Why Kendra Scott isn’t giving up on social justice in the Trump era

[ResidentialBusiness]

Kendra Scott, founder of her eponymous jewelry brand, still believes business can be a force for good. And she’s got the numbers to back it up.

Today, the brand announces that its foundation has donated $70 million in monetary and in-kind contributions over the last fifteen years to a wide range of causes. It’s supported literacy by providing multicultural and bilingual books to low-income elementary schools. It’s set up a women’s leadership institute at the University of Texas, Austin. It has funded more than 40,000 hours of breast cancer research. At a time when the government is cutting funding to education and medical research, pouring money into these causes matters more than ever.

Speaking to Student Athletes at the Kendra Scott Center at UT Austin [Photo: Kendra Scott]

Scott says she’s only getting started. As the company grows explosively—generating a reported $500 million in revenue last year, a 20% increase from the year before—Scott believes it has the potential to donate even more. And even though many other companies are pulling back on their diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, Scott is continuing to prioritize DEI. The brand’s most recent impact report, lists many DEI initiatives including creating an internal “Hispanic Pod” to better connect with Hispanic consumers year-round. “I am not changing anything about my mission, end of story,” she says. “It doesn’t matter who the president is.”

Scott’s stance goes against the grain in corporate America. Many companies that once boasted about their social justice and equity initiatives—like Target and McDonald’s—have pulled back from these efforts in response to the new political climate. Scott believes this is a mistake and will drive customers away. And indeed, there are now boycotts planned against both of these companies, and many others, including Amazon, Nestle, and General Mills. “If you’re constantly pivoting who you are as a brand, you will not survive,” says Scott. “You won’t just falter in this political climate; you’re not going to survive in future ones.”

[Photo: Kendra Scott]

Kendra Scott’s Unusual Philanthropy Model

Scott was always interested in how she could build a profitable business that could also do good in the world. She launched the brand in 2002 out of a spare room when she was a young single mother. But even back then, she committed to helping any organization came to her asking for support. “I had no money at the time,” she says. “But I said that I wasn’t going to turn anybody away, even if all I could contribute was a pair of earrings for a silent auction.”

Eventually, the brand took off. In 2010, she began opening stores, and that’s when she decided to formalize the charitable giving part of her business. Rather than picking a single cause, Scott wanted to give her customers some say in where money would go. So she developed a unique model where any customer can host a “Kendra Gives Back” event in-store where 20% of proceeds can go to a cause they care about. Last year alone, the company supported 12,600 causes, ranging from the girl scouts to pediatric cancer.

[Photo: Kendra Scott]

Scott believes this approach allows the brand to become more embedded in the community. “We’re fostering a genuine connection with our customers because we’re meeting them in some of the darkest moments of their life,” she says. “We’re meeting them when their kids are fighting cancer and raising funds for things that could be tragic. We are trying to spread light in dark places.”

As the company has grown, Scott has been able to invest in other causes that are important to her. In 2016, when Scott lost a close friend to breast cancer, the foundation began pouring money into breast cancer research and has already donated $2 million to this cause. Scott is also passionate about supporting literacy efforts in under resourced communities. She’s launched a program called Yellow Libraries, where the foundation partners with a literacy non-profit called First Book to provide multicultural and bilingual books to low-income schools that receive federal funding.

Now, the government is slashing funding to scientific research and is contemplating eradicating the department of education. Corporate donations are now increasingly important to keeping these causes going.

[Photo: Kendra Scott]

Social Good Is Good For Business

While some business leaders worry that philanthropy might be a distraction from building a profitable company, Scott believes philanthropy has been directly tied to the brand’s growth. “It’s what differentiates our brand from our competitors,” she says. “It’s what keeps customers engaged and loyal.”

The company is now scaling quickly, generating half a billion dollars in annual sales. In 2016, the private equity firm Berkshire Partners acquired a minority stake in the business, valuing the company at $1 billion. This allowed it to expand its retail operations. It now has more than 100 standalone stores, while also selling through retailers like Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s. It also sells products through its e-commerce website.

The brand has been deliberate about appealing to new generations of customers. It offers a wide range of price points, and many tweens gravitate towards the brand’s more affordable necklaces like the Elisa, which sell at a rate of one a minute. Scott points out that Gen Z is very socially conscious, and are more likely to engage with brands that support a social cause.

But the brand also remains popular with older customers, many of whom have been loyal fans for years. “When we closed all our stores during COVID, customers started writing in to ask about the employees in the stores,” Scott recalls. “It was a testament to how these stores were really part of the community and had shown up when customers needed donations.”

Scott believes it would be a mistake to change the brand’s approach now, even as the political climate in the country is changing and many other companies are turning their back on social justice initiatives. “Consistency is so important,” Scott says. “When we say we’re going to do something, we do it.”

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