ČESKÝ TELECOM’s Small Donations Fund has given away over half a million CZK

22.6.2006

ČESKÝ TELECOM’s Small Donations, which is managed by the Information Centre for Non-Profit Organisations (ICN), has dispensed financial support in the amount of CZK 571,000 among 14 non-profit organisations and 9 individuals. An eight-member evaluation committee comprising ICN representatives and ČESKÝ TELECOM selected the recipients from a total number of 176 requests. This was the second distribution of resources from ČESKÝ TELECOM’s Small Donations fund so far this year; a total of 544,864 koruna in support was distributed among 24 projects.

Money from the fund is intended to help the widest possible circle of non-profit organisations and persons in need in all regions of the Czech Republic. Private non-profit organisations that work in the spheres of social health, the environment, education, culture and the preservation of monuments, or that devote themselves to leisure activities can request a grant from the Fund. Physical entities can only receive financing from the fund in the social health area.

“Our company’s Small Donations Fund is already in its second year of operations and the number of requests continues to grow. In the round that was just completed we recorded an especially pronounced growth in the number of projects for funding non-profit organisations. For us this is proof that awareness about this Fund has already increased among non-profit organisations in the Czech Republic and that interest in this opportunity for financing beneficial activities is growing,” says Tomáš Dufek, Český Telecom’s Manager for Sponsoring and Events when speaking of the Fund’s work.

One of the organisations that the Fund supported in the past was SKS Tricykl Blatná. Its director Hana Kolínská stated: “Thanks to support from the fund, in April and May Czech tricyclists were able to participate in the European race for handicapped cyclists in Balboa, Spain, for example. At the competition, the team succeeded in taking first place in individual categories, as well as team competitions and they got valuable contacts. Our foreign friends then accepted our invitation to the championship for handicapped cyclist-spastics in the Czech Republic. We are very grateful for the support we are getting from ČESKÝ TELECOM’s Small Donations Fund; without it, organizing the entire activity for the handicapped tricyclists would have been very difficult,” says Hana Kolínská.

“There are hundreds of non-profit organisations in a variety of areas, but means of financing their activities are limited. ČESKÝ TELECOM’s Small Donations Fund helps fill a void by offering support in the form of small donations to a large number of non-profit organisations and people in need,” adds Marek Šedivý, Executive Director of the Information Centre for Non-Profit Organisations, which administers ČESKÝ TELECOM’s Small Donations Fund. Šedivý also mentions the fact that assistance from the Small Donations Fund is distributed among all regions of the Czech Republic: “For smaller non-profit organizations operating in the peripheral parts of the Czech Republic it is sometimes very difficult to get financial resources from big foundations. Through the Small Donations Fund, however, it is easy for a good project to get assistance. For a long time we have also been supporting projects that get less attention from the media, such as education,” says Šedivý.

For further information, please contact:
MARTIN ŽABKA
Press Spokesman
Tel: +420 271 463 359
Fax: +420 271 469 896
e-mail: tiskovy.odbor@ct.cz