Annual NGO project funding: part of EuroCharity's values

Annual commitment to funding specific non-profit projects submitted by EuroCharity's NGO members

Since its establishment in 2006, EuroCharity has been donating 25% of its annual on-line subscription revenues (membership fees) to a number of not-for-profit projects carried out by EuroCharity's NGO (non-governmental organisation) members, with the aim of helping fund specific social, environmental or other needs in Greece's citizen sector (please find the projects funded by EuroCharity to date below).

This policy is part of the company's values, has been clearly stated in EuroCharity's founding charter and is particularly important in view of today's major social, environmental, governance and other pressing challenges.

As from fiscal year 2010, EuroCharity adjusted this policy due to the Greek government's decision to amend the country's law 2238/1994 with L. 3842/2010. This latest amendment of the constitution refers to corporate donations made to public benefit foundations and not-for-profit organisations based in Greece. EuroCharity continues to be committed to its annual NGO project funding policy and procedure. The relevant press release on this change can be found in English at:

EuroCharity's fiscal year runs from January 1 to December 31.

Transparent funding and voting procedure

EuroCharity's annual project funding of selected NGO members involves a transparent process that includes an on-line voting poll plus a five-member committee. The final choice of non-profit projects that are eventually chosen for funding is based on:

  • Electronic voting poll results: EuroCharity's readers and stakeholders every year have the opportunity to vote for two or more worthwhile projects via an electronic voting poll that runs every year (usually in October/November) on EuroCharity‘s portal; each E-mail address used for voting may be used only once;
  • the opinion of EuroCharity's seven-member NGO Project Funding Committee;
  • the annual A.S.B.I. (Awareness & Social Behaviour Index) Social Barometre, an innovative, specialised strategic tool jointly developed by MEDA Communication S.A. in collaboration with VPRC in order to systematically observe the trends of Greek society regarding issues of social sensitivity of Greek citizens, NGOs, and the social work and CSR activities of corporations. As a research tool, A.S.B.I. differentiates fundamentally from typical social or market surveys.

Five-member NGO Project Funding Committee

The EuroCharity's NGO Project Funding Committee in 2010 consisted of the following seven members:

  • Mr. Peter Michel Heilmann, President, EuroCharity;
  • Mr. Michael Spanos, Managing Partner, EuroCharity;
  • Ms. George Galanis, Managing Director, MEDA Communication S.A.;
  • Mr. Lambros Rodis, journalist and Editor of the "Scientific Marketing & Management" magazine;
  • Ms. Eleni Glegle, attorney-at-law.
  • Ms. Sofia Bekatorou, Gold and Bronze medallist, Athens, Beijing Olympic Games.
  • Mr. Klas Eric Soderquist, Associate Professor of Innovation and Knowledge Management at the Department of Management Science and Technology of the Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB), Greece.

Funding beneficiaries

Fiscal-year 2011 funding
The following two projects run by the following NGO members will be funded by EuroCharity:

Fiscal-year 2010 funding
The following two projects run by the following NGO members will be funded by EuroCharity:

Fiscal-year 2009 funding
Three non-profit projects run by the following NGO members have been funded by EuroCharity:

  • "Floga" (which means "Flame" in Greek) - Greek Parents Association of Children with Cancer (NGO Premium member)
  • Lifeline Hellas (NGO Premium member)
    Non-profit, charitable organisation for Telecare and Help at Home
  • The "Hadzipaterion" Rehabilitation Centre for Children with Cerebral Palsy (R.C.C.C.P.) programme of the Social Work Foundation (S.W.F.) (NGO Free member)
    The Social Work Foundation (S.W.F) is a non-governmental, non-profit organization, established in 1967. At present, the Social Work Foundation is running the following two programmes: the "Hadzipaterion" Rehabilitation Center for Children with Cerebral Palsy; and the Lilian Voudouri” Supportive Technology Laboratory. The Social Work Foundation is supervised by the Hellenic Ministry of Health and Social Solidarity, which partially funds it. Located in Metamorphosis, Athens, the "Hadzipaterion” Rehabilitation Center for Children with Cerebral Palsy was founded in 1973. R.C.C.C.P. offers children aged between 0-12 an individually tailored educational and therapeutic programme, elaborated by a professional therapeutic team. Children's socialisation is furthered through extra-curricular activities, such as therapeutic riding, summer camp, excursions, and music therapy. The parents are offered psychological and social support.

Fiscal-year 2008 funding
Athens-based MOm/Hellenic Society for the Study and Protection of the Monk Seal (NGO Free member) and Thessaloniki-based "Social Solidarity" (NGO Free member) were the two NGOs that received funding from EuroCharity for two separate projects. Their submitted projects were successfully funded by EuroCharity and were put in the spotlight throughout 2009.

Fiscal-year 2007 funding
At the end of 2007, 25% of EuroCharity's annual membership fees were channeled to funding the following two non-profit projects: A) two polyclincs of Médecins du Monde-Greece (NGO Free member), one each in central Athens (Sapfous Street) and Thessaloniki; and B)  the Aegean Seed Bank by Archipelagos, Institute of Marine Conservation (NGO Free member), a Greek non-profit, non-governmental organisation committed to conservation of the marine and terrestrial environments of the Greek seas and islands. Archipelagos has been active since 1998 in several parts of the Greek seas (Ionian, Sporades, Central Aegean, Lybian and Eastern Aegean). Since 2000, Archipelagos's field of action has focused on the Eastern Aegean. Its main terrestrial research base is located on the island of Ikaria and our main marine research base is on the island of Samos, while the organisation also provides research stations on three islets of the Eastern Aegean. Archipelagos combines scientific research with efficient conservation work in which local communities share an active part. EuroCharity helped finance the creation of Archipelagos's Aegean Seed Bank for the preservation of local varieties of agricultural plants. Created in the spring of 2005, the Aegean Seed Bank is located within Archipelagos's terrestrial research base in Rahes, Ikaria. Its goal is to collect and preserve for the long term, as well as to promote and encourage, cultivation of local varieties of agricultural plants, mainly from the Aegean islands. At the same time, seeds from endemic, protected and other species of island flora are being collected and preserved. The need for the creation of the Aegean Seed Bank was immense. During the past years, in Archipelagos' research and conservation actions in the Aegean, the NGO has unfortunately been observing the disappearance of local varieties year by year, even on the most distant and isolated islands of the Aegean. In just a few years of operation, the Aegean Seed Bank has managed to collect seeds from a large number of varieties from the Greek islands and different regions in Greece. It operates in collaboration with the Seed Bank of Greece of the National Agricultural Research Foundation as well as with NGOs and organisations active in this field in various parts of the Mediterranean.

Fiscal-year 2006 funding
At the end of 2006, EuroCharity donated 25% of its annual membership fees to "The Smile of the Child" (NGO Premium member), a voluntary children's association committed to putting a smile on the face of each abused, lost, abducted, abandoned or troubled child in Greece.