ABN AMRO Foundation helps broaden disadvantaged children’s horizons

As board members of ABN AMRO Foundation, Jan van Rutte and Özlem Karakus can speak at length about facts and figures, budgets, objectives and KPIs. But they’d much rather talk about the smile on a child’s face, a hug or a drawing a member of staff gets after guest-teaching at a school in a low-income neighbourhood – all moments at which the impact ABN AMRO Foundation can have on children is truly palpable. Just one child’s happiness may well say more than the total number of pupils the foundation reaches each year – nearly 20,000.

Fulfilment

“You see the value of your work expressed in the children’s faces,” explains Özlem, a business analyst at ABN AMRO and, since last year, a junior board member of ABN AMRO Foundation. 

ABN AMRO’s former CFO retired back in 2013 but stayed on as a foundation board member. He continues, “It’s through the foundation that our employees can actively contribute to the bank’s social involvement objectives.”

Social impact

At first, ABN AMRO Foundation had a finger in every pie – organising sponsored runs, pitching in on therapeutic farms and taking seniors on outings. But in order to focus more on social impact and help fulfil the bank’s purpose of ‘banking for better, for generations to come’, the foundation has shifted its centre of attention over the last few years specifically to children from disadvantaged backgrounds. In close consultation with schools, it now organises educational activities, visits to musicals, guest lectures and other projects – all designed to meet the needs of the children involved.

“Basically, the activities are about broadening horizons,” Özlem explains. “Our main aim is to introduce these kids to things they don’t get at home like classes in programming, entrepreneurship and financial literacy taught by specialist guest teachers. Or even a visit to a museum.”

Coronavirus

Unfortunately, the coronavirus crisis initially threw a spanner in the works, and many projects were suspended overnight. But not for long. Jan says, “It was inspiring to see how flexible the foundation really is. Everyone quickly changed gear to figure out what we could still manage to do during the crisis.” 

In no time at all, the foundation managed to have 3,500 laptops delivered to families lacking sufficient homeschooling support. As a result, the Jeugdeducatiefonds (Youth Education Fund) – one of the foundation’s close partners – was able to honour numerous requests from schools to help get the equipment to the children who needed it. The foundation has also set up an online buddy project allowing these children to meet with a volunteer from the bank, their very own ‘buddy’, twice a week via video link. Not only has this contact helped close the learning gap while these youngsters were learning at home, but it’s also provided an opportunity to focus on their emotional state and help boost their self-confidence. “Sometimes you talk to children about maths or language. Sometimes it’s about their hobbies and interests,” says Özlem. Staff are given specialist training by Stichting Studiezalen (the Reading Rooms Foundation) to learn how to establish meaningful contact with youngsters online and build trust.

Eye-opener

At the end of the day, though, online or off, the activities are about one thing: making a difference in children’s lives. Jan says he saw this clearly at the Stadium Games at the Johan Cruijff ArenA last year: “The children were introduced to lots of new things there, like sport, art and culture. The impact is astonishing – they totally get into it. These kids literally found themselves in another world. And that’s exactly what the foundation aims to do – help children discover all that’s possible in the world.” 

“And don’t forget about the bank’s employees, either,” adds Özlem. “Working in low-income neighbourhoods is often just as much an eye-opener for our staff. It’s sometimes difficult to see for yourself just how good you’ve got it. This experience gives us an awareness of our own circumstances, which means we’re then better able to see where we can make a difference in our own environment.”