Development Co-operation Profiles

H&M Foundation

Introduction

The H&M Foundation is a family foundation based in Sweden. It was established in 2013 by the Stefan Persson family, founders and main owners of the H&M Group.

Through partnerships with experienced organisations around the globe, the H&M Foundation aims to accelerate the progress needed to reach the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 by investing in people, communities and innovative ideas. The H&M Foundation works on a global scale, creating systemic change with transformative programmes and local projects to directly address urgent needs.

Private development finance

The H&M Foundation provided USD 5.4 million for development in 2022 through its grantmaking activities. Compared to 2021, this amount represents a decrease of 36.8% in real terms.

 

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Support to Ukraine

In 2022, the H&M Foundation provided USD 200 thousand of gross development finance to Ukraine to respond to the impacts of Russia’s war of aggression.

Bilateral and multilateral allocations

In 2022, the H&M Foundation channelled its development finance mostly through non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society (USD 4.2 million).

 

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Civil society organisations

In 2022, civil society organisations (CSOs) received USD 4.2 million of the H&M Foundation’s gross development finance, all of which was earmarked for specific projects or programmes. Most of this finance was channelled through international NGOs.

Learn more about the DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Aid.

 

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Geographic and thematic focus

In 2022, the H&M Foundation’s development finance was primarily focused on Asia (excluding the Middle East). USD 5.2 million was allocated to this region, accounting for 96.2% of gross development finance.

Figure. Bilateral private development finance by recipient country

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In 2022, 99.9% of gross development finance went to individual recipient countries, namely Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Ukraine.

 

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Least developed countries (LDCs) and other low-income countries (LICs) received USD 3.9 million (72%) of the H&M Foundation’s gross disbursements in 2022, followed by lower-middle-income countries (27.9%).

 

Notes: LDC: least developed country; LIC: low-income country; LMIC: lower middle-income country; UMIC: upper middle-income country; MADCTs: more advanced developing countries and territories.

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Fragile contexts

Support for fragile contexts reached USD 4.1 million in 2022, representing 76.6% of the H&M Foundation’s development finance.

 

Notes: HDP: humanitarian-development-peace. The chart represents only gross bilateral contributions that are allocated by country.

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Learn more about support to fragile contexts on the States of Fragility platform.

Sectors

In 2022, 72% of the H&M Foundation’s contributions were allocated to social infrastructure and services and 19.6% to production sectors. In terms of sectors, the H&M Foundation’s largest allocations went to education (USD 3.4 million) and agriculture, forestry and fishing (USD 1.1 million). Humanitarian assistance amounted to USD 0.4 million.

 

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Sustainable Development Goals

In 2022, the H&M Foundation committed the largest shares of its contributions to quality education (SDG 4), reduced inequalities (SDG 10) and decent work and economic growth (SDG 8) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda. Support to gender equality and women’s empowerment amounted to USD 4.6 million.

 

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Additional resources

Official website: https://hmfoundation.com

The methodological notes provide further details on the definitions and statistical methodologies applied, including core and earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations, the Sustainable Development Goal focus of private development finance, channels of delivery, unspecified/unallocated allocations, the gender equality policy marker, and the environment markers.