ascena’s core purpose is to provide all women with fashion and inspiration for living confidently every day. As a specialty apparel retailer focused exclusively on women, ascena and our brands seek to drive positive change for the women we serve.
OUR APPROACH – RESPONSIBILITY AT ASCENA
We focus on inspiring women —our customers, associates and suppliers—as well as the communities and environments where we do business. Our strong foundation is based on the responsible sourcing of our products and the sustainable operations of our enterprise. We believe that caring for women around the world and providing them with opportunities to lead, give back and live well, will lead to a better future for us all.
Our Ambitions
We aim to inspire women in their lives, their work and their communities through our leadership training, mentorship and grants.
We bring this commitment to life by:
- Launching D&I as a strategic business imperative and introducing mentorship programs for women and diverse associates to drive engagement and retention
- Reporting 64% of VP-and-above executives are women, 93% of our stores are led by women
- Supporting women directly and indirectly with financial and in-kind product donations to Dress for Success.
We aim to strengthen women to care for their communities by giving back and paying it forward—for our associates in our corporate campuses and store locations, our supplier workplaces and our customers—supporting the communities in which we work and live. To date, we have raised and donated over $155 million in monetary and in-kind donations.
We bring this commitment to life by:
- Supporting our associates and communities through our Give Back Programs: The Associate Fund, Donation Match, and Volunteer Match.
- Making product donations to women in need through Delivering Good
- Cycling for cancer research through Pelotonia
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Supporting local classrooms in need, through our partnership with DonorsChoose.
We invest in women’s and children’s health and well-being by helping them live their best lives through our long-term health and charitable partnerships and supporting causes that are important to her.
We bring this commitment to life by:
- Supporting cancer research through the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, with a commitment to support 1.2 million research hours by 2022
- Supporting children’s health through our partnership with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Our Ambitions
We strive to inspire women in their lives, their work and their communities supporting leadership training, mentorship and grants.
We bring this commitment to life by:
- Launching D&I as a strategic business imperative and introducing mentorship programs for women and diverse associates to drive engagement and retention.
- Reporting 64% of VP-and-above executives are women, 93% of our stores are led by women.
- Supporting women directly and indirectly with financial and in-kind product donations to Dress for Success.
We aim to strengthen women to care for their communities by giving back and paying it forward—for our associates in our corporate campuses and store locations —supporting the communities in which we work and live.
We bring this commitment to life by:
- Supporting our associates through our Give Back Programs including The Associate Fund, Volunteer Match, and Donation Match.
- Making product donations to women in need through Delivering Good
- Cycling for cancer research through Pelotonia
- Supporting local classrooms in need through our partnership with DonorsChoose
We invest in women and children’s health and well-being by helping them live their best lives through our long-term health and charitable partnerships and supporting causes that are important to her.
We bring this commitment to life by:
- Supporting children’s health through St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
- Supporting cancer research through the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, with a commitment to support 1.2 million research hours by 2022.
Highlights
Charitable giving
We aim to make an authentic impact and connect our brands, associates, and customers to causes that support women’s well-being and empowerment in our local communities where we work and live.
To date, we have raised and donated over $155 million in monetary and in-kind donations since 2005.
Diversity & Inclusion
Named to Forbes’ America’s Best Employers for Diversity and America’s Best Employers for women, launched mandated Unconscious Bias Training, and new Associate Resource Groups (ARGsS) including ascenaPRIDE, Working Parents and Patchwork.
Associates & Communities
We aim to empower associates to unite for the causes they care about in their communities.
- The Associate Fund is an emergency assistance fund for associates, funded by associates.
- Our Donation Match, matches dollar for dollar monetary donations to eligible nonprofit organizations.
- Our Volunteer Match will match ten dollars for every volunteer hour completed up to $250 per fiscal year.
- When disaster strikes we support our stores, associates, and communities in need through our Red Cross and Delivering Good partnerships.
