At the peak of the Black Lives Matter protests in June of 2020, Sony, along with several other music companies, announced a major commitment to help fight racial and social injustice worldwide —in its case, $100 million.
The company has issued an extensive update on its progress with the Sony GroupGlobal Social Justice Impact Report., which comprises the efforts of Sony Corporation of America, Sony Electronics Inc., Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Music Group and Sony Picturesto foster equality, fight racism and champion social justice.
According to the announcement, “While each Sony Group company curates its Fund strategy differently, collectively, we have officially pledged 71% of the total fund to more than 400 community organizations worldwide. Of those grantees, nearly half of the organizations are dedicated to supporting Black communities, and another quarter are focused on uplifting Hispanic/Latinx communities.”
It delineates the contributions to three key areas where it will “work closely with our global task forces to disburse the following percentages of funding”:
- Education 54.64%
- Civic & Community Engagement: 31.10%
- Criminal Justice Reform: 12.44%
Through this fund and our grantee partners, we will continue to provide
Sony Music Group Chairman Rob Stringer said: “Sony Music Group (SMG) has been very intentional and strategic about our work to support underserved and overlooked populations as part of the Global Social Justice Fund. Our charitable partners are doing incredibly important work to advocate for education and fairness across civil rights, gender and racial equity as well as economic justice. SMG is an ambassador for an empowering art form that shapes cultures around the world and we take our responsibility seriously to support the issues that align with our core values and those of our artists, songwriters, and employees. We will continue to fund organizations that are bringing about long-lasting and meaningful change to our local communities around the world.”
The recipients range from the Youth Association for Academics, Athletics, and Character Education in Toronto (a community organization that seeks to engage young people from underserved, under-resourced, and marginalized neighborhoods in the city and surrounding region) to Tribal Warrior in Sydney, Australia (an organization that aims to reinvigorate the culture of the Aboriginal population in the Redfern community of Sydney); from Key4Life, a U.K.-based charity that aims to reduce youth re-entering the criminal justice system by delivering a seven-step rehabilitation program to young men in prison and those at risk of incarceration) to the Guadalupe Musalem Fund in Oaxaca, Mexico (a non-profit organization that aims to provide access to education for young women from rural, indigenous, and Afro-Mexican communities through financial support during their high school and collegiate studies).
See the full report here.
