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Charity During the Crisis: ICL Services Case Study
According to Zircon research group, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Donors Forum and CAF Russia, corporate benefactors have felt the full extent of the economic crisis. About half of all surveyed companies reduced their budgets, some even stopped supporting charitable non-profit organizations and do not participate in charity events.
But there is another trend. Alongside with a reduction in charity budgets, growing attention is being paid to society’s problems from the inside the companies — among the employees themselves. Employees initiate fund-raisers, they become their main assets and executives.
Companies should direct this energy in the proper direction, remove ineffective programs and help volunteering employees achieve maximum performance. If the company’s budget is limited, this can save its social program. And when everything goes well, internal volunteers also need help.
IT company ICL Services can demonstrate how this should be done (it has more than 1000 employees, with headquarters in Kazan.
The company’s charity events: from Beslan to Universities
For more than 10 years, ICL Services has been combining permanent charity programs with one-off projects. The company’s social projects include:
• support for labor veterans (direct aid, organization of meetings);
• help for the AIDS-center of the Republic of Tatarstan;
• sponsorship support for a social canteen in Kazan;
• help for orphanages and care homes;
• support for Kazan school No. 15 (provision of furniture and equipment, renovation, etc.).
Some examples of one-off events — supplying computer equipment to schoolchildren in Beslan (2004), targeted support to an ill child (2011), a purchase of 200 Christmas gifts for young patients at the neuropsychiatric clinic who wrote a letter describing their dearest wishes (2015).
The company invests significant amounts of money in education: joint education programs with IT universities in Kazan, scholarships for talented students (10 scholarship holders in 2016), internships (126 interns in the last year). These activities are focused on supporting professional development among young people, and the students are not obliged to work for the company in the future.
Activities by employees
Considering such strong charity traditions, it’s not surprising that employees strive to take an active part in social life. And the company supports this desire.
