THE H&M CONSCIOUS FOUNDATION RECEIVES A DONATION OF SEK 500 MILLION FROM THE STEFAN PERSSON FAMILY
The Stefan Persson family is donating SEK 500 million to H&M’s charitable foundation, the H&M Conscious Foundation. This significant contribution will enable the foundation to make a big difference for people and communities in the countries where H&M operates.
The H&M Conscious Foundation, which was established in 2007 in conjunction with H&M’s 60th anniversary, is receiving a donation of SEK 500 million from the Stefan Persson family. The donation will now enable the charitable foundation to help even more people in need around the world. There will be a particular focus on initiatives that help achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals for example, promoting children’s health and right to education.
Suggestions of specific focal areas will be made by a group of experts on social issues, development issues and environmental issues, which will work together with the foundation. The H&M Conscious Foundation has previously supported charities such as Hand in Hand, in its work to combat poverty in India through microloans and training for female entrepreneurs. Going forward the foundation will support a number of organisations including WaterAid, which provides people in poor areas with access to clean water and hygiene. The foundation will also support disaster relief efforts in countries where H&M operates.
The donation to the foundation is aimed at bringing about improvements in the wider community, while H&M’s operations will continue to work actively to bring about improvements throughout the value chain.
“The donation from our family will enable the H&M Conscious Foundation to carry out more initiatives on a greater scale in order to change and improve the lives of people in countries where H&M is present. We hope and believe that our donation will make a noticeable difference to many people and will help bring about lasting improvements,” says H&M’s CEO Karl-Johan Persson.
For questions please contact:
Kristina Stenvinkel
Head of Communications H&M
Telephone: +46 8 796 39 08
stenvinkel@hm.com
Camilla Emilsson Falk
Head of Media Relations H&M
Telephone: +46 8 796 39 95
camilla.emilsson-falk@hm.com
H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB (publ) was founded in Sweden in 1947 and is quoted on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm. The company’s business concept is to offer fashion and quality at the best price. In addition to H&M, the group includes the brands COS, Monki, Weekday, Cheap Monday and & Other Stories as well as H&M Home. Today the H&M Group has more than 2,800 stores in 49 markets, including franchise markets. In 2012, sales including VAT were SEK 140,948 million and the number of employees is more than 104,000. For further information, visit hm.com.