The organizers did their best to secure the epidemic safety measures at the Gala. A small group of almost 40 participants represented the winners, nominating organizations, Competition Committee members, experts and partners. The video report can be watched at the Benefactor of the Year Facebook Profile.

In the 23rd round of the Benefactor of the Year Competition the winners are:

• Local Development: Mondi Świecie SA, nominated by Association for Supporting Świecie Region Economic Development. The title was awarded for many-year consistent cooperation with local NGOs and especially for involvement in implementation of numerous projects benefitting the local community of Świecie municipality.
• Corporate Foundation: LPP Foundation, nominated by St. Brother Albert’s Aid Society. The Foundation was awarded for supporting the Streetwalker program with gift vouchers, worth a total of PLN 6,000, to LPP chain stores to buy protective garments for field workers, and for carrying out the collection of over 3 tons of second-hand clothing that went to over 1,000 charges of the Society.
• Ecology – Large Company: PwC, nominated by Krakow Smog Alarm Society. In cooperation with the Society, the awarded company launched activities to introduce systematic education to raise ecological awareness of the Poles. It developed the Business Against Smog Employee Volunteering Program and carried out free of charge workshops for children and young people.
• Education – Small and Medium Sized Company: Little Frog, nominated by Critical Education Association. The title was awarded for supporting the Association in its activities aimed at counteracting unemployment and enterprise developing in  Lower Silesia region which included supporting children of Kids New Circus Wrocław by buying and making costumes as well as financing meals and logistic support during the performances.
• Education – Large Company: Nationale – Nederlanden Life Insurance Company, nominated by Digital University Foundation. Awarded for supporting digital skills and competence development in young people. The company cooperated and supported financially the University of Success project designed for starting their adult life girls from children houses, foster families, care-taking institutions and law-income or otherwise troubled families.
• Social Aid – Small and Medium Sized Company: Wena Accounting Office Maria Jaśkiewicz-Marciniak, nominated by Świetlikowo Gdańsk Social Innovation Foundation. Awarded for many-year support for Gdańsk Social Innovation Foundation assisting people at risk of social exclusion. Among other things, the awarded company has organized free workshops on how to pay taxes and gave office supplies and stationery to the local Parent’s Club.
• Social Aid – Large Company: FM Logistic, nominated by Self-Reliable Robinsons Foundation. The company was awarded for taking care of young people brought up in foster care institutions, including holding internships for 22 young people under the eye of the company’s employees who acted as mentors, shared their knowledge and experience with interns and showed them possible paths of career.
• Health Care – Small and Medium sized Company: Provalliance Poland Sp. z o.o., nominated by Gajusz Foundation. Awarded for supporting the Foundation in its activities for incurably ill children and their families, which included financial support for families looked after by the Foundation on a regular basis, covering the cost of some medicines and small medical devices for both stationary and home hospice, and on the occasion of Mother’s Day doing hair for mothers looking after their terminally ill children.
• Health Care – Large Company: Nationale – Nederlanden Life Insurance Company, nominated by Captain Światełko Foundation. Awarded for its activities aimed at popularizing Men’s Cancer Prevention, including  the grant of PLN 80,000 for activities related to testicular and prostate cancer screening tests which allowed to carry out 85 hours of lectures and 43 events where almost 5,000 men had preventive tests  done.
• Sports – Small and Medium sized Company: Ligihalowe.pl S.C. A. Świerzewski, B. Gendera, nominated by the Always Active Association. The company was awarded for offering free-of-charge equipment for sports events, organization of charity collections during the sports events held by the company and advertising the association’s activities, and giving awards worth several thousand zlotys for the charges of school and educational centers attending the series of free training sessions.
• Sports – Large Company: Citi in Poland, nominated by the Foundation of the Polish Paralympic Committee. Citi was awarded for carrying out activities aimed at social perception of disability and popularization of Paralympic sports, including a meeting with Team City players, and involving over 500 Citi employees in volunteering projects  in 2019.

The above-mentioned companies had to be nominated by non-governmental organizations. The winners were selected by the Competition Committee composed of: Henryka Bochniarz, PhD, Chairperson of the Management Board of Polish Confederation Lewiatan; Justyna Duriasz-Bułhak, Chairperson of the Polish Donors Forum; Jerzy Karwelis, journalist; Jerzy Koźmiński, President of Polish-American Freedom Foundation; Kazimierz Krupa, economic journalist; Andrzej Malinowski, PhD, President of the Employers of Poland; Anna Potocka-Domin, Vice President of Business Centre Club; Prof. Bolesław Rok, PhD, of Koźminski University; Marzena Strzelczak, President of Responsible Business Forum; and Kamil Wyszkowski, CEO of Global Compact Network Poland.

“Socially involved in overcoming COVID-19 epidemic”

The crisis caused by COVID-19 pandemic is the unprecedented test of social solidarity. Over the last six month many aid programs and initiatives have been launched, such as financial support for hospitals, mutual assistance network, or knowledge and competence sharing platforms.

“COVID-19 pandemic has made the need for social responsibility of business and mutual support even more visible. In a crisi situation, when mant companies have to cope with financial problems, those socially responsible ones switch to the distance working system, minimize the employment reduction, and launch support programs. They start cooperation with health care institutions and NGOs. That really is the time of collaboration and activity! It’s worth to appreciate and thank those who in that difficult time kept behaving responsibly regardless of the costs it entailed,” Paweł Łukasiak, President of the Academy for the Development of Philanthropy in Poland said.

Reacting to the present situation, the organizers – having consulted their decision with the Competition Committee and the auditor – decided to award additionally 6 honorary titles of  “Socially involved in overcoming COVID-19 epidemic” to the following initiatives:

• Jesteśmy razem. Pomagamy! (We Joined Hands. We Help!) , which involved over 70 businesses and institutions and granted over PLN 50 million to hospitals and medical centers all over Poland for equipment (respirators and beds), personal protection equipment, and other material support.
• #Niezwalniajmy (Let’s not slow down) campaign, aimed at promotion of strategies allowing to smallest possible reductions in employment at the time of coronavirus pandemic.
• Warsaw Genomics. In cooperation with its over 30 partners, the company raised almost PLN 11 million for 27 293 free genetic tests to be done by hospitals and sanitary and epidemiological stations.
• Wzywamy posiłki (We call for meals). Over 130 big and small catering companies and restaurants that joined hands and delivered for free over 230,000 dishes, 153,000 soft drinks and 100,000 other food products for medics and personnel of health care institutions.
• Biznes szpitalom (Business for Hospitals). The campaign of  117 organizations that joined hands and within four weeks delivered such equipment as respirators, cardiac monitors, autoclaves, personal protection equipment, and disinfection services worth a total of ca. PLN 5 million to various medical centers.
• Eksperci pomagają (Experts Help). It’s the website containing over 200 offers of assistance, consultation and business advice for companies which found themselves in difficult situation due to pandemic.

The performance by Grzegorz Turnau added splendor to the this-year’s Gala.

For 23 years, the Benefactor of the Year Competition has been popularizing big and small socially responsible companies. The organizer of the Competition is the Academy for the Development of Philanthropy in Poland. The event is funded by the Polish-American Freedom Foundation.  The procedure correctness of the Competition is supervised by the auditor, EY company.

The Competition is supported by: Polish Donors Forum, Polish Confederation Lewiatan, Business Centre Club, the Responsible Business Forum, Employers of Poland, Global Compact Network Poland, and CR Navigator, marketingprzykawie.pl, NGO.pl, odpowiedzialnybiznes.pl, poradnikprzedsiebiorcy.pl, egospodarka.pl, Nowy Marketing, HR na obcasach oraz HR Polska.

For more information visit: www.dobroczyncaroku.pl