Balkan Community Initiatives Fund is a domestic foundation that supports people to take active part in improving the life in their respective communities. We believe that even small positive changes make a big difference. Therefore, by providing financial assistance and learning opportunities we are helping people who are trying to help themselves. As a matter of fact, we offer them an opportunity to access funds and gain knowledge that might alleviate the problem resolution in their communities. In the last couple of years, we supported more than 700 successful projects, in value more than 3.000,000 Euros, throughout Serbia and Montenegro.
  
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Award
 

VIRTUS - CORPORATE PHILANTROPHY
EXCELLENCE AWARD 2011
 

As one of the largest domestic organizations which has supported civic actions and local groups for years, Balkan Community Initiatives Fund (BCIF), in cooperation with USAID, ISC, VIA Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF), Executive Group, Radio Television of Serbia (RTS), Ekonomist Media Group (EMG), eKapija, Media Center Belgrade, PR Society of Serbia, the City of Belgrade and National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, announces the opening of the competition for the fifth annual VIRTUS award for companies which supported non-profit actions or organizations for the public good in the most efficient and effective way in 2010/2011.  

This is the first award of this kind ever conferred in Serbia. The intention is that it becomes a traditional event and a major landmark for investments for the common good. Based on the last year’s great accomplishment we continue to award and acknowledge the best examples of the companies.

 

VIRTUUS Sculpture is an original work of the sculptor Nikola Protić

ABOUT US

Balkan Community Initiatives Fund is a domestic f oundation that supports people to take active part in improving life in their communities. We believe that even small positive changes make a big difference. Therefore, by providing financial assistance and learning opportunities we are helping people who are trying to help themselves. We offer them an opportunity to access funds and gain knowledge that might alleviate problem resolution in their communities. In the last couple of years, we supported more than 3.000.000 Euros, throughout Serbia.

BCIF are conducting a systematic campaign for the revitalization and promotion of philanthropic ideas and attitudes in the society. The campaign includes a series of activities aimed at revitalizing charitable actions and making them a part of everyday routine, and this Award is one of the most important initiatives in that direction.



OBJECTIVE OF THE COMPETITION:

The objective of this prestigious award is to acknowledge and publicly name companies and enterprises that gave financial support for this cause and thus set a pattern for the business world to follow.

Thus we wish to promote and encourage philanthropy in our country in order to increase the participation of companies, enterprises and individuals in charitable actions or programs.

The competition itself offers an opportunity to associations, civil society organizations (CSOs) and final beneficiaries of donations to publicly express their gratitude to charity givers. On the other hand, the award makes it possible for companies to get wider public support for the projects to whose implementation they generously contribute.

The award organization and ceremony is an ideal opportunity to promote genuine partnership and cooperation between the business sector and CSOs and to publicly demonstrate corporate social responsibility which very often remains invisible.



WHO IS ELIGIBLE TO PARTICIPATE:

Award nominees can be as follows:

   •   domestic and international companies,
   •   branches of international companies operating in Serbia,
   •   private small and medium enterprises,
   •   public and state-owned companies,
   •   media houses and 
   •   corporate funds and foundations 

which supported a social or non-profit action or organisation during 2010/2011.

Non-profit organisations and state institutions are not eligible to apply for the award. They can be quoted in the application form only as partners of the leading company/enterprise.



WHO CAN NOMINATE:

Award nominees can be proposed by: all interested citizens, individuals, non-profit organizations, media, PR agencies, marketing agencies, and also by companies and enterprises.



AWARD CATEGORIES:

Companies and enterprises can compete for the following award categories:

   • VIRTUS Main Award for contribution at the national level
   • VIRTUS Award for contribution to the local community in which the company operates
   • VIRTUS Award for small and medium-size enterprises
   • VIRTUS Long-term partnership Award between business and civil sectorar

In addition to these awards, there will be delivered two special awards:

   •  Award for support for the most innovative project of the year
   •  Award for voluntereeing
   •  Special Award for media contribution



 AWARD :

Winners of the competition will get:

   • The right to display the official sign of VIRTUS Award for 2010 on all their products, promotional       material and documents,
   •  Purpose-made sculpture i.e. a piece of art symbolizing the idea of giving for the common good
   •  Significant media promotion by Foundation



COMPETITION REQUIREMENTS:

For this competition, company/enterprise’s nominated activities should have been implemented in the period between September 1, 2010 and the moment of sending the application form. The company/enterprise can apply for one or more award categories at the same time.

Only completed applications on the appropriate purpose-made application form that arrive within the given deadline will be taken into consideration.

The deadline for submission of applications and accompanying documents is October 14, 2011.



AWARD JURY:

After a thorough consideration of all nominations, a decision on award recipients will be made by an independent jury (selection committee) in accordance with the unique criteria. The jury will consist of prominent individuals coming from the business sector, the CSO sector, media and marketing.

SELECTION COMITEE FOR VIRTUS AWARD 2011:

Biljana Stepanović, president of the Selection Committee
Business Info Group

Ana Firtel Vlajić
Foreign Investors Council

Tamara Koštro
Project Regional socio-economic development

Miloš Đajić
PR Society of Serbia

Zdravko Lončar
E-kapija

Isidora Orlović
The National Bank of Serbia


BASIC CRITERIA FOR SELECTION OF WINNERS:

During the decision making process, the jury will take into consideration several criteria:

•
Company/enterprise gives donation to a non-profit organization or an institution of culture, social or health welfare for the activities or project of the common good (for instance, environmental protection, cultural heritage, human rights promotion, development of education, assistance to vulnerable and marginalized groups, assistance to the local community…)

•
Donation recipient, such as a non-profit organization or an institution of culture, social or health welfare, is just about to complete, or it has already completed the project which produced tangible and measurable results
•
Donation recipient uses funds for the implementation of a project or a program relevant to the community in which the donation recipient operates, or relevant to the topic in which the organization is well specialized

•
Donor endeavors to perceive his/her investment as ‘social investment’ or ‘community investment’ rather than a marketing tool, PR tool or sponsorship
•

Donor is interested in the outcome of his/her investment and results of the supported projects
•
Donor has supported non-profit organizations and socially beneficial projects several times in the past
•
In addition to direct financial assistance, donor offers a donation recipient other kinds of assistance (for instance, transfer of knowledge and skills, in-kind assistance etc.)
•
Company/enterprise, which is a donor, runs its business in a legal way and in accordance with social and ethical standards respecting standards related to corporate social responsibility of companies, such as ethical behavior towards employees, clients, environment etc.

Remark: The above quoted criteria are the basic criteria for decision making process. When it comes to special categories of awards, more information on eventual additional criteria can be found in the document ‘Award Categories’.


ORGANIZERS :

The entire project, competition and the Awards ceremony is organized by Balkan Community Initiatives Fund in cooperation and under auspices of USAID, ISC, VIA Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF), Executive Group, Radio Television of Serbia, Ekonomist Media Group (EMG), eKapija, Media Center Belgrade, PR Society of Serbia, the City of Belgrade and National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia - who recognized the importance and potentials of such an initiative and therefore would like to support it.

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