long-distance and mobile customers cumulatively total more than $80 million since 1985.
Each year, the company selects dozens of nonprofit groups in five broad issue areas: civil rights, economic and social justice, environment, peace and international freedom, and voting rights and civic participation. And each year, the company asks its customers ("members" in the company's parlance) to vote on how to distribute the money it raises among the groups.
One criticism of CREDO Mobile is that the organization only donates about 1% of each customer's bill.[9]
In 2018, CREDO Mobile donated $4000 to the initial Strong Arm Press crowdfunding drive. This press, a small imprint started in 2018 by The Intercept editor Ryan Grim and HuffPost editor Alex Lawson, placed CREDO's logo on the back cover of its first six books.[10]
CREDO Action
Credo Mobile also has created an online network of more than 3 million activists who take actions both online and offline. On its website, the company states:
Many companies, especially large ones, hire lobbyists to mold government policies and legislation to serve their financial interests. CREDO blazes a different path. We fight for progressive social change with 3 million of our activist friends at CREDO Action. No lobbyists, no back-door meetings, no candidate contributions. Just ordinary Americans, galvanized to speak truth to power.
During the build-up to the
Credo Mobile has been a vocal opponent of both the
Among its environmental activism, the company has focused on moving away from fossil fuels and toward supporting renewable sources. As such, it has campaigned relentlessly against coal power, natural gas fracking, and more recently, against the proposed
To increase voter turnout in the United States presidential election of 2008, CREDO Action started an initiative called Pollworkers for Democracy, which paid individuals to staff polling places and ensure fair voting practices. For their Text Out the Vote campaign, CREDO invited users to enter friends' phone numbers to text them each a reminder to vote on election day.[citation needed]
Several
CREDO's political activism includes a wide range of issues – from favoring marriage equality, women's rights, food safety and increased prosecution of fraud and crimes on Wall Street, to opposing corporate money in politics, especially in the aftermath of the
CREDO SuperPAC
In 2012, the company launched the "CREDO
In 2014, the CREDO SuperPAC planned to use the same grassroots, volunteer-driven activism to help candidates of the
Influence
Another company, Patriot Mobile, was begun in part to provide a conservative alternative to Credo.[15][16]
References
- ^ a b Dano, Mike (17 August 2016). "Credo Mobile MVNO dumps Sprint for Verizon". FierceWireless. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
- ^ a b O'Toole, James (6 June 2013). "'Progressive' phone company CREDO Mobile slams govt snooping, but can't stop it". CNN Tech. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
- ^ Kim, Ryan (31 October 2007). "Working Assets Wireless becomes Credo Mobile". The Technology Chronicles. Archived from the original on 24 May 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
- ^ Jacquot, Jeremy (31 October 2007). "Working Assets Launches CREDO Mobile: "Greenest Mobile Phone Company in the U.S."". TreeHugger. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
- ^ "Real Green: CREDO Mobile". Archived from the original on 2016-01-20. Retrieved 2016-01-21.
- ^ "Home". credodonations.com.
- ^ Rosenfeld, Claire (September 15, 2015). "CREDO stands with Planned Parenthood". CREDO Mobile. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
- ^ "Who We Fund: CREDO Donations Program | CREDO Mobile". Archived from the original on 2016-01-26. Retrieved 2016-01-21.
- ^ Chakrabarti, Spandan. "Why Progressives Shouldn't Fall for the Credo Mobile Scam". The People's View. Archived from the original on 31 March 2019. Retrieved 28 April 2019.
- ^ Freed, Benjamin (21 February 2018). "How a Small DC Publishing House Keeps Up With the Trump Administration". Washingtonian. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
- ^ SF Chronicle: CREDO relies on text messages to ensure progressive victory
- ^ "Meet our People | CREDO Mobile, the progressive mobile phone company". Archived from the original on 2015-10-05. Retrieved 2015-10-18.
- ^ Fuller, Jaime (2014-04-23). "Progressive super PAC to help Dems in five close senate races — but not Pryor and Landrieu". Washington Post. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
- ^ Alman, Ashley (2014-04-23). "Progressive Senate Campaign Targets 5 Republicans In Key Races". Huffington Post. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
- ^ Dano, Mike. "Patriot Mobile, an MVNO for conservatives, looks for holiday shopping growth". FierceWireless.
- ^ "Why We Started Patriot Mobile - patriotmobile". Patriot Mobile. 8 February 2020. Archived from the original on 24 May 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2020.