Target Foundation Charter
Mission
As a wholly independent entity, legally structured as a separate 501(c)(3) under the United States federal tax code, the Target Foundation plays a distinct role as one of Target’s many philanthropic assets. The Foundation’s capabilities allow it to work toward long-term solutions, extending beyond the time horizon of a retail cycle-driven company. The Foundation complements the corporation’s role in the community by deploying its resources toward systemic challenges that are embedded within the social, economic and policy context. Our mission is to enable systems that empower people and communities to pursue joy in everyday life.
Desired outcome
All families and communities have the resources they need to determine and realize their own joy in life.
Values
The Target Foundation is rooted in the values and culture of the Target Corporation. The expression and manifestation of these values philanthropically extends the reach of the enterprise above and beyond what the company can do alone.
Community
Target is a company for all. It is a center of community life for its team members and guests, and in the regions where its offices, stores, distribution centers and manufacturing sites are located. The Corporation upholds those communities’ trust by investing in the vibrancy of the cities, towns and regions where it has a presence. The Foundation is another manifestation of that community. The Foundation enables the enterprise to engage with important communities and regions that are vital to the company’s role as a responsible corporate citizen.
Equity and inclusion
The Foundation is explicitly committed to upholding equity and inclusion in its work. Communities experiencing the challenges the Foundation addresses must be at the center of the decisions affecting them. The Foundation prioritizes support for organizations whose leadership reflects the communities in which they serve. It recognizes that these organizations often inhabit and contend with histories of disinvestment in marginalized communities and seeks to ensure that its grantmaking and philanthropic practice counters those patterns and enables communities to determine their own futures.
Responsibility
The Foundation is one way that the business expresses its obligation and stewardship to the communities that have enabled it to achieve success throughout its history. Target benefits from the communities where its guests and team members live and work, and these communities span the globe. Conversely, the Foundation’s capabilities allow it to act along the leading edge of issues of concern to the enterprise and to engage in issues and with communities that are affected by the corporation’s emergent priorities.
Legacy
As a philanthropic entity with a century-long history, the Foundation is deeply conscious of its history in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region and as an inheritor of a tradition of philanthropy from both the Dayton family and the Corporation’s long history of giving back. The Foundation aims to honor that tradition through its work and to carry that legacy into the future in ways that are relevant to today’s needs.
Excellence
Target is a retailer known for its high quality. Similarly, the Foundation aspires to be a “best in class” corporate philanthropy. It holds itself to high standards of integrity, seeks to be accountable to its stakeholders (both internal and external), and builds relationships with partners working in its fields of concern who are best positioned to address them. As the Foundation takes a systems approach to its work, its grantmaking will aim to ensure that systems operate efficiently and effectively.