The Aboitiz Foundation is the social development arm of the Aboitiz group of companies. It was established in 1989 as a corporate foundation to address social and economic development needs of less privileged communities and members of society.
Every year, various Aboitiz companies from different industries commit a certain percentage of their earnings and channel it to the Foundation. This is how we finance our programs, projects and day-to-day operations. Moreover, as responsible corporate citizens, there are also some CSR activities that the companies themselves fund directly.
For 22 years, our neighbor communities saw how our programs have evolved—from one-time donations at the onset, to carefully designed programs that ensure continued assistance to beneficiaries. Through our scorecard system, we are continuously monitoring and evaluating these programs to see where else we can improve, while at the same time exploring other ways to better serve the greater community.
PROGRAMS
Education
Every year, approximately 50% of the Foundation’s annual budget goes to projects that seek to enhance the public education system. As a main thrust, our education program consists of four aspects:
Enterprise Development
One way of empowering communities to help themselves is to provide them with sustainable income-generating opportunities.
A total of P17 million was allocated in 2010 for enterprise development activities, which include microfinance packages, capability-building activities, and equipment donations. We consider assisting small cooperatives in this manner as a way of bringing about growth in the countryside.
Primary Health and Child Care
Aboitiz Foundation also addresses the shortage of adequate infrastructure facilities for basic social services by building water systems and health centers, day-care and cooperative training centers.
Corporate Donations and Other Initiatives
The Foundation also extends corporate donations and other forms of assistance to both government and non-government organizations operating within our focus areas. Local government units, government agencies, religious institutions and foundations that promote sports, arts, culture have been assisted in implementing their own projects.
Environment
Some years ago, the Aboitiz Foundation became more involved in environmental concerns in light of the global urgency to protect Mother Earth. As we see the need to proactively respond to this call, the environment is now a new program component in our CSR.
Through this and with the help of Aboitiz Equity Ventures' in-house sustainability team, we will be able to tackle sustainability issues and take a step further in environment conservation efforts.
