Our mission
Sport for youth empowerment
As an extension of the brand’s social commitments, the Lacoste Foundation fully embodies the Group’s ambition to make a positive contribution to society.True to the spirit of the company and the values of its founder René Lacoste, the Lacoste Foundation’s mission is to promote the social and professional integration of young people through sport.
The Lacoste Foundation makes a long-term commitment alongside partner associations, in France and around the world, which rely on the transformative power of sport and which use physical activity and sport as a lever to inspire young people, remobilise them and enable them to build their future with confidence.
Promote access to sport and encourage regular physical activity
Promoting sport for all
Investing in education in the broadest sense
Promoting employability and access to the professional world
Discovering sport and improving the well-being of young people.
Since its creation, the Lacoste Foundation is dedicated to promote access to sport for young people from low-income families or underserved communities, or those who face barriers due to their origins, socio-economic situation or disability, who are unable to take part in a sporting activity because the costs of transport, equipment or registration are too high, or because the sporting discipline is far removed from their culture.
With this in mind, the Foundation supports community projects that enable young people to :
- Have fun and relax in a safe environment
- Socialise and make friends
- Develop healthy habits (nutrition, hygiene, etc.)
- Improve their physical and mental condition
- Train and progress, individually or as part of a team
- Be inspired by the positive values of sport (fair play, respect for rules, etc.) and improve their behaviour
Encouraging young girls to take up sport and Encouraging disabled people to take part in sporting activities.
As a source of inspiration and self-expression, sport can be used to build awareness of one’s skills, develop self-confidence and self-esteem, meet up with peers in a safe environment, or give oneself a free rein.
The Foundation is committed to enabling everyone to feel they have a legitimate right to take part in sport.
Encouraging girls to take up sport
To encourage young women to take up sport and avoid self-censorship, particularly among teenage girls, the Foundation gives priority to :
- Sports sessions where parity is respected, or single-sex sessions so that young girls can practise sport in a safe and motivating environment.
- The presence of ambassadors with inspirational backgrounds.
- Project highlighting female performances as ‘role models’.
Enabling people with disabilities to discover and practise sport in an adapted setting.
Sport that is adapted to the needs of this population brings many physical benefits – motor skills, flexibility, concentration – and also has a positive impact on their mental well-being by improving their social skills, self-esteem, etc.
The projects supported by the Foundation also aim to change attitudes and society’s view of disability by encouraging sports sessions that mix able-bodied and disabled people.
Encouraging all forms of learning.
Sport is a fantastic gateway, a powerful tool for re-mobilising young people around an activity in which they can flourish and progress.
To this end, the Lacoste Foundation supports programmes that combine sport with academic support or educational activities (language courses, IT, public speaking, etc.), the arts and citizenship, in order to restore young people’s confidence in their abilities, prevent them from dropping out of school and help them rediscover the pleasure of learning.
Using sport as a lever, the projects supported aim to pass on fundamental values and rules for living in society, and develop soft skills. These initiatives also enable young people to broaden their horizons, in particular by taking part in international youth exchanges, which promote encounters, contact with new cultures and ways of life, and openness to the world.
Giving young people the best possible opportunities to discover and enter the job market.
In addition to sports activities, the Lacoste Foundation supports programmes that introduce young people to the realities and codes of the corporate world in order to prepare them for work, help them identify their talents, project themselves and avoid censorship in their future career choices.
Thanks to its partners and the mobilisation of Lacoste employees, the Foundation helps young people to think about their future by focusing on activities that encourage:
- Discovery and exposure to the corporate world (site visits, job shadowing, work placements, etc.).
- Employability through training courses leading to qualifications, help with writing CVs and preparation for interviews.
- Mentoring by Lacoste employee volunteers
Our heritage
The commitment of René Lacoste (tennis champion and founder of the brand) on the tennis courts and his tenacity earned him the nickname ‘Crocodile’. These values are at the heart of the Lacoste Foundation and Durable Elegance. Right from the start.
During the Second World War, René Lacoste asked the workers to reforest the family golf course at Chantaco, planting 40,000 trees. This monumental task enabled them to avoid being sent to the Obligatory Labour Service in Germany. Later, with his wife Simone Thion de La Chaume, they enabled cadets to train on the same golf course: a whole generation of future champions emerged, including Jean Garaïalde and Bernard Pascassio. Lacoste had enabled them to reveal their potential. He continued to do so for many young people, whose development he took great pleasure in encouraging.
Through the Lacoste Foundation, we are perpetuating this spirit, rooted in sport, education and culture. Respect for others, team spirit, perseverance and surpassing oneself are the values that guide our success: we strive to pass them on, with enthusiasm and humility.
‘Confidence, tenacity, perseverance, rigour: with these weapons, everyone can build their life’ René Lacoste
Our Governance
The Lacoste Foundation is administered by an Executive Committee made up of 10 members, including 4 representatives of Lacoste and 6 external experts.This committee meets three times a year to define the Foundation’s strategy and determine the projects to be supported.
The Lacoste Foundation is hosted by Fondation de France.
Discover who is part of the Lacoste Foundation Executive Committee
Lacoste Foundation Executive Committee
● Amandine Morel, EVP Brand, Lacoste
● Gaëlle Petit-Perrin, EVP GLobal Human Ressources
● Pierre-André Maus, Director of the Lacoste Group - Chairman of the Foundation
Lacoste Foundation’ s Board
● Bernard Derrien, EVP Operations, Lacoste
● Lilou Fogli, Screenwriter and actress
● Pierre-Hervé Gautier, former Chairman of the Robert Abdesselam Foundation
● Michaël Jérémiasz, former world No. 1 in wheelchair tennis
● Sophie Pouget, lawyer
● Séverine Leguillon, expert consultant to the Ministty of National Education, Higher Education and Research, Sports, Youth and Associative Life
● Arnaud Assoumani, Paralympic athlete, long jump and triple jump, gold medallist at the Beijing Olympics
Contact us
The Lacoste Foundation favours long-term partnerships.
For this reason, we do not issue calls for projects and are not in a position to consider unsolicited project proposals.
We identify associations through our networks. These associations are invited to submit a funding application for a project pre-selected by our team.
For more information:
fondation@lacoste.com