Gucci Philanthropy during their 100 Year Celebration

Gucci Philanthropy during their 100 Year Celebration

By Philanthropy in the Black | June 22, 2021

There hasn’t been a lot of information shared on the philanthropy work on Gucci, an Italian luxury brand celebrating its 100 years in business.This week CEO Marco Bizzarri addresses the future of Gucci providing the executive maps out the company’s potential and strengths to build the next chapter of the brand, as he professes his love for the label and the common purpose with Creative Director Alessandro Michele. While there was a big announcement from Michele to present the brand’s next collection in Los Angeles on November 3, there has been no news of their plans for philanthropy specific to the Black community. We want to know more so we did a bit of research. Here’s what we found.

Most recently Gucci engaged Renée Tirado, an advocate for women in sports to lead the brand as its global head of diversity, equity, and inclusion, a first-time appointment in the brand’s 98-year history. Then in July 2020 Tirado resigned.

The position was created as part of a company-wide initiative that Bizzarri first put into action in January 2019 and then in February, after Gucci came under fire for producing an $890 balaclava sweater that shoppers claimed to resemble blackface. Someone tweeted the image, called out the brand, and the controversy went viral. The company subsequently issued an apology and pulled the sweater off the market. Then in March Bizzarri announced a new program called Gucci Changemakers, which includes an internal volunteering initiative to help get Gucci employees into their local communities, a scholarship program and fund for students, and a grant program for community non-profits. All was to be overseen by Tirado.

Before the need for a diversity officer, in 2013, Gucci launched CHIME FOR CHANGE, a global campaign to convene, unite and strengthen the voices speaking out for girls and women around the world, with a focus on using innovative approaches to raise funds and awareness for Education, Health and Justice projects. In 2015, CHIME announced a long-term partnership with Global Citizen, a movement to end extreme poverty by 2030. Together CHIME FOR CHANGE and Global Citizen are joining forces to promote gender equality. To take action and become a Global Citizen:  https://community.globalcitizen.org/campaign/chime-for-change

Together with Kering Foundation, Gucci seemed more passionate and upfront in fighting violence against women and children.

Since 2005, Gucci has also contributed more than $20 million to UNICEF’s work, focusing on the “Schools for Africa” initiative which helps the most disadvantaged children, including girls, orphans and those living in extreme poverty, gain access to quality education. To date, this partnership has positively impacted the lives of more than 7.5 million children living in sub-Saharan Africa and China.

To mark 10 years of partnership and in support of UNICEF’s work, Gucci released the short film Growing Tall on June 2, 2015. Narrated by children, teachers and parents in a rural community in Mozambique, the film highlights progress made in education over a decade, and illustrates the power of education to transform lives, particularly for girls and women.

Since June 2017 Gucci is a founding partner of UNICEF’s Girls’ Empowerment Initiative that explores innovative, scalable solutions to some of the most pressing problems facing adolescent girls today, and invests in programming and research that yield transformative, measurable results in girls lives and communities. Gucci’s contribution will help UNICEF reach more than 50,000 girls directly with empowerment programs, and reach an additional 150,000 girls indirectly. 

As of 2021 Gucci does not contribute any philanthropy dollars to an American Black female non-profit organization.