Aurora James

In 2020, James launched an initiative called the 15 Percent Pledge,[11][12] with an Instagram post on May 29 that Vogue writes "immediately went viral and resulted in an outpouring of interest."[2] The 15 Percent Pledge Foundation was then created as a non-profit organization to urge major retailers to commit 15% of their shelf-space to Black-owned businesses.[3][13] The Foundation offers large corporations accountability and strategy suggestions[14] as well as consulting services.[13]

The murder of George Floyd sparked a wave of activism for the Black Lives Matter movement and renewed calls for the end of the systemic racism in America, as well as social justice reform, and economic and social equality; James told TIME Magazine in August 2020, "I was watching Black-owned businesses literally shutter before my very eyes while I was also seeing these major retailers say, ‘We stand with you,’" ... "And the reality is that you actually don’t."[15] TIME Magazine writes that James wanted to "find a way that companies could make a tangible change," and "from there, the 15 Percent Pledge was born."[15]

The goal of the foundation is to advocate on behalf of Black-owned businesses and to build generational wealth in black communities;[16] according to its website, the initiative "was born from seeing multiple acts of social injustice and police brutality in the United States, with a lack of corporate accountability for the systemic issues at play."[17] BET writes that James started an Instagram account for the 15 Percent Pledge and "tagged a series of larger retailers highlighting the disparity in business loans, wages, and the long-term effects of the pandemic on Black-owned businesses."[18] Reuters reports the foundation conducted audits of retailers, including Target, Whole Foods, Nordstrom, and Neiman Marcus, and found "Black-owned businesses currently constitute on average just 1% of U.S. retailers' supplier base."[19]

Businesses including Sephora, Rent The Runway, West Elm, and MedMen,[15] as well as Macy's, Indigo Books & Music in Toronto, Yelp, the U.S. edition of Condé Nast’s Vogue,[3] Macy's subsidiaries Bloomingdale's and Bluemercury, and InStyle magazine[20] have signed on to the 15 Percent Pledge.

The New York Times writes Sephora also "said it would provide connections and support to black-owned businesses from funders and venture capitalists and evolve its existing incubation programs to 'focus on women of color,'" and this is an example of the type of longer-lasting change sought by the 15 Percent Pledge.[1] Sephora also said it would create an advisory group that includes James and other leaders of brands owned by people of color to help Sephora make changes.[1]

Cam Wolf writes in GQ magazine that "James is careful to note that the 15 Percent Pledge is not the only solution," and that James said, "This is a really tough time for everyone, and people shopping is by no means going to ease the pain of the lives that we have lost ... There are also a lot of other things that we need people to be doing, like donating to bail funds."[21]

In September 2020, James asked Canadian retailers to take the 15 Percent Pledge in a Toronto Star opinion article,[22] and CBC News reports "James said the Canadian effort was launched partly in response to feedback she got from Canadians who got in touch as a result of the U.S. campaign to say that retailers such as Hudson's Bay and Holt Renfrew can do better."[23]