ANALYSIS
AmCham Bulgaria’s
Volunteering Tradition
Volunteering has become a tradition within the AmCham Bulgaria community over the past six years.
Every spring and autumn, the organization’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) committee and the
Bulgarian Aid Charities Foundation (BCAF) work in
close cooperation to encourage and manage the engagement of hundreds of volunteers. Each campaign
starts with a public event attended by a wide variety
of electronic and print media who come to cover the
opening of “Volunteer Days” and to interview organizers and participants. Since the launch of the initiative in 2008, U.S. Ambassadors to Bulgaria have
joined in to help popularize the idea of volunteering
and to help improve the environment.
Most AmCham Bulgaria member companies already
have their own CSR agenda focused on supporting
environmental conservation or protection, homeless
children and orphanages, training and education, assistance to the elderly or to young talents throughout the year. AmCham Bulgaria and BCAF decided
to channel some of this energy and huge potential
into one big umbrella initiative that would encourage
more and more volunteerism each year.
The 2008 “Volunteer Days” united 30 companies and
organizations and involved more than 500 volunteers
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in total. Adding to that achievement, BCAF managed
to raise monetary donations based on the total hours
of work performed on that day. In total, roughly
3.500 EUR were donated to charitable organizations
to support their ongoing project work.
The May 2009 campaign involved a record number
of more than 960 volunteers from 38 companies who
worked on 14 projects in Sofia and 8 projects elsewhere in the country. Activities included planting
Gingko trees in Sofia’s parks, clean ups of littered
urban areas, renovation of public benches and playground equipment, as well as helping children in institutional care and day care centers.
In 2010, the employees of Colliers International Bulgaria collected about 250 EUR in individual donations to buy toys and consumables (e.g., pampers,
baby food) for the “St. Paraskeva” children’s institution in Sofia.
Nearly 40 employees of the companies Enel Maritza East 3, Carlsberg - Bulgaria and Vivacom were involved in nature conservation activities. In Stara Zagora, Enel Maritza East 3 employees manufactured
and installed over 30 birds nests and feeders made
from