Originally posted on the Veniture blog.
What is Pledge 1%
Pledge 1% is a corporate philanthropy movement dedicated to making the community a key stakeholder in every business. Within this business model companies can commit 1% of their equity, profit, product or employee time for charitable purposes. We as venITure joined this great network because our corporate philosophy is reflected in their values and goals.
venITure is committed to operating as a socially responsible business, since we consider giving back to the world, as a core value of our company’s identity. We aim to leave a positive and most especially a sustainable impact on the society which we are part of. Specifically, this means for us to support voluntary initiatives and charities with the main focus on creating lasting values for social and environmental issues, education and science, cultural diversity, youth and sport activities within local communities. To reach this goal, our team gets the chance to allocate working time to share expertise, experiences and resources with those who need it the most. We are convinced that taking social responsibility enriches the team spirit and social skills. Furthermore, it adds to one of our major priorities – the personal development of our employees. We increase awareness for the life circumstances of others and continuously offer new perspectives and possibilities to improve life situations.
venITure at JUGZ and the “Social Day”
In keeping with the goals of the Pledge 1% movement, we are very proud to announce our voluntary commitment in the interest of the youth centre “JUGZ” in Cologne-Meschenich. venITure supported them by providing at least one percent of employee time, expertise and equity. Furthermore venITure donated equity to be part of the youth centre’s Christmas project, which includes Christmas gifts for every child.
Youth Centre “JUGZ”
The main focus of this organisation is set on youth and social work. Eight employees take care of more than 100 kids and teenagers by providing them afterschool support, social and sport activities e.g. playing soccer, offering dancing or music classes. Most of us would take all of the mentioned offers for granted, but unfortunately this is not the reality of everyone’s life in society. Due to its location in an area of Cologne, which is considered as a social hotspot, many of these young people don’t have access to these privileges. Therefore, we were even more happy to get the chance to volunteer at JUGZ throughout a whole day. Part of our day was to clean and organise the areas in which the children spend time. Some of us provided technical support for their employees. We also assisted as reading partners to help improving their literacy, self-confidence, communication skills and attitude towards reading. These routines are of course part of the daily work of the house. We’re looking forward to continue supporting JUGZ in the future as one of our employees said “This day taught me that even the smallest actions can have huge impacts on the lives of others. What matters is to actually start doing something.”
