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Giving back and volunteering Making it easier to help communities

Giving back is key to C&A and our employees, many of whom generously donate to and volunteer in their local communities. We aim to make it easy and rewarding for our colleagues to do so, bringing individual actions together to create an impact that is greater than the sum of its parts. From in-store fundraising to volunteering, we’re mobilising thousands of C&A employees around the world to play their own part in tackling societal issues, through programmes run in partnership with C&A Foundation.[1]

Our communications approach is localised to ensure we engage and enable our customers to act on issues they care most about. Customers have told us they appreciate locally focused charity work. It can be difficult to get the right balance between supporting local and global causes and charities, but we believe both approaches are necessary to balance local interest and capitalise on our scale and reach. As always, we allow each of our retail markets to define how and where they would like to give back to ensure their experience has positive impacts at a local level.

 

[1] In January 2020, C&A Foundation became part of Laudes Foundation.

Our 2019 performance

C&A Together across Europe

Our long-standing community giving programme, C&A Together, channels C&A Foundation[1] funds, and now Laudes Foundation funds, into charities nominated by local C&A retail organisations to support the wellbeing of children. This allows us to leverage our colleagues’ knowledge of what their local community needs, boosting the effectiveness of our grants. It also gives employees the opportunity to engage more deeply with their community.

In total, 122 different initiatives in 18 European countries received €2.68 million between March 2019 and December 2019. C&A Foundation[2] funds were distributed to a number of charitable organisations.

 

[1] In January 2020, C&A Foundation became part of Laudes Foundation.

[2] In January 2020, C&A Foundation became part of Laudes Foundation.

Brazil

Case study: Helping migrant workers in Brazil

The Instituto C&A volunteering programme at C&A Brazil’s headquarters has been in place for five years. C&A Brazil maintains a volunteering committee, with representatives from each C&A division. In 2019, some 2,452 employee volunteers participated in 444 events, almost 100 more events than the previous year. As before, the events extended beyond the headquarters location to include friends and family members for even greater positive impacts.

Instituto C&A[1] also supported 127 charities during the year. Looking ahead, C&A Brazil will maintain the partnership with Instituto C&A for volunteering, with the aim of continuing to grow employee engagement and the number of people served through a variety of volunteering events. From 2020 onward, stores and distribution centre employees will begin volunteering to supported activities connected with the fashion value chain.

In 2019, Instituto C&A continued collaborating with the organisation Missão Paz to promote the rights and empowerment of immigrant workers through advocacy for public policies, social and legal assistance, and labour integration support. During the year, the organisation supported people rescued from slave labour, helped at-risk children be enrolled in school, and assisted 1,149 immigrant workers in the fashion supply chain, among other actions.

The partnership between Instituto C&A and Centro de Apoio e Pastoral dos Migrantes in 2019 enabled the institutional strengthening of the organisation, contributed to 21 community structures to prevent forced and child labour, helped 7,622 workers participate in rights and training programs, and helped 54 women and men receive training and employment with viable livelihoods.

In 2019, Instituto C&A also began a partnership with the non-governmental organisation SEFRAS (Serviço Franciscano de Solidariedade), working directly with others to shelter migrants rescued from slave labour and raising awareness amongst those who interact with migrant workers.

 

[1] In January 2020, the programmatic work of Instituto C&A became part of the fashion programme of Laudes Foundation.

Where next?

Giving back and volunteering

The C&A Together giving programme in Europe will continue in 2020 to support charities identified by local C&A retail organisations. Likewise, C&A Brazil will maintain the partnership with Instituto C&A for volunteering, with the aim of continuing to grow employee involvement and the number of people served through a variety of volunteering events. And C&A Mexico will continue supporting local charitable organisations with in-kind donations and volunteering events.

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