Advocacy & Access

Across our work in advocacy and access, The Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation directly funds and fosters programs that champion DE&I initiatives, women’s empowerment and health & wellness.

DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION

HBCU Scholarships

In 2021, The Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation partnered with the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) Morehouse College, and Spelman College to provide scholarships for Black, African and African American students studying at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) across the country.

The $2 million commitment will enable and create more pathways for equity within the fashion industry and beyond, beginning with education. In addition to Morehouse College and Spelman College, Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation Scholarship grants will benefit eligible students at 10 HBCUs over a five-year period. In collaboration with UNCF, those institutions will be selected using criteria including current unmet funding needs, enrollment rates, proximity to the Ralph Lauren Corporation’s U.S. operation centers and institutions that have disciplines and curricula that foster careers in the retail industry. Extending the reach of The Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation, each scholarship will encourage community service participation.

This effort supports institutions whose values are aligned with those of both the Ralph Lauren Corporation and The Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation – including dreaming of and pursuing excellence, committing to inspiring and enacting meaningful social change and a devotion to the compassion for and service of others.

Learn more about the Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation HBCU Scholarships.

DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION

Hetrick-Martin Institute

The Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation is proud to be a longtime supporter of Hetrick-Martin Institute (HMI), a nonprofit that provides critical social services to at-risk, LGBTQIA+ youth, primarily those of color.

For more than 15 years, we’ve partnered with the organization – the oldest LGBTQIA+ youth nonprofit in the US – on Café HMI, which addresses hunger and food insecurity through its meal program. Café HMI functions at the heart of the organization – giving LGBTQIA+ youth a chance to be a part of an affirming community while also receiving compassionate care.

In addition to providing meals, HMI provides its youth members with access to mental health services, social services, basic needs such as toiletries and clothing, as well as remote and in-person programming services focused on education, workforce development and arts & culture.

Photo Credit: New York City AIDS Memorial

Health and Wellness

Supporting HIV/AIDS Initiatives

The Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation is a longstanding supporter of communities affected by HIV and AIDS. Over the years, the Foundation has contributed to a number of HIV/AIDS initiatives that help raise awareness and bring attention to the epidemic, including:

Treatment and cure research, along with advocacy initiatives supporting the needs of people living with HIV, led by amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research
Funding provided to the Elton John AIDS Foundation to help provide access to HIV services & care as well as reduce the stigma around the disease globally
Honoring the more than 100,000 New Yorkers who have died of AIDS as a named sponsor of the New York City AIDS Memorial and continuing to support through their cultural programming to bring free, public art and cultural programming to the local community
Supporting AIDS Walks for over 30 years by bringing together hundreds of Ralph Lauren employees, friends and family across the country for awareness events in New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles

Today, the Foundation proudly continues to help these communities in their fight to end the AIDS epidemic.

Women's Empowerment

Resilience Fund for Women in Global Value Chains

Launched in the spring of 2021, the Resilience Fund for Women in Global Value Chains is first-of-its-kind collaborative funding initiative bringing investors, like The Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation, together with foundations and NGO partners, to invest in the health, safety, and economic resilience of the women who form the backbone of global value chains. The Fund aims to raise at least $10 million over three years to support locally driven solutions to the systemic problems that make women more vulnerable to crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2021, this innovative collaboration provided unrestricted funds to organizations in South Asia, trusting local and regional women’s funds, women-led organizations, and feminist leaders to know what their communities need and enabling them to direct resources to yield the strongest outcomes. In 2022, the Resilience Fund extended to Cambodia and Vietnam to provide support grants to women-led, community-based organizations that work on the Resilience Fund’s main thematic areas of gender-based violence and/or sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Learn more about the Resilience Fund.