ING for Children Foundation

Our mission is to equal the chances of children and teenagers.

The ING for Children Foundation is one of the oldest corporate foundations in Poland. It was established on the grounds of the Foundation of Bank Śląski formed in 1991. Owing to work and involvement of people connected with the foundation, ING volunteers and social partners, over 10 thousand children have been helped in manifold ways.

The foundation’s mission is to equal the chances of children which is done with the use of original social programmes.

Smile Camps – free educational and therapeutic camps for the charges of the foundation in the recreation centre in Wisła,
ING Voluntary Services Programme – where employees financially supported by the foundation engage in local social initiatives,
Bibliotherapy – the foundation distributes free of charge the books for children published together with ING Bank Śląski S.A. – “Alien” and “Lucjan, the Lion One of Its Kind”,
ING Internet Clubs – clubs with free internet access all over Poland.

Our programmes

Smile Camps

The charges of the foundation stay in the recreation centre in Wisła for two weeks for free. Depending on their needs, the foundation operates therapeutic and educational programmes or organises camps for the charges of primary schools, community youth centres or therapeutic groups. Each year, nearly 1,100 children from all over Poland participate in 22 camps.

Current information about Smile Camps is available on Facebook.

ING Voluntary Services Programme

This programme of the ING for Children Foundation is to foster the development of local communities and employee engagement. Volunteers deliver their projects with the financial assistance of the foundation and partnering with non-governmental organisations as well as municipal and commune social welfare centres.

Every employee is entitled to 8 hours of working time to be used for voluntary activities. In 2016, volunteers participated in local initiatives for 4,215 hours. They delivered over 60 projects all over Poland. Those included projects under the Good Idea subsidy contest, ad-hoc and blood donation initiatives.

Current information about the Voluntary Services Programme is available on Facebook.

Bibliotherapy

Between 2005 and 2010, the foundation supported the programme “Accompanied by the Lion”. It was mainly intended to promote bibliotheraphy, i.e. a therapy with the use of adequately prepared texts or books.

Two books were published on the initiative of the Bank: “Lucjan, the Lion One of Its Kind” and “Alien”.

Lucjan, the Lion One of Its Kind is a book for children suffering from oncological diseases. It teaches children how to overcome difficulties, tame the fear and tells them about the power of friendship.
Alien – addressed to the families with autistic children. The story helps to understand difficult behaviours and shows how to look for support in a specialist therapy. The book was published in cooperation with the Synapsis Foundation.

Each year, the books are sent to a few thousand of younger and older readers. The books were written by Roksana Jędrzejewska-Wróbel. The graphic design is by Joanna Jung.

Both publications are available in the electronic version at www.ingdzieciom.pl.

ING Internet Clubs

Between 2005 and 2013, the ING for Children Foundation opened internet clubs in places where children and teenagers had limited access to the internet. The foundation ensured computers, software and together with social partners adapted the premises. Internet clubs were helpful in doing day-to-day school and extracurricular tasks.

Social objectives pursued by the internet clubs:

development of information society,
educational help in school and extracurricular tasks.

There are 30 internet clubs across Poland.

See the list of the ING for Children Foundation internet clubs:

dolnośląskie (Mieroszów)
lubelskie (Łysołaje, Żeszczynka)
lubuskie (Bledzew)
łódzkie (Pabianice, Wilamów)
małopolskie (Olkusz, Tarnów, Kraków)
mazowieckie (Jelonki, Warszawa - two clubs, Warka)
podkarpackie (Rzeszów)
podlaskie (Kuźnica, Narew)
śląskie (Katowice, Wisła, Bielsko-Biała, Bytom, Ruda Śląska, Świętochłowice, Zabrze - two clubs, Piekary Śląskie, Zawiercie, Bojszowy),
świętokrzyskie (Mąchocice Kapitulne)
zachodniopomorskie (Szczecin, Koszalin)

Our beneficiaries

The ING for Children Foundation beneficiaries are:

non-governmental organisations,
schools and kindergartens (e.g. special and inclusive schools),
community youth centres,
hospitals with paediatric wards.

The form of support and the activity of the selected organisation must be in line with the goals and mission of the ING for Children Foundation.

Consequently, the foundation does not help organisations which conduct political, trade union or religious activity or private school facilities (kindergartens, schools, universities). Nor does it support an initiative if there is a conflict of interest as far as the statutory goals of the foundation are concerned.