Sabanci Foundation Grant Program Projects Share Success Stories

- Guler Sabanci: “Sabanci Foundation will Continue to Sow Seeds in the Future for a Lasting and Sustainable Social Change Process”

Sabanci Foundation held the Sowing Season- Experience and Sharing Meeting to contribute to the capacity of NGOs supported within the framework of the Social Development Grant Program (SDGP). On October 18 2012, the representatives from 9 NGOs who completed their projects with support from the Sabanci Foundation SDGP in 2011 came together at a meeting held in Istanbul at Sabanci Center, hosted by Chairman of Sabanci Foundation Board of Trustees, Ms. Guler Sabanci. At the meeting NGOs shared their experiences and project outcomes contributing to women, youth and people with disabilities across Turkey shared their experiences and project outcomes with the audience.

Guler Sabanci: “Sabanci Foundation has made great efforts to apply best practices in philanthropy for social justice and development in Turkey”

In her opening speech, Ms. Guler Sabanci stated that Sabanci Foundation has made great efforts to apply best practices in philanthropy for social justice and development in Turkey.  Sabanci said: “Grant programs generate solutions for a broad range of global problems from poverty to health, education, and environment.One effective method is grant support for NGOs who are the principal actors in social development… Sabanci Foundation adopted this approach 5 years ago and has been giving grants to NGO’s since then. We focused our efforts  on ‘Women,

Youth’ and ‘People with Disabilities’. We aim active participation in social life and promote equal opportunities for these groups which make up an essential portion of the population in Turkey.”  Comparing the Social Development Grant Program to a vast garden with 28 ‘seeds’ planted over the past 5 years, Guler Sabanci said: “This is our ‘Social Development Garden’ and with each project we plant a new ‘seed’ to promote equality and participation.  These projects have made a difference in the lives of more than 60.000 individuals in 71 provinces of Turkey. They have been instrumental in enabling social and economic participation for women, youth and people with disabilities. Sabanci Foundation will continue to plant more seeds to further promote the social development of Turkey.”

Guler Sabanci noted that the projects supported by the Sabanci Foundation attract attention not only in the national but also in the international arena: “Last month we were invited to a special event held by the Clinton Global Initiative, with leaders from around the world. The former US President Bill Clinton thanked our Foundation for our support of Child Brides. We will engage in joint initiatives with ‘Girls Not Brides’, which is a global platform tackling the issue of Child Brides. We hope that we may contribute to protecting the right of girls in Turkey to be ‘girls’, not ‘brides’, as a result of such global cooperation”.

Sabanci Foundation has supported 28 projects through grant programs

Since 2008, Sabanci Foundation Social Development Grant Program, made grants to NGOs for their projects addressing issues of women, youth, and people with disabilities. The projects aim at “creating equal opportunities for” and “enabling active social participation of” women, youth, and people with disabilities. Having supported 20 projects so far, Sabanci Foundation has incorporated 8 new projects within the scope of its 2012 grant program. The total grant support by the Foundation through several programs has currently exceeded 6 million TL.

SABANCI FOUNDATION SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT GRANT PROGRAM 2011 PROJECTS