We established the Checkerboard Fund in 2019 to provide monetary support to nonprofit organizations working to build a more equitable and inclusive society.
We focus on funding organizations committed to equality, mental health support, and empowering everyone to use creativity to discover themselves.
Creativity is essential. It is the thread that connects us, the unlock to self-discovery, the soul of progress. It requires heart, curiosity, unapologetic authenticity, community, and ingenuity - it demands that we take risks and reach for our most authentic selves.
Our brand was born out of youth culture - for the skaters, surfers, musicians, and artists among us who do things their own way - none of which would have been possible without creativity. While creative potential is equally distributed, opportunity isn't. At Vans, we believe that creativity should be neither a privilege nor an afterthought. The most Off The Wall thing you can do is be yourself.
OUR PARTNERS
SISTERHOOD
Sisterhood - Exists to create pathways for confident changemakers, through their social impact project young changemakers design solutions to gender, social and humanitarian issues that impact them to create a future in which all girls & gender expanding youth can thrive.
WHERE LOVE IS ILLEGAL
Where Love is Illegal - Is a campaign sharing LGBTQI+ stories of discrimination and survival from around the world. They use their platform to amplify queer voices in order to inspire connections, transform opinions and change policies.
SURF GHANA
Surf Ghana - Collective is a social platform & non-profit organization founded in 2016, aiming to use the practice of board sports as a driver for education, social inclusion, and empowerment for the youth, curating events, sports experiences and building sports infrastructure. Surf Ghana launched in December 2021 Freedom Skatepark, a recreational center dedicated to skate culture located in the heart of Accra Ghana. With Surf House, the collective aims to develop a sustainable surfing community, provide a safe space for local surfers and empower the youth of Busua in general.
SHARE A BIKE SHARE A SMILE
Share a bike - Share a smile - Is a BMX NGO that collect & donates bikes and parts to riders in developing nations. An in-hand given support coming with educational initiaitives, with for goal, bringing smile, purpose, preventing social exclusion & help the development of the Bmx scene around the world.
BEN RAEMERS
Ben Raemers - The Ben Raemers Foundation aims to reduce the stigma and taboo of mental health and suicide prevention by offering training, awareness raising and talking about these issues within the skateboarding community. We are developing and delivering a pilot project with the National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society (NCPS). In the project, we have created a training module for registered NCPS practitioners to understand some of the complexities associated with mental health in the skateboarding community. Once practitioners have completed the training, they are then on our database of support people access understanding counselling.. We are also offering a course of free counselling from the list of practitioners for up to thirty skaters who have applied through us. Thus breaking down some of the barriers to accessing counselling, feelings that the counsellors won’t understand the client, knowing where to go to seek support, and the financial burden. We also hope to use the Project as a learning opportunity and expand the concept for future development in supporting people access counselling.
SKATEISTAN
Skateistan - Skateistan is an award-winning non-profit organization which empowers children through skateboarding and education. By combining skateboarding with creative, arts-based curriculum, they give children the opportunity to become leaders for a better world. Their focus is on groups who are often excluded from sports and educational opportunities, especially girls, displaced children, children living with disabilities and those from low-income backgrounds. Skateistan provides safe spaces where children can have fun, build their skills and confidence and break down social barriers by making new friends.
