Vans is on a mission to harness the power of community to encourage self-expression in a big way. On November 18th, more than 20 nonprofit partners and 18,000+ participants around the world raised over a million dollars to promote community sports, music, film, and art thanks to Vans Checkerboard Day.
Money earned from this positive-impact project goes toward charities, scholarships, and education programs around the world. The themes change every year – this year’s was Together Makes It Better and the last two were Creativity for Mental Wellness and Celebrate Creativity, respectively – and they’ve always been a smashing success.
The original event announcement from Vans:
“As the brand’s single largest philanthropic initiative, Vans will support 16 charities from around the world who share a mission of revitalizing public spaces through arts, sports, culture and social impact programming by donating a collective $1 million USD. Each regional organization will receive $50,000 USD from The Vans Checkerboard Fund at Tides Foundation or via a direct donation from Vans to use towards their organization’s mission to continue their work around the world to build vibrant, inclusive, and welcoming spaces to support their local communities.”
