Highlights of Corporate Philanthropy in June

Last week’s post on corporate philanthropy during the month of June stirred a lot of interest, primarily due to the surprisingly high value we were able to ascribe to this form of philanthropy…a measurement we think has not been made before. 

This week, we wanted to dig a bit deeper and provide some examples of the forms of philanthropy that the private sector engaged in during June.  Lacking a better format for presentation, bear with us as we walk you through country by country:

Albania

A group of unnamed small businesses and individuals from the Albania diaspora in Italy donated cleaning equipment and supplies, as well as a number of tree saplings, in order to support a group of volunteer youth in cleaning up a local artificial lake.  The total value of the donation was 5,000 EUR.

 

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Education and the welfare of students was high on the private sector agenda in Bosnia. 

  • Nova Banka in Banja Luka made cash donations totaling 4,000 EUR to a kindergarten, an orphanage and a center for children with developmental disabilities.  Additionally, Nova Banka donated one computer to each elementary school in Banja Luka – the number and value of which is unknown. 
  • Meggle Dairy made a significant, but unvalued, donation of milk and other dairy products to 73 public kindergartens through BiH. 
  • Raiffeisen Bank teamed up with the Western Union Foundation to continue its Knjigom na knjigu (Book on Book) project, in cooperation with Hilfswerk Austria and donated 20,000 USD (15,350 EUR) worth of books, projectors, laptops and other equipment to 12 elementary schools throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina. 
  • Roche Pharmaceuticals made a concentrated effort on one elementary school, fully equipping one special classroom, purchasing books and computers for the school library, and distributing food packages to the students.  No monetary value was associated with this effort.
  • Nokia Siemens Network donated an unknown quantity of IT networking equipment to the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Sarajevo.

Financing individual medical care as well as institutional support to public medical facilities was a second priority for BiH companies during June:

  • The results of a successful two month long promotion between Konzum and Pampers were announced with 10,000 KM donated – 1 KM for every jumbo package of Pampers sold – to Open Network (NGO Otvorena Mreza) to fund expensive medical treatments for people in need.
  • In a great example of local community action, citizens and businesses in Grude, Herzegovina came together to help the family of 3 year old Ana Glavas in being able to provide her with needed medical care and living adaptations.  A pancake party and a women’s handball match organized by local company sponsor Autoherc resulted in more than 11,000 KM being donated from 15 local businesses and more than 600 citizens.  Autoherc also donated a new vehicle to Ana’s parents.
  • Cash donations to public health institutions included 50,000 KM donated by the Kakanj cement plant to the local health clinic, 6,500 KM donated by Nova Banka to the health center in Modrica, and 6,000 KM donated by the Violeta paper products company to the clinic for children’s diseases UCC Tuzla.  Funds in each case were being used to purchase new equipment or consumables.
  • The Bema shoe factory donated 300 pairs of clogs to the Banja Luka Clinical Center.

Also of note in Bosnia and Herzegovina in June:

  • dm drogerie markt launched their Children of the Sun (Djeca sunca) campaign, whereby 1 KM out of every purchase of 25 KM in their stores over a one month period would be allocated for use in education and awareness campaign centered around protection of skin against the sun.
  • The Ovako meat products company announced a call for applications from local organizations who would be capable of distributing 30,000 kilograms of meat to needy individuals during Ramadan.

 

Croatia

The American Express Foundation, in cooperation with PBZ Bank, donated 75,000 USD through the Love in Action (Ljubav na Djelu) association of parents of children with malignant diseases.  The donation was used to open a help desk in the Children’s Hospital in Zagreb for families affected by malignant illnesses. 

Two small businesses, Taxi Rijeka Lux and Travel Europe, each announced the start of a campaign to help with the medical treatments of two individuals.  Taxi drivers will be donated a small portion of the fare from each ride, while the travel agency announced the organization of a cruise where the profits would be donated.

Lidl Hrvatska donated 100,000 Kuna (13,250 EUR) worth of clothing, shoes and toys to Caritas who subsequently prepared packages and distributed them to 1,500 families in difficult economic circumstances.

Croatian Telecom launched its Solar Sunflowers program by donating 400,000 Kuna (53,000 EUR) worth of solar energy panels to 10 elementary schools.

INA petrol company donated 10,000 Kuna (1,325 EUR) to the Popovača library.

Konzum opened another of its children’s playgrounds, this one in Karlovac, as part of its Returning Children to the Playground (Vratimo djecu na igrališta) project.

 

While wanting to point out highlights and the wide variety of forms that corporate philanthropy has taken in the Balkans during the month of June, I may have erred on providing too much information.  We will work to refine our approach to delivering information regarding this ever growing trend in private sector philanthropy.

Next week, look for the final round-up on corporate philanthropy for June, including highlights from Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Serbia.  

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Nathan Koeshall