human, inspiring and responsible
human, inspiring and responsible
The old articles could be obtained by the employees against a self-selected donation amount. In this way, we were able to give away almost all of the remaining promotional items to our employees, who will hopefully enjoy them for many years to come. And as a result, thanks to our employees, over CHF 2,500 was collected in donations. This amount was increased to CHF 3'000 by our management. The entire amount could be handed over to the Surprise association at the beginning of February 2023.
Surprise supports socially disadvantaged people in Switzerland. With employment opportunities, offers for participation in social life and low-threshold support, Surprise opens up perspectives and concrete fields of action for them.
«The check handover was a highlight for all of us, as an idea became reality with the help of a wide range of participants» says Alexandra Toscanelli, Marketing Manager at the handover in early February.
«The check handover was a highlight for all of us, as an idea became reality with the help of a wide range of participants.»
Thanks to the initiative of our employees, the following projects could also be realized and supported:
Internal raffle
With an internal raffle organised by Alexandra Kromer and Stefan Teichtweier, we were able to collect CHF 620 through the sale of raffle tickets. This amount was donated to Medair, an international NGO that applies the principles of agile leadership for its charitable purposes.
Writing utensils for Laos
A great project that we as Baloise could support is that of two of our customers. They have been supporting schools and school children in Laos for some time now, among other things with English lessons and donations. School material is scarce there and restricts the school operation extremely. Even normal paper is difficult to obtain, which is why the children have to resort to all kinds of things as writing materials. Therefore, Baloise is all the more pleased that our notebooks, pens and painting sets could be donated to Laos and used there in a benefit-generating way. The customers were especially happy about the painting sets, as it would be like Christmas for the children. We were able to put our old promotional items to good use and give the children a lot of joy. Tanja Egloff, Sales Promoter GA Zurich.
Writing and handicraft utensils for Blumenhaus Buchegg
Bernhard von Allmen, Marketing and Sales Support at Baloise Bank AG & Member of the Board Blumenhaus Buchegg coordinated the passing on of writing and handicraft utensils to Blumenhaus Buchegg.
«The Blumenhaus' financial resources are limited and don't leave much room for maneuver. With unspent money for pens, writing and handicraft materials, an excursion can be financed now and then or, for example, a music group can be engaged», says Bernhard von Allmen.
Blumenhaus Buchegg offers over 60 people with cognitive and multiple impairments a special school with therapies, a boarding school for children and young people, sheltered workplaces and a residential home with an integrated day care center. The flower house is known and sought after for its specialization beyond the region and the cantonal borders.
Other projects
Flavio Karrer, Customer Advisor of the General Agency Basel, organized a donation of writing utensils for an elementary school in Kenya.
Michael Hochreutener, Sales Promoter of the General Agency Basel, donated 200 painting sets with small case & pens for children to DAN Basel. DAN Basel (Dienst am Nächsten) distributes food to marginalized people and people in need. The painting sets should be a small Christmas present for the children and bring a smile to their faces.
Barbara Moser, Digital Marketing Manager, was able to give beverage bottles to a cycling club, which in turn gives the bottles to participants of Cycling Marathons.
One of the children of our customer advisor at the Fribourg General Agency, Gian Carlo Del Aguila, is attending a ski camp this winter and Gian Carlo wanted to provide the 75 or so children and adults with old Baloise caps to keep their ears warm on long, cold days in the snow.
All 600 leftover children's safety vests could be donated to the safety department of the city of Basel, which uses them for traffic training and gives some of them to children.
«Sustainability has always been an approach at Baloise that is also strongly driven by employees. So there was no question that we wanted to do something meaningful with our old promotional items. Giving them away would have been too easy. It therefore makes me proud that the employees are representative of Baloise's values. They live responsible action for society. Great ideas with heart and sustainable impact.»
At Baloise in Luxembourg, various measures were already taken at the beginning of 2022 to counteract residual stocks of promotional items. In a first step, internal sales were stimulated by campaigns and certain articles were given to visiting customers. In a further step, we then distributed practically the entire remaining stock in September during the Tour de Luxembourg, in which we are involved as one of the main sponsors. Certain articles were then distributed in the internal Advent calendar. These measures led to the fact that we still have in our stock in Luxembourg a box of promotional items in their old dress, which should remain with us as a reminder of an old chapter.
At Baloise in Belgium, we also took a variety of measures to reduce our inventory. Besides selling to colleagues at the internal Christmas market at a reduced price, we pursued various upcycling projects in collaboration with Flagbag. Flagbag is an employer that promotes social employment. So our balloon was made into shopping bags, which are given away to the employees. Furthermore, other old promotional items were processed into items such as laptop sleeves and various bags, which were sold at the Christmas market. The proceeds from the sale of the upcycling products went directly into the project ''Baloise for Life''.
«In this way, we succeed in having a multi-faceted effect: we find a sustainable solution for outdated marketing material and can support people and organizations that are close to our hearts and who, like us, are committed to a just and sustainable future» says Beatrice Pillet, Senior Consultant Sustainability, Baloise in Belgium
Nevertheless, we still have a remaining stock. Upcycled items from Flagbag will be stored and resold at the upcoming Baloise Christmas Market. It is still unclear what will happen with the remaining items, which are primarily bicycle items. As soon as a suitable organization has been found, they will be donated and hopefully bring much joy in the future.
«In this way, we succeed in having a multi-faceted effect: we find a sustainable solution for outdated marketing material and can support people and organizations that are close to our hearts and who, like us, are committed to a just and sustainable future.»
At Baloise in Germany we gave writing materials to kindergartens and at the end of the year the remaining items were given to employees who expressed interest.