Entering its 22nd year, the JCK Industry Fund is now accepting submissions for 2019. In addition, the fund has also announced a new mission statement for the program. It reads as follows:

As global leaders in the jewelry industry, JCK strongly believes that it is an essential element and part of our corporate responsibility to give back and continue to nurture an industry that has given so much to so many. The JCK fund was created in 1997 for the purpose of deploying funds donated by JCK, and more recently with added donations from the industry at large. As the fund increases in size and scope, monies are directed to where they are needed the most, and where significant impacts can be attained. A board comprised of executives from a broad scope of the industry contributes to meet regularly, and to date more than $6 million has been given to worthy grant recipients.

The renewed mission of the JCK Industry Fund is: “To assess and prioritize grant requests from all sectors of the jewelry industry, and to invest those available funds to projects that will have the most sustainable impact to improve growth and health for the industry at large.”

“As our industry adapts to changes in contemporary culture, we want to present a mission that clearly defines our goal to support the needs and issues that most directly and substantially impact the industry at large,” said Reed Jewelry Group senior vice president Yancy Weinrich in a press release. “With an increase of funds through generous donations, our mission ensures that dollars are allocated in the most effective way.”

The JCK Industry Fund Committee (which consists of Yancy Weinrich; Mark Smelzer, publisher, JCK magazine; Joel Schechter, CEO, Honora; John Green, president and CEO, Lux Bond & Green; Eddie LeVian, CEO, Le Vian; and Michael Lerche, president, Goldstar Jewellery) will release a new PR campaign to support its efforts and create further awareness of the fund and its mission.

“With continued support from the JCK Industry Fund, our outreach with the Diamonds Do Good message has yielded over 265 million consumer impressions,” said Nancy Orem Lyman, vice president and executive director of Diamond Empowerment Fund, one of the recipients of the fund’s 2018 grants (which totaled $240,000). “We are so grateful to the JCK Industry Fund for understanding the need to foster these positive narratives around diamonds with consumers. With the help of the 2018  grant, we will be able to leverage these efforts more fully into video and further increase our engagement with millennials.”

To learn more about the impact of the JCK Industry Fund, watch the video below.

For more information, and to submit your application, visit lasvegas.jckonline.com/jck-industry-fund.

Brittany Siminitz

JCK Contributing Editor