A Letter From the Publisher of VICE Impact

For the past year we have been working on building VICE's advocacy arm, a new division which will not only raise awareness of certain issues but also contribute to their solutions. My experience in government and the nonprofit sector has taught me that you can't effect profound change if there is no communication between policymakers trying to push legislation, traditional media reporting on the issues, and foundations and grassroots organizations trying to advocate for their cause. VICE Impact will feature content that engages our audience on a deeper level, giving them the opportunity to take action on the content they consume on our platform.

We recognize the complexity of the issues we are taking on, and that we will be more powerful by forging partnerships. We will be working with NGOs, local organizations, foundations, activists, and companies. Through this process, we hope to advance the role that companies and organizations should play in driving change via a new business ethic.

To this end, we have launched VICE Impact with several formative campaigns and partnerships focused around the platform's key issues, namely; social inclusion, climate change and global sustainability, water, the future of work, and global health.

Committed to promoting tolerance and social inclusion on our platform, VICE Impact is partnering with YouTube to combat online hate speech, extremism, and xenophobia. We'll be highlighting the efforts of YouTube's Creators for Change with a series of videos that chronicle each Creator's efforts and their personal journeys to advance messages of tolerance and social inclusion in all its forms. We will follow a social justice advocate examining anti-Muslim sentiment in Europe, an Indian comedy show host exploring online sexism, a London-based blogger visiting a refugee camp, and many more committed activists.

Standing in solidarity with the LGBTQ community and the challenges they continue to face, we are partnering with the Ariadne Getty Foundation to inspire acceptance and support of LGBTQ and ally communities. Impact will also highlight Gaycation's inaugural special, United We Stand, with the Getty Foundation's support. The special features Ellen Page and Ian Daniel exploring how the current political climate has caused concern for sexual minorities. We are also supporting the National Center for Transgender Equality's effort to protect transgender students, and enabling our audience to take immediate action by raising funds for Casa Ruby. We will create content and advocacy campaigns with GLAAD and other frontline partner organizations.

Our overarching focus for the platform is climate change and global sustainability. The exhaustion of our planet's resources combined with surging wealth inequality and declining productivity inspired VICE Impact's documentary feature The Third Industrial Revolution (TIR), which outlines social and economic theorist Jeremy Rifkin's vision for a more sustainable economic and environmental future. VICE Impact and Ford have come together to promote the TIR agenda, recognizing that sustainable solutions can't be built without collaboration across industries. Programming will emphasize emerging renewable technologies, green and smart city solutions, and clean transportation methods that aim to educate our audience to redefine their approach to commuting and mobility.

We will also be partnering with grassroots organizations and institutions to further our global sustainability agenda, including the People's Climate Movement, UN Foundation, UNFCCC, and the World Surf League's WSL PURE.

Water is quickly becoming one of the most pressing issues of our time, so we will be supporting national and international efforts to curb water privatization and contamination, and encourage businesses to improve their water footprint. As part of our water programming, we are partnering with Colgate to promote the need to conserve water, specifically through daily habits people can adopt to save water. Together with Michael Phelps and The Nature Conservancy, Colgate wants to inspire 10 million millennials to turn off the faucet while brushing to conserve millions of gallons of water each year.

We will continue VICE's long-standing creative and media partnership with (RED) to help raise awareness and action for the AIDS fight. Through content creation and campaigns, VICE Impact and (RED) will look to educate our audience about the fight to end AIDS in our lifetime.

These multifaceted partnerships are just the beginning. We will continue to forge relationships with organizations seeking to drive change in their respective fields and industries. Above all, engagement with our audience will shape the development of this platform. We want you to take part in our campaigns, help us define our goals and contribute to our progress.

For more information about how we assess our partnerships, see our About page .