Annual Report Koppert Foundation 2017
Introduction
The Koppert Foundation was established during Koppert Biological Systems’ golden jubilee year of 2017; making both the official registration of the Foundation and the acquisition of the ANBI status a fact.
The Koppert Foundation is a natural extension of the Koppert BV’s company mission. to make agriculture healthier, safer and more productive in collaboration with nature', and aims to bring sustainable solutions for agriculture and horticulture within reach for those who need it most, and as a result contribute to their health and availability of food and nutrition. The Koppert Foundation also wishes to stimulate and support the social involvement of Koppert employees.
To achieve this, the Koppert Foundation concentrates on three focus areas. Two of them ('small-scale farmers' and 'innovation / education') are explicitly linked to Koppert’s mission and expertise.
The third focus area aims to support social projects in which Koppert employees are involved. Ai Koppert BV in the Netherlands, the so-called ‘MBO fund' functioned from 2012 with the same goal and is now integrated into the Koppert Foundation.
Organization
The Koppert Foundation has a governance board, a 'project board', and a working group. Requests for support are received by the working group; including the application form on the Koppert Foundation website. The working group screens each application to see whether it meets the requirements and fits within the focus. Applications with a positive advice from the working group are presented to the project board, which decides whether or not to support the project financially. The project board has established a governance structure and working method as a guideline for the Koppert Foundation.
Publicity
The website www.koppertfoundation.org has been adapted and is now available in English and Dutch. There is a decision tree to help assess whether a project is eligible and application forms for small and large projects.
Banners and a PowerPoint presentation were created and used to promote the Koppert Foundation. Regular reports on the progress of the Koppert Foundation's work have been posted on the company’s GROW intranet service.
The 'jubilee' projects
2017 was a special year because of the company’s 50-year jubilee celebrations. Literally thousands of people were present or otherwise involved in one way or another. This opportunity was used to draw attention to the Koppert Foundation and to invite people to support the Foundation financially (as a gift for Koppert's birthday). Four projects were selected for this occasion. The total contribution from interested persons and companies was enormous: € 45,000. The Koppert Management had pledged to double the amount received. That made no less than € 90,000 available for the four selected projects.
This amount has been divided as follows:
1. Food Garden Rotterdam: € 5,000
2. Trees for All Bolivia € 20,000
3. Plant doctor training Cabi Kenya € 32,500
4. Food for youth CCP Uganda € 32,500
Other projects in 2017
In addition to the aforementioned four projects, a contribution was pledged in December for the further rollout of the child education project 'auxiliaries from nature'. A number of new projects are also 'in the pipeline and added during the course of 2017.
Budget
At the first board meeting in December, the governance board (on behalf of the management of Koppert Biological Systems) pledged t a budget for 2018 of € 345,000 to the project board.