Social Fabric AssociationAnnual Report 2016

Promoting creativity, community, and

human potential

Social Fabric Association was founded in 2016. Social Fabric Association aims to support the potential of people who come from a refugee background, through textile-based projects.

Social Fabric’s Vision

We seek a world of social justice and hope, in which every person has the opportunity to use and develop their skills, earn a livelihood, and contribute to the community in which they live.

President’s Message

The past year has been one of international upheaval. 2015 and 2016 have seen the biggest influx of refugees into Europe since World War 2, which has in turn led to a rise in xenophobic feelings, and support of extreme right wing political groups in Europe and North America.

A large component of our mission at Social Fabric is to create an intercultural community that fosters understanding, mutual support, and better ways of doing business, in order to address the world’s most pressing problems, including migration chal-lenges, climate change, pollution, and unethical supply chains. We aim to show that multi-culturalism drives organizational and societal strength, not weakness, and by working together, we can come up with solutions to the most difficult problems of our time.

While Social Fabric is still a relatively small pilot project, our team is extremely proud of what we have accomplished in 2016. We consolidated our inter-cultural community, which includes local customers, volunteers, beneficiaries who come from an intercultural background, and of course many supporters. We now have a core team of five people, each of whom comes from a different cultural background, and have succeeded to provide a model upon which other companies can create best practices for an intercultural workplace.

Our success this year wouldn’t have been possible without the countless contributions of our volunteers, donors, communi-cations partners, and supporters. You have helped to create a strong foundation for Social Fabric, which I, and our motivated team, look forward to building upon during the coming year.

In 2017, we plan to leverage our passionate, dedicated, and tal-ented team, donors, and members, to drive the growth of So-cial Fabric, in order to achieve a greater impact in our commu-nity, while reaching out to international partners. With your support, we will make this happen.

Heather Kirk

Milestones reached in 2016

2

work placements for refugee tailors

38 beneficiaries from a refugee background

CHF

29 333 raised through the

‘We Aspire’ crowdfunding

campaign

768

volunteer hours contributed

Developed a formal collaboration with AOZ, the organisation that coordinates social assistance for refugees in Zürich.

Sold 278 refugee-designed t-shirts.

Sold 300 t-shirts, 400 totebags, and 20 backpacks as promotional gear to companies.

Developed several new products that had good customer feedback, including natural pillows, a convertible rucksack, two t-shirt models, and a men’s shirt. Three of these (the two t-shirt models and the men’s shirt) were co-created with our refugee tailor, Cisse Sekou.

Placed Social Fabric products in three shops, including the shop at the Swiss National Museum, the Circle Shop (selling sustainable products), and the Swiss Design Market.

Acquired five small business customers for custom sewing projects (bed sheets, meditation cushions, upcycled hoods, makeup removal cloths, and hip scarves). Several more customers are in the pipeline.

Communications and media milestones: Alnatura featured Social Fabric in all seven of its Swiss stores in August and September, 2016. Lush featured Social Fabric on its ‘Charity Pot’ lotion during September and October, 2016. We received press coverage in a number of other publications (see press list at the end of the report), and an article is currently in preparation for Migros Magazine.

The aim of the project was to engage refugees by designing t-shirts together with them based on stories from their pasts, during a series of workshops. These t-shirts are sold via the website www.refugees-welcome.ch. Part of the profits go to the refugee designer (or to a non-profit organization of their choice if they are not allowed to work), and the rest helps to finance on-going programmes by Social Fabric Association. Through storytelling, the local community gains more intercultural awareness, and the partici-pants of the project contribute to something creative and meaningful. We sold 278 of these t-shirts in 2016.

Since September, 2015, we have been hosting weekly sewing classes for refugees that are partly taught by volunteers. We accept fabric donations from the community that refugees can use for their projects, and partic-ipants learn how to sew and design their own clothes and accessories. Several experienced refugee tailors also attend these events, and they contribute to teaching other participants, as well as using the space and equipment for their own projects. More than 30 refugees attended this programme in 2016.

Open sewing classes for refugees

Refugee t-shirt project

Projects carried out in 2016

We are participating in the GEP programme (goo.gl/XtbwCt) of the AOZ. The GEP programme gives refugees work placements in non-profit and governmental organizations to facilitate their social integration, and pro-vide them with some work experience. Our first participant, Bijoux Nd-inga started in July, 2016. She is a 32 year old tailor, and a single mother of two, from Congo. We also raised funds via a campaign that we called ‘We Aspire’ to provide a paid internship placement for a second beneficiary, Cisse Sekou, who has been attending our programmes since September, 2015, and is a tailor from Ivory Coast (more information about this effort at bit.ly/cisse2016). We hired Cisse at 60% engagement starting from Oc-tober, 2016.

Refugee internship programme

Social Fabric Association Leadership and Operations Team

Board of Directors

Heather KirkPresident, Social Fabric Association

Melanie GajowkiVice President, Social Fabric Association

Innovation Manager, WWF

Megan McGillBoard Member, Social Fabric AssociationProject Manager, C&A Foundation

Operations Team

Helka MäkiProject Manager

Carola RuckdeschelTailoring mentor

Cisse SekouTailor

Bijoux NdingaTailor

Social Fabric Association Financial Outcomes 2016

Space and equipment for the 2016 calendar year were kindly donated to Social Fabric Association.

Operating Costs 2016 (in CHF)

Administration and Communications 8482.28Materials costs 12923.35Mentoring for beneficiaries 1280.00Project management costs 30292.70Salaries paid to beneficiaries 7105.70Other 2613.00Total 62697.03

Revenue 2016 (in CHF)

Donations 12682.45Grants 29000.00Sale of consumer goods 41870.93Contract Sewing Work 3458.60Merchandise 6980.00Total 93991.98

Organisational Capital at the end of 2016: CHF 31294.95

Thanks to our institutional donors, who made our work possible in 2016:

COFRA Holding AG Group

Swiss Life ‘Stiftung Perspektiven’

WWF

Alnatura

LUSH

Römisch-katholische Kirchgemeinde Dübendorf

Help Social Fabric Association deliver lasting change

Donate

Donations can be made to:

IBAN CH38 0839 0034 1225 1010 6BIC (SWIFT-Code): ABSOCH22

Social Fabric AssociationEichstrasse 298045 Zürich

Account at Alternative Bank SchweizKalkbreitestrasse 10Postfach8036 ZürichSwitzerland

Activate

Join the conversation, to mobilize your networks for good:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/socialfabriczurich Twitter: www.twitter.com/iamsocialfabric Instagram: www.instagram.com/social_fabric_zurich

Advocate

Speak up! Raise your voice to advocate for an inclusive and solution-oriented world.

Join Us

Become a Social Fabric member at www.socialfabric.ch/membershipsSend us an email at info@socialfabric.ch to enquire about volunteer

opportunities.

See linked to articles at www.socialfabric.ch/press

Zürich 2 Quartierzeitung, 28.01. 2016, page 8: Kleider aus Milchfasern oder Orangenschalen im Visier.

20 Minuten Tillate, 02.03.2016: Ich will nur Arbeiten.

RonOrp Stadtblog, 26.09.16: Co-designing mit Cisse Sekou, einem Schneider und Flüchtling von der Elfenbeinküste.

Moneta, #4, 2016, page 5: Flüchtlinge willkomen.

Financial Times, 01.12.21016: MBA graduate makes a material differ-ence in sustainable fashion.

Schweizerischer Verband für Weiterbildung blog, 21.12.16 Weiterbil-dung – eine enternehmerische Aufgabe.

PRESS

• Social Fabric Association • Eichstrasse 29, 8045 Zürich • • www.socialfabric.ch • info@socialfabric.ch •