Banana Republic 2012 Annual Report Download - page 17

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Employees volunteer through
Gap Foundation
Gap Inc. P.A.C.E. participants in India
Doris Fisher with Glenn Murphy
Gap Inc. co-founder Doris Fisher serves as an Honorary Lifetime Director on the
Board of Directors. She shared some thoughts regarding the company’s values.
You have always believed that Gap Inc. should aspire “to do more than sell
clothes.” How did it come about?
I’ve been committed to service all my life, as was Don. Even as a child, I was a
Girl Scout and used to volunteer in the local hospital. So it was perfectly natural
for us to bring our passion for helping others and a dedication to being active
in the community to the business. Many of our employees have joined in these
e orts over the years.
Volunteerism is an important part of the culture at Gap Inc. That must make
you very proud.
It’s so gratifying that our employees devoted nearly 460,000 hours to their
communities last year. It makes me feel good and incredibly proud. We’ve had
volunteers help rebuild homes following Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans,
and Superstorm Sandy in New Jersey. Our Gap store employees in Connecticut
partnered with the online team in San Francisco to provide new backpacks to the
children of Sandy Hook Elementary School, following that horrifying tragedy.
They didn’t do it as part of a company-led e ort. They saw an opportunity to help
and fulfi lled it. I am proud that we’ve built a company where employees can take
that type of initiative where they work.
How do you see this promise infl uencing aspects of the company?
The promise helps shape how we do business. We bring integrity to our business
practices and ensure respect in the workplace. We work toward bringing our
customers products that are produced in an environmentally friendly way.
Programs like Gap Inc. P.A.C.E. (Personal Advancement & Career Enhancement)
provide life skills training to women who make our product. In fact, since 2007,
17,000 women have participated in the Gap Inc. P.A.C.E. program around the
world. We do our best to lead by example, not because others are watching, but
because it’s the right thing to do. At the same time, we hope that by sharing this
work with our customers and communities, we can make an even bigger impact.
How would you like to see the promise fulfi lled in the next few years?
It’s important to me and to the leaders of our company that customers around
the world know what we do, inside and outside of our stores. That means we
are serious about building partnerships with organizations that share our
passion for making a positive impact in the community. To be successful, we
tailor our local business activities to the needs of di erent locations, whether
it’s Hong Kong, London, Shanghai or San Francisco. I feel strongly that we can
best live our promise – to truly do more than sell clothes – by bringing the
volunteer experience to life for more and more of our employees. Striving to
deliver excellent products, personalized service to customers and being active
in our communities makes us a company with a heart. We could never be
anything else.