BNP Paribas Foundation

ABOUT US

BNP Paribas Foundation has operated in Poland since 2006. The Foundation is engaged in performing education, social-solidarity-related and cultural activities to the benefit of the society. It carries out own programmes and initiatives, as well as provided substantial and financial support to activities of selected leading  ngo`s  playing a substantial role in building and sustaining civic society.

FOUNDATIONS ACTIVITY

EDUCATION

The Foundation is focused on educational activities and scholarship programmes directed towards equalising opportunities for the intellectual, educational and professional development of youth of different backgrounds.

• “Class” scholarship programme
  Foundation’s flagship initiative in this area is the “Class” programme addressed to talented and socially active graduates of junior secondary schools, coming from small towns and families with difficult financial situation. “Class” was launched in 2003.
• “Agritalents” scholarship programme
  Since 2012 the Foundation has been carrying out the “Agritalents” scholarship programme to support agricultural education and better professional preparation of young people for work in modern agriculture.

SOCIAL SOLIDARITY

Foundation performs also actions to the benefit of disfavoured, socially-excluded and vulnerable groups.

• “Dream up programme”“
  “Dream Up” is  an educational programme of the BNP Paribas Group, initiated and financed by the BNP Paribas Foundation in Paris. Our Foundation, by organising music lessons given by professionals as part of this programme, supports general development of the children and the young people who attend child care and education centres in Warsaw’s Praga district.
• The employee volunteering programme
  “You Can Count on Me” is the motto of the employee volunteering programme at the BNP Paribas Bank, coordinated by the  CSR Bureau and Foundation. The programme is carried out systemically – it encompasses education, creating various possibilities of activity, as well as content-related and financial support of good ideas proposed by the Bank’s employees. The programme is based on 4 types of volunteering: individual volunteering, competency-related volunteering, periodic event-related volunteering (i.e. Blood Donor Day), team volunteering (grant competition for the best social projects).

CULTURE

Activities in this area involves mainly taking and supporting initiatives aimed at increasing society's access to and participation in culture. However Foundation is also expanding its operations in the area of supporting and promoting culture and the arts.

• The Foundation has been cooperating with the Warsaw Philharmonic since 2011. This cooperation covers both education and support to the art of music, an important form of high culture. The “Encounters with Music” programme, supported by the Foundation, enables cultural development and ensures access to high culture for the 300 000 youngest pupils from more than 250 educational establishments from smaller towns all over Poland.
• In 2015 the Foundation, with the support of the BNP Paribas Foundation in Paris, became a partner of “La Folle Journée” Festival, organised in the Polish National Opera in Warsaw by the Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra. The aim of this festival is to overcome prejudices against classical music, by encouraging and facilitating participation in concerts while presenting music at the highest possible level.