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Annual Report 2007

Equal Opportunities

The program goal is to enhance access to education for young people from small towns and impoverished communities, as well as those striving to counteract social exclusion of physically and mentally disabled children by providing them with education and personal development opportunities. We support non-governmental organizations that run scholarship programs for school age youth as well as the organizations that work with disabled children. We also administer funds entrusted to Batory Foundation by businesses and private individuals.

Local Scholarship Programs

The project, carried on from 2000, aims at assisting the establishment of an alternative scholarships system for youth from low-income families based on local resources and activity. We support local NGOs which raise money in their local communities (from local businesses, local governments, individual donors, street collections, auctions, 1% income tax designations) and assign them for scholarship programs addressed to secondary school students from their community. Local scholarship programs operate on the basis of their own charters drawn up by the organizations. The decision to award a scholarship is usually based on the applicant's school record and the financial standing of her/his family, sometimes also involvement in the work for community and achievements in other non-academic pursuits. The scholarships, varying between PLN 100 and 380 per month, are used to purchase textbooks and learning aids, to pay for lodging, extra courses, commuting to school, etc.
Each year, organizations participating in the program are offered grants of up to PLN 20,000. The grants are disbursed on the condition the organizations present plans and operating principles of their scholarship programs and document possession of additional funding raised from other donors in the amount that will allow to match Batory Foundation grants on at least 1:1 proportion. Additionally, 24 organizations participating in the program take advantage of Batory Foundation's three-year core support grants allotted for their capacity building and institutional development over 2007-2009. Apart from the grants, we offer to organizations technical assistance in establishing and operating scholarship programs, meetings and trainings on fund raising and financial management, cooperation with local partners, media, volunteers and scholarship recipients.

In 2007, the project involved 36 organizations from 16 provinces. They received grants in total amount of PLN 615,200. This amount increased by PLN 825,810 raised by organizations from other sources supported 1,298 monthly scholarships in the school year 2007/2008.
Furthermore, we provided a grant to the Nidzica Community Foundation to organize a cycle of trainings and consultations for organizations already participating in the program and organizations preparing to launch local scholarship funds.

In 2007, Local Scholarship Programs were financed from 1% personal income tax payments (PLN 397,466.86), donations by private donors (PLN 67,733.14), donation by Nestlé Poland (PLN 30,000) and from the Open Society Institute funds.

Rainbow Academy

This project targets organizations that operate in small towns and rural areas and engage in activities to assist mentally and physically disabled children. The ultimate purpose is to improve the children's opportunities for education, and to overcome their social exclusion. We offer these organizations grants for activities that make it easier for disabled children to acquire knowledge and skills, enable them to participate in cultural and artistic events, and contribute to integration with their peers and communities.
In 2007, we received 130 applications. A committee of experts selected 30 projects involving diverse education and integration activities addressed to about 750 disabled children and youth and about 350 of their healthy peers. Eight projects also included activities directed at parents and guardians (support groups, psychological consultations, information meetings about assistance opportunities). More than half of the supported projects were implemented in small municipalities not exceeding 6,000 residents.
We have also provided a grant to the Bielsko Artistic Association Grodzki Theatre to run a cycle of trainings and consultations in 2008-2009 for organizations that use theater techniques in their activities with disabled children.

In 2007, Rainbow Academy was financed from the donations by Agora Foundation (PLN 92,040), Commercial Union Poland (PLN 85,000), M Fund (PLN 76,300), donations by private donors (PLN 2,767), 1% personal income tax payments donated to the Foundation (PLN 513) and the Open Society Institute funds.

Donors Advised Funds

Apart from running its own grant-making programs, the Foundation administers funds entrusted by companies and individuals. These funds, multi-year and perpetual, are created on the basis of donation agreements between a company or an individual donor and the Foundation. On the basis of the agreement, the Foundation uses the entrusted funds to support projects, institutions and social initiatives that fall in the sphere of its program activity and the donor's interest.

Commercial Union Charitable Fund

Since 1995, the Foundation has been cooperating with the insurance company Commercial Union Poland, which has been providing us with donations to support the disabled, children and youth. In 2007, from the Commercial Union's funds we made 19 grants for integration and education of disabled children projects (see the list of grants in the Rainbow Academy section).

M Fund

In 2002, thanks to a donation made to the Foundation by a private donor, an endowed donor advised Fund was established. Income generated by the Fund is annually spent for various forms of assistance to needy children. In 2007, M Fund earnings were used to finance or co-finance 12 grants for integration and education of disabled children projects (see the list of grants in the Rainbow Academy section). Moreover, pursuant to the wish of the M Fund founder, a part of the annual earnings on the investment of the Fund was allocated to the purposes identified by the donor involving support for sick children and children in need of care. In 2007, 17 grants were made of the value of PLN 32,000 (see the list of grants in M Fund section).

Helen and Peter Maxwell Fund

Since 2004, the Foundation has been receiving an annual donation from Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell from the United States for the Windows of Opportunity Program, aiming to provide equal educational opportunities for children and youth from Siedlce town and county. The program is run by the Hans Ch. Kofoed Association for Social Welfare, Rehabilitation and Social Reintegration in Siedlce, with the participation of Siedlce county and town local governments. In the framework of the program, financed in 2/3 from Maxwell Fund resources, an annual competition is organized for the purchase of computers for primary and junior high schools in Siedlce town and county. In 2007, thanks to Mrs. and Mr. Maxwell’s donation, increased by funds donated by county and town local governments, 10 schools received 49 computers: 38 of them were bought from the Maxwell Fund.

Beata Pawlak Fund

This fund was established from a donation bequeathed by the deceased Beata Pawlak, Polish journalist and writer killed in a terrorist attack on Bali in 2002. As requested by the donor, the Fund awards an annual prize to an author of an article or publication on foreign cultures, religions and civilizations (for more information see Batory Foundation Debates program).

Program costs

Grants PLN 1,154,538.00
Program implementation PLN 69,874.92
Total program costs PLN 1 224,412.92

Grants 2007

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