The press corner
06/03/2003
Proximus Foundation: Proximus hands over the reins to its customers
Brussels, 6 March 2003 - Until 7 April 2003, by sending a free text message to 2728, all customers of the telecommunication operator will have the opportunity to vote for four charitable projects that will receive financial support from the Proximus Foundation in 2003. In order to find out more about the projects and the Proximus Foundation, customers are invited to consult www.proximusfoundation.be. The four chosen projects selected by the public will share the sum of € 100.000. The total budget for the Proximus Foundation in 2003 is € 500.000.
To mark the occasion of the UN's International Volunteering Day on 5 December 2002, Proximus launched its social initiative, the Proximus Foundation. The foundation's mission is to support projects that improve the well-being and social integration of i) disabled persons, ii) children and minors and iii) the poor and those in need in Belgium. Additionally, the activities undertaken by the Proximus Foundation are intended to encourage voluntary employee actions.
To enable the successful realisation of its mission, Proximus has donated a total budget of
€ 500.000 for 2003. The organisations eligible to benefit from this financial aid are those charities or NGOs recognized by the Belgian Ministry of Finance who have independently submitted a project proposal for 2003 and those projects submitted by a Proximus employee in conjunction with a recognized organization.
By 31 January 2003, the closing date for project submissions, the Proximus Foundation had received 584 applications of which 472 conformed to the selection criteria and are therefore eligible to win one of the awards set up by the Proximus Foundation; the Proximus Employee Award (max. € 50.000 ), the Jury Awards (max. € 350.000) and the Proximus Customer Awards (max. € 100.000).
Between 12 - 21 February, Proximus employees had the opportunity to vote for their favourite project online using the company Intranet. More than 20% of all Proximus employees took the opportunity to vote for their preferred social initiative. On 26 February, the independent jury presided by Baudouin Michiels, President of the Prince Albert Fund, submitted their final decisions about the 2003 award winners.
The jury has also chosen 10 projects to be submitted to Proximus customers, 4 of these 10 projects will receive financial support as determined by the customer vote which they can make until 7 April by sending a free text message to 2728. In order to find out more about the projects, customers are invited to consult www.proximusfoundation.be. The four winning projects will share a maximum sum of € 100.000. Each Proximus customer has one vote. To ensure that the vote is eligible, Proximus customers need to send a simple message containing the number (1 to10) of their favourite project.
The results of the votes of the Employees, the Jury and the Customers will be announced in med April 2003.
The Proximus Foundation was not created overnight
The Proximus Foundation is the result of considerable reflection within
the company that has been a keen supporter of social, health and
environmental initiatives in the past. For years, Proximus has
reinforced its promise of bringing people closer together by providing
preferential SMS tariffs for the deaf and hard of hearing. The company
also supports other initiatives that include the Duck Race for the
Flanders Red Cross, Fondation Cédric, as well as the PC for Schools
initiative (Proximus donates all its older IT equipment, computers,
printers... to schools).
Press Information:
uc De Groote - 02 205 41 25
Jean-Luc Van Kerckhoven - 02 205 47 19
Frédérique Verbiest - 02 205 27 56
GSM Press - 0476 60 60 10
E-mail: press@proximus.net