DENVER – (February 13, 2022) – The VF Foundation, the non-public grantmaking business funded by VF Company (NYSE: VFC), one particular of the world’s biggest clothing, footwear, and components firms, nowadays announced its 2022 grants totaling $8.3 million to 60 corporations globally. The grant recipients ended up selected dependent on their revolutionary contributions towards generating a much more equitable and sustainable potential.
Of the $8.3 million granted, approximately $2,635,000 supported leads to aimed at making much more inclusive and accessible outdoor spaces $2,682,500 supported women’s empowerment and neighborhood improvement $1,642,000 supported jobs in sustainable innovation and the remaining investments supported scholarships and mentorship applications designed to ensure far more assorted representation in the clothing, footwear and out of doors industries.
“We are very pleased to make investments in grantees who share our passion and vision for generating meaningful adjust in our core concentration locations,” stated Gloria Schoch, Government Director of The VF Foundation and Senior Director of World Effect at VF Company. “Our funds aid seed, grow and elevate our grantees’ work preserving the planet, striving for fairness, empowering females, battling for inclusivity, rising accessibility for all to the great outside, and currently being modern leaders in local climate answers.”
A Much more Available Outside, For Individual and Skilled Pursuit
The VF Basis is invested in lifting obstacles to outside obtain and profession options in the outdoor sector. To help advertise greater participation of traditionally underserved communities, this work involves working with companies these types of as:
Uvalde CISD Relocating Ahead Basis (Texas): The VF Foundation granted $500K towards the money marketing campaign of a new elementary college in Uvalde, Texas. The expenditure will be leveraged to assemble a health club and outdoor style and design features to assistance Uvalde learners and the community recover and thrive by bodily exercise and outdoor exploration.
Rely on for Community Land (US): The VF Basis granted $250K for the Have confidence in for Public Land’s proof-primarily based local climate justice program which aims to strengthen wellness, weather, equity, and educational results for students and their communities. The resources will catalyze the enhancement of new eco-friendly schoolyards on character-deprived tribal lands by a pilot undertaking with the Bureau of Indian Education and learning (BIE). The community schoolyard model will also be expanded in the Los Angeles Unified Faculty District as element of this expenditure.
College of Denver (Denver): The VF Foundation granted extra than $3 million to create The Leadership in Outdoor Recreation Business Application (LORI), the to start with-of-its-type interdisciplinary outdoor graduate plan showcasing coursework from a few educational models covering business enterprise, law, and coverage to equip the leaders of these days and tomorrow to gas the quickly expanding area of outside recreation. The partnership also incorporates qualified scholarships for underrepresented pupils to maximize the diversity of the expertise pipeline for the sector. Topics covered will include: monetary types, marketing and advertising, sustainability in the outdoor business, ESG, legal concerns in land use and obtain, provide chain, public plan, details-pushed decision-producing and more.
Leicester Metropolis in the Community (United Kingdom): The VF Foundation granted $50K to the Urban Foxes Venture to have interaction girls in beneficial functions by means of skateboarding, climbing, and snow sports activities. The money also give obtain to art and cultural functions which include images, videography, and graffiti, with a target on lessening barriers to participation, acquiring self-assurance and self-esteem, promoting favourable actual physical and mental wellbeing, and boosting aspirations.
Women’s Empowerment in Susceptible Communities Globally
The VF Foundation performs to uplift diverse, vulnerable communities around the planet, with a specific emphasis on females and ladies. By engaging regionally targeted businesses, the Basis is encouraging to tackle core obstructions in community advancement though also supporting lasting economic advancements intended to advantage upcoming generations. This funding is likely toward businesses that mobilize sources to empower regional decision-earning and motion, this kind of as:
The Resilience Fund for Gals in World-wide Worth Chains (Southeast Asia): The VF Foundation assisted start this groundbreaking new fund spearheaded by Small business for Social Responsibility (BSR), the United Nations Foundation’s Common Access Task, and Ladies Get/Win-Win Techniques to provide with each other corporate investors, foundations, and NGO companions to renovate philanthropy and commit in the overall health, basic safety, and financial resilience of the women who kind the spine of worldwide worth chains. The Fund aims to raise at minimum $10 million in pooled funding around 3 yrs to assistance locally driven remedies to the systemic troubles that make girls additional susceptible to crises like the Covid-19 pandemic. This 2nd 12 months of funding will aid women of all ages-led, ladies-serving feminist movements in Vietnam and Cambodia.
Shimmy Systems, Inc (Bangladesh): In the confront of increasing automation and digitalization inside of garment sector communities, Shimmy Technologies is addressing the electronic gender divide and empowering the next era of garment personnel by developing and piloting video sport-centered skilled training applications to upskill females in their industry with the goal of developing money resiliency and making new position chances for the unemployed.
WaterAid (Cambodia): In Cambodia, a single in 4 men and women never have accessibility to clear ingesting h2o, disproportionately affecting gals, girls, and folks residing with disabilities. With the aid of The VF Foundation’s grant, WaterAid is addressing these problems head-on, prioritizing women’s participation and management in local climate-resiliency. It will also tell program structure, decision-creating and implementation making sure that access to clear h2o, hygiene, and sanitation at operate and home are sustainable for all people for years to come.
Unlocking Promising Nature-Primarily based Local weather Options
The VF Foundation is focusing investments on circular and regenerative tactics in manner and apparel, such as promising innovations to decrease textile squander, assist area farmers and gas inexperienced careers as a transformative answer. The VF Basis grant recipients in this area consist of:
Biomimicry Institute (International): With cash from The VF Basis, “Design for Decomposition” pilots and cutting-edge study will examination technologies to transform write-up-consumer outfits and textiles squander into biocompatible uncooked products. The pilots will acquire spot in Western Europeand Ghana, testing the most promising decomposition systems that are commercially viable but have yet to scale, with supporting research in the U.S.
Soil Wellness Institute (U.S.): The VF Foundation’s grant to The U.S. Regenerative Cotton Fund will assistance advance the adoption of soil wellbeing administration units across a lot more than 1 million acres of U.S. cotton cropland to mitigate the consequences of local weather change, improve cotton producers’ livelihoods, and create a extra resilient upcoming for all. The target of the fund is to draw down 1 million metric tons of CO2e from the environment by 2026 through enhanced adoption of regenerative soil overall health tactics by cotton farmers. The grant will also make use of students from Historically Black Faculties and Universities (HBCUs) to advertise equitable methods to sustainable agriculture as a result of an internship plan.
Industrial Commons (U.S.): Substance Return, a major circular economic climate social enterprise system, is reworking textile squander into new yarn. The VF Foundation’s expense in this venture is intended to divert millions of kilos of textile squander from the landfill, provide quality work opportunities to textile workers, and acquire a technique that nationwide models can access to enhance circularity for new merchandise.
Savory Institute (Europe): This pilot grant aims to support change substantial parts of grasslands across the Iberian Peninsula to regenerative administration inside of 5 many years by means of ability developing, holistic administration instruction, and ecological info monitoring at scale. The pilot will also assist to elevate and equip communities whose livelihoods depend on healthier, successful lands, with the vision of fueling the transition of regenerative foods and textile fiber items to marketplaces in Europe.
Redress (Asia): The VF Foundation gives funding for Redress’ new technique for closing sustainability understanding and ability gaps inside of the field. This task will map the recent fashion sector landscape throughout Asia, establish attire output and squander hotspots, and publish crucial findings and suggestions for the finest areas of possibilities in the region.
About The VF Basis
The VF Basis is the non-public grantmaking corporation funded by VF Corporation, just one of the world’s major clothing, footwear and accessories organizations with iconic outdoor, active and workwear brand names which include Vans®, The North Face®, Timberland®, Smartwool®, JanSport® and Dickies®. With its companions, The VF Basis strives to innovate and dilemma-address in collaborative ways to travel transformative, long lasting modify with the vision of building a additional equitable and sustainable earth. Established in 2002, the Foundation has granted extra than $66 million globally with the intention of meaningfully increasing the communities exactly where VF operates. It is dedicated to driving movements for the betterment of people today and the earth across its key strategic pillars: embracing Outdoors Matters, championing Deserving Perform, empowering creative imagination, and self-expression as we are No cost to Be, and supporting Disaster Aid and Restoration. Discover far more at https://www.vfc.com/responsibility/the-vf-basis.
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VF Corporation
Colin Wheeler
Vice President, Corporate Communications
[email protected]
