According to the Good deeds across time survey OP Financial Group carried out last autumn, the owner-customers of OP Uusimaa expect corporate responsibility actions from the bank, focused particularly on promoting the wellbeing of young people and children and employment, supporting financial skills, and strengthening the digital skills of older people. The region of Uusimaa had a stronger desire to support action mitigating climate change and strengthening biodiversity than other regions in Finland.
“These wishes were used to make a list of options from which the members of the Representative Assembly of OP Uusimaa chose those that were most important to them,” says Hanna Korhonen, Marketing and Communications Director of OP Uusimaa.
Based on a survey for the Representative Assembly of OP Uusimaa, the bank’s Board of Directors decided on the donation charities and sums as follows:
• The Deaconess Foundation’s Vamos service guides young people at risk of marginalisation back to the path of employment and education. Donation of 82,000 euros.
• SOS Children’s Villages Finland’s Unelmista totta hobby programme supports the hobbies of children of low-income families. Donation of 58,000 euros.
• The Finnish Association for the Welfare of Older People’s Ystäväpiiri activities helps older people struggling with loneliness. Donation of 35,000 euros.
• The John Nurminen Foundation’s projects support the protection of the Baltic Sea. Donation of 31,000 euros.
• Plan International Finland focuses on supporting the wellbeing of Ukrainian children and improving their opportunities to attend school. Donation of 28,000 euros.
• Inclusion Finland KVTL’s Malike activities offer opportunities for participation to severely disabled children, young people and adults. Donation of 16,000 euros.
The donations were chosen to focus on socially significant matters and cover OP Uusimaa’s entire operating environment. The Ukraine-themed donation to Plan International does not focus on Uusimaa, but it was considered a very meaningful donation in this exceptional world situation.
“These donations are a good example of how we can promote the success, wellbeing and safety of our operating environment in line with our mission. I believe we can thus play our part in building a more equal and hopeful future,” Hanna Korhonen adds.
In addition to the donations listed above, OP Uusimaa will help 500 young people find employment by donating 250,000 euros through the Summer jobs paid for by OP campaign. The Summer jobs paid for by OP campaign has already been running for eleven years.