Toms places giving focus on mental health charities

Toms is continuing to support grassroots charities with the launch of 10 giving grants of 10,000 US dollars to mental health-focused organisations.

The Toms 10x10 donation is in celebration of World Mental Health Day and has been designed to fund access to resources for people to take the “first step” into bettering their mental health.

The grants have been awarded to 10 organisations across the globe, including The Maya Centre in the UK, Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective and Healthy Minds Alliance by Health360 in the US, and Jack.org in Canada.

Other mental health-focused charities receiving money are AMAFE in Spain, Fundación Origen in Mexico, The Lighthouse Arabia in the UAE, MHI Mental Health Initiative in Germany, Team Tilia in Sweden and Together for Children in Greece.

Each of the organisations were chosen by the Toms Impact team for having significant mental health programming and an established track record in providing tangible mental health resources.

Amy Smith, chief strategy and impact officer at Toms, said in a statement: “The earlier a mental health challenge is identified, and the more quickly a person receives care, the more attainable recovery can be. We have learned from our impact partners that one of the primary reasons people do not seek professional help is a lack of information and resources about where to start.

“Every single day we are committed to supporting people on their journey to better mental health, and every Toms purchase supports this commitment by funding access to mental health resources for the millions of people who need them. We created TOMS 10x10 in celebration of World Mental Health Day. We are proud to give grants to these 10 organisations across the globe that support mental health programming on a local level.”

In 2021, Toms evolved away from its One for One giving model to a new impact strategy, where it gives a third of its annual net profits to grassroots organisations, which includes investing in partners building equity at the local level. This was launched alongside a new more youthful visual identity centred around ‘when you wear Toms, you wear good’ as each pair of Toms bought allows the brand to give more. To date, Toms has impacted more than 100 million lives through its giving programme.