PRESENTATION FOR THE BUSINESS SECTOR

Pro bono work seems to be an area very distant from such a specific environment as the business sector indubitably is. It does, however, turn out that even though they exist and run their businesses in specific communities, entrepreneurs cannot afford to neglect all the social problems surrounding them. At every turn they are ?flooded? with applications and requests for support and financial assistance. Nevertheless, instead of drawing satisfaction and advantages from the fact of helping others, they perceive charity work as tedious and frustrating. Business people do not know how to test the reliability and efficiency of an organisation applying to them with a request for assistance; neither are they savvy in the legal and tax provisions regulating such activities; both of the above may result in a total withdrawal from offering support to those in need. In order to prevent such a situation, the Academy for the Development of Philanthropy jointly with the Social Communication Foundation have initiated co-operation with business sector representatives.

The purpose of such presentations is to encourage businessmen to become involved in the funding of pro bono causes, to show efficient methods of engaging in philanthropic and sponsoring work, and to promote benefits stemming from the funding of charitable purposes. We want charity causes to start forming a permanent element of corporate strategies, with pro bono work becoming the Polish businessman?s daily bread.

Presentations have been developed with the aid of state-of-the-art multimedia computer technologies. Topics discussed during presentations encircled:
- the concept and history of philanthropy;
- forms of charity, philanthropy, and sponsoring in Poland;
- reasons, for which business people finance pro bono causes;
- areas and types of causes most willingly supported by donors;
- corporate and personal income tax deductions available;
- and the rules of operating Community Foundations in Poland.
- criteria of drafting pro bono cause support strategies.
- social advertising, in Poland and worldwide and examples of advantages to be enjoyed by a company using such a form of promotion.
We are aware of the fact that our presentations are nothing but an introduction to selected models or solutions. Hence, we have been striving to prepare them in a form adapted to the nature of the party we were addressing (presentations contain specific examples, statistics, and legal regulations; they are delivered in a dynamic fashion with a variety of presentation techniques applied), and keep them informative and inspiring rather than hinting at training.