In 1952, Levi Strauss and Co. established an independent private foundation, the Levi Strauss Foundation, to provide grants to community based organizations working to create meaningful social change. Today, the Foundation funds organizations and programmes committed to this cause across the globe targeting areas where Levi Strauss and Co. has a business presence. The Foundation encourages programmes that advance human rights and the well being of underserved people. It is dedicated to taking courageous risks, supporting innovative community partnerships, and promoting the practice of good corporate citizenships.
The Levi Strauss Foundation’s grant making decisions are guided by the following principles:
- A belief in empowering individuals and communities to identify their most important issues and to participate in solving them.
- A resolve to address social biases and inequalities and their impact on people and communities touched by our business.
- A commitment to work with other funders and to encourage the collaborative efforts of our grantees
Along with programmes advocating workers right and eradicating HIV/AIDS, the Levi Strauss Foundation funds programmes dedicated to asset building.
The Levi Strauss Foundation and Asset Building
The Foundation sees asset building as a powerful anti-poverty strategy and has been at the forefront championing programmes dedicated to asset building strategies. In 1997, the Levi Strauss Foundation became the first corporate foundation to sponsor a groundbreaking pilot called the American Dream Demonstration – a collaboration between the Center for Enterprise Development (CFED) and the Center for Social Development that lasted five years. It was the first large-scale test of Individual Development Accounts (IDAs): matched savings accounts for the working poor devoted to purchasing a home, paying for college or skills training, or starting a small business. Today, across the globe, IDAs are growing in popularity as an asset building strategy. The findings from the American Dream Demonstration showed that:
- Low-income working people, when given the right incentives and support including financial education, can and do save for long-term goals.
- Building assets has profound effects on individuals and families and their ability to break the poverty cycle. It enables them to plan for the future and avoid risky behaviour, weather unexpected financial storms, lower their housing costs through ownership, and create their own job opportunities through entrepreneurship.
The Levi Strauss Foundation is committed to the global asset building agenda and to enabling low-income people to accumulate and preserve financial assets. Since 2005, the Foundation has awarded over $1.5 million in asset building grants to over 28 organisations in 9 countries. It has funded a range of asset building strategies - from finance and financial education to savings groups, micro-business development, along with developing the capacity of the organisations delivering these strategies. It has helped marginalized individuals and families save their way out of poverty, enabled them to pay for tuitions, buy first homes, and build sustainable businesses. This work has also advocated against predatory lending practices and helped to expand small-business access to international markets.
The Foundation is the sponsor of the Indigo network.