Signet Jewelers CEO Gina Drosos says the jewelry giant is tackling its “audacious” fundraising goal with a record-breaking contribution of $8.75 million to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
The amount marks Signet’s highest single-year fundraising total and its largest one-time donation to St. Jude, Signet’s charity partner for 25 years. St. Jude is dedicated to research and treatment for children with cancer and other life-threatening diseases.
“For me and so many of our team members and customers, it’s personal,” Drosos tells JCK. “It’s so easy to imagine your own family suddenly faced with such difficult and scary news and not knowing where to turn. The fact that there’s a place like St. Jude welcoming families faced with one of the most gut-wrenching journeys they’ll ever have to go on—how could you not want to do all you can to help that mission?”
Signet’s brands, including Kay, Zales, Jared, and Banter by Piercing Pagoda, raise money for St. Jude through the sale of plush dogs and bears in stores; from customer donations at the register and online; and through fundraising by staff members, including such activities as the St. Jude Memphis Marathon.
“This milestone is meaningful to me personally and to Signet as a company because our partnership with St. Jude is one that is built on a shared mission and purpose—both of our organizations are centered, quite simply, around love,” Drosos says.
“Our partnership with St. Jude really resonates with customers,” she says. “In the past year, 10% of all transactions through Signet banners that participate in our St. Jude partnership included a St. Jude donation. That amounts to more than 1 million individual donations powered by consumers.”
Last October 2023, Signet pledged to raise $100 million for St. Jude—an “audacious goal,” Drosos called it—to follow up on the first $100 million it had raised for the nonprofit over the years.
“We all need a why: why we wake up every day and do what we do, why we work hard, and why we don’t give up,” says Drosos. “As a company whose purpose is ‘inspiring love,’ we filter everything we do at Signet through our ‘three loves’: love for all people, love for our team, and love for our planet and products. Our why when it comes to our partnership with St. Jude is grounded in our love for all people.”
While it continues to fundraise for St. Jude, Signet is planning a new initiative in the coming year centered on natural diamonds.
“Natural diamonds are rare, unique, timeless, and treasured—just like true, lasting love,” Drosos says. “We want to remind and educate the next generation of diamond buyers that there is no better symbol of love than the gift of natural diamonds. Like love, natural diamonds evoke emotion, mystery, uniqueness, and eternity.”
(Photos courtesy of Signet Jewelers)
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