Make a difference @ H&M Conscious Foundation

In the coming years, the H&M Conscious Foundation will address three global issues with the help of half a billion SEK, donated from the Stefan Persson family.

Now, the foundation is giving H&M employees and customers the power to decide which three issues to be supported. Starting tomorrow, October 22, everyone can place their vote at  www.makeadifference.hm.com . You have until the 29th of October and you can vote for one of these five topics: Clean water, strengthening women, safeguarding natural resources, education and reduction of poverty through self-empowerment..

With the UN Millennium Development Goals as inspiration, the H&M Conscious Foundation will use its resources to address some of the world’s most challenging problems, making a difference in communities where H&M operates. This means that the votes from H&M employees and customers will have a great impact.

“It is our responsibility to make a positive impact in the communities where H&M operates. Now we invite our employees and customers to tell us what they think the H&M Conscious Foundation should support. This will guide us to understand what issues are of concern to a large group of people across the world”, says Karl-Johan Persson, CEO H&M and board member of the H&M Conscious Foundation.

The H&M Conscious Foundation has consulted a number of experts, selected for their commitment within different development issues, about which global challenges they find most immediate. Clean water, strengthening women, safeguarding natural resources, education and reduction of poverty through self-empowerment are the five most prioritised. These are also the issues to vote for at makeadifference.hm.com.

When the top three issues are decided by H&M employees and customers, the foundation will partner with three world-renowned organisations to globally address these issues. Additionally, the foundation will initiate local programmes in countries where H&M operates, mirroring the themes selected by the voting.

As inspiration on makeadifference.hm.com, the experts reveal which global challenges they find most immediate and why. Among them are Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs and Professor Johan Rockström.

"It is great that the H&M Conscious Foundation takes on the challenges of sustainable development by listening to the ideas of the global public. I am confident that with their commitment and global reach these efforts will promote many important initiatives. We can indeed be the generation that ends poverty and protects the Earth's ecosystems and biodiversity”, says Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, Director, Earth Institute, Columbia University and Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-General on the Millennium Development Goals.

“The world faces enormous challenges, and the H&M Conscious Foundation can help find practical, innovative and sustainable solutions to some of the most important issues of our time”, says Johan Rockström, Professor in Environmental Science at Stockholm University and Director of Stockholm Resilience Centre.