DUSSELDORF – C&A Foundation has become the first European foundation to sign up to Glasspockets, a Foundation centre initiative that champions philanthropic transparency and encourages foundations to improve openness in their communications. Another notable aim of Glasspockets is to show how institutional philanthropy is relevant to the critical issues and challenges of our time.
The move is a significant one given the growth in the number of philanthropic foundations now in operation, many of them prevalent within the apparel space. Stakeholders are, quite rightly, entitled to ask searching questions about the nature of such foundations, including issues relating to funding.
Explaining the C and A Foundation’s thinking, Sarah Ong, programme manager, supply chain innovation and transformation, said: “Disclosure of transparent data is one of C&A Foundation’s major strategies to improve conditions in the garment industry. We believe transparency is an essential tool to increase accountability in apparel production and much of our support is focused on enabling partners to disclose and use transparent data on supply chains and working conditions. Discovering Glass Pockets, it only seemed right to practice what we preach and make our own way of working transparent too.
“One of the things we’ve found from the transparency work we support is that disclosure is more useful when it is standardised, so that performance can be compared versus peers and over time. It is for this reason we believe it’s important to disclose through Glass Pockets.”
Added the C&A Foundation’s executive director, Leslie Johnston explains: “C&A Foundation is working hard to positively transform one of the world’s most opaque industries: fashion. To do so, we believe in the power of transparency which can move hearts, change minds, and nudge action.
“It is therefore equally important that we embrace transparency in how we operate. Joining Glass Pockets was an important first step, allowing us both to apply our deep commitment to transparency to ourselves and to learn from others on how else we can be more open.”