Corporate Social Investment
As an established fashion retailer, we have a long track record of living up to the responsibility of ensuring that our customers look and feel at their best. In doing so we are aware that we bear the further responsibility of ensuring that sustainable economic development and social upliftment take place in the communities among which we operate. Social investment spending with which the group is associated makes use of funds derived from the Foschini Foundation, from group resources and from direct donations provided by staff members.
The Foschini Foundation - registered as an independent charitable organisation in August 2006 with an initial capital base created by a donation from the group – has as its objective to use its investment income to provide donations to selected charitable causes. As women and children are the most marginalised and vulnerable members of society, and women make up the majority of our employees as well as our customers, the beneficiary focus of our CSI contributions are women and children. (Consideration is also given to the disabled.)
- Donations are made annually by the Foundation, together with merchandise donations for the benefit of public service organisations.
- Additional donations are also made by various divisions of the group in cash, sundry equipment, merchandise and services.
- Staff members and business partners of the group also voluntarily give of their time and resources to social projects.
Our CSI strategy
Our aim regarding CSI expenditure is, where practical, to become involved in the conceptualisation, development and execution of our own CSI projects, and our CSI expenditure remains channelled into the following key areas of concern:
- Education – one of the keys to unlocking the potential of our country lies in the provision of and access to quality education for all citizens, so we invest in projects that focus on improving the quality of literacy, numeracy, and mathematics and science education at the stage of early childhood as well as at primary and secondary levels.
- Skills Development – it is essential that members of previously disadvantaged groups receive not only school education of good quality but also training to equip them with entrepreneurial skills to enter the world of work or to start their own businesses, so we support projects that provide skills for employment, job creation and entrepreneurship at post-school level.
- HIV/AIDS – HIV/AIDS affects our staff, their families, our customers and the nation as a whole and there is an undeniable obligation to contribute to under-resourced programmes to contain this pandemic. Support is directed to organisations that assist orphan-headed households and to others that provide training and assistance for home-based care initiatives. Through their activities and combined skills, these organisations educate the community about HIV/AIDS and train volunteers to counsel people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.
- Arts, Culture and the Environment – it is also important to us to support organisations that run projects to educate children about the Arts, Culture and the Environment in order for these to be sustained.
- Special Projects – we continue to support the “16 days of activism against abuse of women and children” during which the public is encouraged to “Act Against Abuse”. The campaign focuses on increasing the awareness of the negative effects of violence against women and children and raising the profile of some of the organisations who work in this field. Other special projects include support of the Bel Porto School for the disabled, children’s organisations affiliated to the Child Welfare organisations in South Africa, aid for the Disaster Management organisation and donations to the Red Cross Children’s Hospital, Tygerberg Children’s Hospital and the SPCA.
Working together on corporate social investment
The group’s CSI initiative is very much a team effort and we actively encourage a culture of philanthropy and community involvement amongst our employees and business partners. The group CSI department works with the employees of the trading and service divisions on their individual projects to maximise effectiveness. These projects are incentivised and employees who volunteer for community work in their spare time are provided with Rand-for-Rand grants through the “staff community builder” programme.