Why was the International Day of Charity launched?
The aim of the various United Nations’ international days is to take us out of our everyday routine and to open our eyes to global injustices, but also to successes. Days like these give us the opportunity to learn more about specific issues and raise awareness.
The International Day of Charity was launched to draw attention to the plight of people in emergency situations. These emergency situations can take many different forms: poverty, illness, social injustices or environmental disasters, to name but a few.
We engage actively in charitable causes
Here at Baloise, we create value for our stakeholder groups across all of our locations – and that extends beyond our business activity. Our charitable engagement can be roughly divided into four categories: donations to social organisations, partnerships with environmental organisations, promoting health as well as education, innovation and safety. We take our responsibility as part of society seriously and are committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.
Donations to social organisations
This year saw us launch the Baloise Challenge in support of various social organisations at our locations in Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg, an initiative which also served to strengthen the shared identity of all Baloise employees. Kilometres clocked in sporting activities raised donations totalling roughly CHF 37,000 (approx. EUR 34,000). In addition to this campaign, we actively support other donation campaigns as well.
- Baloise for Life: Baloise for Life is an annual charity week in Belgium during which donations are collected for Music for Life and Télévie through different activities.
- Better Together Charter: Our brokers in Belgium have pledged to make a one-off contribution for charitable causes for every new contract.
- Crossing the Alps for a good cause: Three sales partners of Baloise crossed the Alps to raise money for charitable causes. A total of EUR 14,000 was donated to three children’s organisations.
Partnerships with environmental organisations
Charity work does not just affect us as people, it also affects our environment. Only in an intact environment can we feel at ease; only in an intact environment can we really flourish. That is why we support environmental organisations and play an active role in protecting the environment too.
- Entlebuch UNESCO Biosphere Reserve: Every year, we offer our employees the opportunity to volunteer during working hours and lend a hand with farmers at the Entlebuch UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in Switzerland.
- Tierheim beider Basel: Every year, our employees are given the opportunity to volunteer their services during working hours and actively support the “Tierheim beider Basel” animal shelter in Switzerland.
- Natuurpunt/Natagora: We support Belgium’s largest nature conservation organisation financially, and our employees volunteer during working hours. The organisation is dedicated to nature and biological diversity. We work with Natuurpunt/Natagora to offer around 20 walks in Flanders and Wallonia as part of our Baloise Family Walks initiative.
- natur&ëmwelt: We have been collaborating with the organisation natur&ëmwelt since 2015, with opportunities to take an active part in its work.
Promoting health
We want to contribute something to the health of everyone, not just with our initiatives during the current coronavirus crisis. Aside from that, we support organisations that help make the lives of people affected by illness easier and that drive forward research in these areas.
- Fondation Cancer: We have been supporting cancer screening and scientific research at Fondation Cancer in Luxembourg for more than ten years.
- ALAN – Maladies Rares Luxembourg: We support the Luxembourg-based association for rare diseases.
- Ring gegen Krebs: We engage in fundraising and make our own financial contribution towards children suffering from cancer and their families in Germany.
- Spitex Association of Switzerland: Thanks to a donation from the Bâloise-Jubiläumsstiftung foundation in 2019, we were able to add to the quality of life of twelve people in Basel, Switzerland, in the form of excursions and quality time spent together.
- UZA: Support for research into immunotherapy for the treatment of cancer in Belgium.
- Picken Doheem Howald and BioneXt LAB: Partnership with and support of a next-generation biomedical analysis laboratory.
Commitment to education, innovation and safety
We are firmly convinced that education can help avoid all sorts of injustices. Education can be used as a means to help individuals get themselves out of emergency situations; in fact, the right knowledge can help to avoid such situations in the first place.
- ANESEC and ANELD: Partnership with networks of Economics and Law students from the University of Luxembourg.
- NextGen project at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland: Organisation of innovation and sustainability workshops to develop the ideas of students in North-Western Switzerland.
- engage.ch: In 2019 and 2020, we led a workshop for the “Change Switzerland!” campaign with young people to develop ideas that they submitted via the platform engage.ch.
- Spicker.ch: Since 2019 we support the research tool for school and studies, which is based on an open source archive for papers and documents and promotes the networking of research and business.
- Wirtschaftswochen: Every year, we support the “Wirtschaftswochen” business weeks in Basel, Switzerland, which bring grammar school students closer to business contexts and offer them a business-oriented learning experience via teamwork.
- InnoPrix of Baloise Bank SoBa: The Baloise Bank SoBa foundation has been awarding the InnoPrix for the sustainable promotion of the Solothurn economy every year since 1987. Its focus is on innovative projects that offer economic added value for the region and make a contribution to research and development or a technology transfer. In addition to the economic aspects, the social impact of the idea is also crucial.
- Fonds Emilie Leus: We support the Fonds Emilie Leus foundation in raising awareness about driving under the influence of alcoholic/narcotic substances.