The Facts About Open to All^®

What is Open to All?

Open to All is a nonprofit nondiscrimination campaign that believes everyone should be welcome regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, immigration status, religion, or disability. We believe we all have something to contribute. We believe we can all learn from one another. We believe that when we work together, when we value our employees, when we care for our customers and one another, we all thrive.

How can my business support Open to All?

There are several ways you can show your support. First, sign the Open to All business pledge. The pledge states that your business is committed to maintaining a welcoming and safe environment for all people (including customers, employees, visitors, vendors and clients) regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, immigration status, religion or disability—and that you do not discriminate or deny people goods or services based on any of these characteristics.*

As part of the pledge, consider making a $10 tax-deductible contribution to receive a window cling you can display publicly. Your donation will help offset the costs of printing, mailing and Open to All staff time.

Then, check out our Resources for Businesses page and find resources to support your employees and communicate to your customers that you are Open to All.

TAKE THE PLEDGE

I’m not a business owner. How can I support Open to All?

We need people across the country to engage with local business owners to invite them to be Open to All. Many business owners won’t know about the “Open to All” attribute on Yelp, the business pledge, or the window cling unless members of their own community share the news with them.

Open to All has developed a toolkit for advocates who want to spread the word about the campaign. To learn more and take action, click here.

How to I get the Open to All window cling?

If you’re a business committed to diversity and inclusion, sign the Open to All business pledge and join our campaign. When you sign up, you will have access to Open to All resources, including our business resources toolkit, window clings you can display to show your support publicly ($10 per window cling), and a digital toolkit. If you would like to order additional window clings, click here.

What’s the “Open To All” attribute field on Yelp?

Yelp offers an “Open to All” attribute to its business page listings. This is a check box on the “More Business Info” section of each business’s page (alongside other check boxes such as “Accepts Credit Cards,” “Takes Reservations,” and “Gender Neutral Bathrooms”). Checking the box allows businesses to designate their business as “Open to All.”

If your business wants to indicate it is “Open to All” on Yelp, click here for a visual tutorial on activating the new attribute.

What if an Open to All business doesn’t seem to be open to all?

We know that being Open to All can involve an ongoing dialogue. Why? Because even the best-intentioned businesses or employees sometimes might not understand that certain interactions with customers, clients, vendors, and employees could potentially create an environment that is not welcoming to all.

When businesses declare that they are Open to All, that’s an important first step in starting that dialogue. If someone has an experience that suggests your business isn’t Open to All, engage in a conversation. Open to All also encourages customers to engage in dialogue with businesses to help them understand what a particular interaction felt like, why it felt welcoming or unwelcoming, what the business is doing well now, and how they hope a business can do better in the future. If your business has taken the time to designate yourself as Open to All, welcome that feedback and encourage that discussion. It’s important for both parties to assume best intentions and look for constructive solutions.

In some cases, however, the concerns might go deeper than that. If a business has mistreated a customer, client, vendor or employee in violation of state or federal nondiscrimination laws, it might be appropriate to approach one of the legal organizations who are part of the Open to All coalition to discuss the matter further. In addition, there are feedback channels—such as comment and review sections—where such concerns can be raised when other approaches are unsuccessful. However, in using those channels, it’s vitally important to avoid incendiary language, name-calling, and threats.

Why wouldn’t people who are discriminated against just go somewhere else?

Many people very rarely have to worry about whether a business will accept people like them. But imagine how you would feel if every time you walked into a restaurant, flower shop, hair salon, or bakery, you could be kicked out simply because the owner didn’t want to serve “people like you.” And imagine that there was no way to know which businesses would or would not be welcoming. The only way to protect countless Americans and their families from that kind of humiliation and abuse is to ensure that our nondiscrimination laws apply to all businesses that are open to the public, and that businesses commit to being Open to All so that customers can see that the business welcomes them and their loved ones.

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Why should our laws require businesses that serve the public to be Open to All?

As a nation, we decided a long time ago that when a business opens its doors to the public, it should serve everyone on the same terms. Most businesses want to do the right thing, but there are some that will only do what’s right when the law requires it. We are all entitled to our beliefs. But that shouldn’t give businesses a license to discriminate. Nobody should be turned away from a business simply because of who they are.

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