On 26th March 2020, Gucci announced a 2 million euro donation in support of two crowdfunding campaigns to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, calling on the #guccicommunity to help
At a time when many are confined to their homes, we called on our friends and followers in our global community – who share our values of social justice, diversity, equality and freedom – to stand with us here at Gucci to help raise funds to alleviate the global COVID-19 pandemic. The objective was to provide workers in the health services with equipment, and to fund the scientists who are working on vaccines and treatments.
The initiative followed donations from Kering, Gucci’s parent company, to organisations engaged in the fight against coronavirus in China, Italy and France, and the production of over one million protective masks for healthcare personnel.
“This pandemic calls us to an unexpected task, but it is a call to which we respond decisively, advocating the selfless work carried out by health workers, doctors and nurses on the front lines every day in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, in Italy and in the rest of the world,” wrote Alessandro Michele, Gucci Creative Director, and Marco Bizzarri, former President and Gucci CEO, in a letter announcing the initiative.
“Their generosity and courage light our way forward in these difficult days. By supporting each other and helping those who are most vulnerable among us, we will be able to overcome this crisis: united, even more than before.”
In Gucci’s home country of Italy, which has been particularly affected by the crisis, the company has donated 1 million euros to the valiant efforts of the National Civil Protection Department through Intesa Sanpaolo’s ForFunding crowd-funding platform, with a dedicated webpage (gucci.forfunding.it) where the #GucciCommunity can make donations.
The funds are being allocated by the Italian National Civil Protection Department, to reinforce Italy’s health services and its organisations that are managing the emergency, with the creation of new ICU (intensive care unit) beds as a priority.
Internationally, Gucci has contributed 1 million euros to the United Nations Foundation COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund in support of the World Health Organization (WHO) through a Facebook 10 million USD matching fundraiser. The COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund’s aim is to support WHO’s lifesaving work across many countries, including activities to help track and understand the spread of the virus, strengthen patient care and ICUs, improve supplies for health personnel, including protective kit, and accelerate the development of vaccines and therapies.
The #GucciCommunity has been mobilised to make donations to the Solidarity Response Fund for WHO through the ‘donate’ feature available on Instagram stories on instagram.com/Gucci. The total amount raised is being matched by Facebook as part of its matching initiative.
Concluding their letter, Alessandro Michele and Marco Bizzarri wrote, “Gucci has created a world, open and free: a Gucci global community. We ask all of you to be the Changemakers in this crisis, to stand together with us in the fight against the Coronavirus. We are all in this together.”
#GucciCommunity
