2021 was a big year for Signet Jewelers. In August, the world's largest retailer of diamond jewelry announced they had established its Signet Love Inspires Foundation. A Foundation established to support causes that are directly aligned with Signet's mission to enable all people to Celebrate Life and Express Love.
It was also the first year of their 10 year journey toward achieving the Company’s Corporate Sustainability Goals with a focus on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG). In total, 44 Goals were established and they have already fully achieved three of them to date.
I recently had the opportunity to connect with Signet Jewelers CEO Gina Drosos to talk further about their Corporate Sustainability Goals, their recently released Corporate Citizen and Sustainability Report, as well as their ongoing commitment towards their Purpose – Inspiring Love.
Below are some key highlights from part one of a two part series:
Robert Reiss: Based on our discussion, it seems that your business goals and Corporate Sustainability Goals are connected. Would this be an accurate statement?
Gina Drosos: Yes. Our business goals and Corporate Sustainability Goals are tightly connected — inextricably connected. Our customers buy jewelry for two reasons – either as an expression of love or self-expression. They are gifts of love. They want to know they are responsibly sourced and that we are a company that cares about our people and the planet.
Our Purpose – Inspiring Love – brings out the best in us. Love is at the heart of our business. Our jewelry products and services are designed to help all people celebrate life and express their love. There's something really powerful about helping people do that. We all want to be part of something larger than ourselves, and Inspiring Love is that something for all of us at Signet. It's aspirational and it's tangible.
Gina Drosos, CEO, Signet Jewelers
Reiss: In reading your Sustainability Report, I noticed you have an interesting framework for how you focus your efforts. Do you want to elaborate on this?
Drosos: We organize our sustainability efforts through a framework that we call our Three Loves: Love for All People, Love for Our Team, and Love for Our Planet and Products.
Love for All People showcases the humanitarian work that we do as a company. We believe love has no boundaries and does not discriminate – we’re social change advocates. We believe that diverse perspectives, cultures and experiences spark creativity, innovation and drive results. We champion diversity, equity, and inclusion in the communities where we live and work - throughout our store operations, our digital transactions, and philanthropic giving through our Signet Love Inspires Foundation — all of which show our love for the diverse world in which we operate.
Philanthropy is an avenue we leverage to address some of the toughest challenges in our communities. We draw on our company’s strengths, including our team members, our global reach, and the scale of the philanthropic organizations we support to deliver an even greater impact. For example, our longest running non-profit partnership is with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. We’re passionate about supporting St. Jude in its critical mission to help children fight pediatric cancer and other life-threatening diseases – and so are our team members and customers. Over the course of our 23-year partnership we have raised nearly $89 million and we look forward to continuing to build on that.
Our Signet Love Inspires Foundation focuses on supporting underserved women and children, and social change advocacy. To this end, we're continuing to provide unequivocal support for the people of Ukraine and those impacted by that tragic humanitarian crisis. We suspended business interaction with Russian-owned entities at the beginning of the war, in unity with people from all over the world calling for peace. Through our Foundation, we donated $1 million to the American Red Cross to provide humanitarian aid that is helping provide much-needed food, medical supplies, shelter, and ongoing crisis relief for those who need it most – women and children. We know this conflict is likely to continue for an unacceptably long time, and we will maintain our support for as long as it's needed.
We know customers believe strongly in all kinds of love and they want to know our company celebrates that, too. Therefore, we work hard to ensure everyone feels valued, included and celebrated. Here in the U.S., we stand up for social justice and equity. We provided financial support and vocal advocacy to the Equal Justice Initiative that coincided with the first anniversary of George Floyd's death. Through our "Love Above Campaign," we celebrate PRIDE Month across our brands and on social media, including donations to LGBTQ+ charities. We've also provided financial support to the Trevor Project in honor of Carl Nassib, the first openly gay NFL player. We signed the Human Rights Council’s Business Statement on Anti-LGBTQ State Legislation. We also host internal Town Halls that we call "Signet Speaks Out" – so our highly diverse and engaged team can come together and talk openly about major events in our communities and our country. It’s truly inspiring to learn from each other and to teach one another how to be allies at this divisive time in our history.
A company whose Purpose is Inspiring Love simply has to stand up for love. I’m proud that we are true champions for the under-represented through our Foundation and philanthropic efforts, and strong advocates for diversity, equity, and inclusion. I can't overstate how much our Purpose motivates everything we do.
