Goals and progress
Community investment | Creating possibilities
The vision of Gap Foundation is simple: to create opportunities for people to own their future and fulfill their personal promise. Our mantra, “Be What’s Possible,” is a call to action for those we aim to serve — and for ourselves.
We focus our investments on underserved youth in the developed world and women in the developing world because, based on our company’s assets, we see the greatest potential to have an impact in these areas.
As a company, we understand youth culture. In fact, throughout our 40-year history, we have given many young people their first jobs. But young people from underserved communities often lack access to information about how to get a job and keep one. They aren’t exposed to the variety of careers available, or don’t understand the education it takes to pursue them. Through our community investments, our goal is to keep youth engaged in their education and help them better prepare for adulthood through lessons learned from the world of work.
Supporting women’s advancement is another great fit for our company. Women represent over 70 percent of our employees, and have an influential role throughout our management and culture. Since women comprise approximately 80 percent of garment workers worldwide, they also play an important role in the entire apparel industry. While many social programs focus on finding a means of income for women in the developing world, fewer help them advance once they are in a job. We focus our investments in the developing world on educating female garment workers and helping them move ahead in the workplace, as well as in life.
