Social engagement - Integrated Report Grupa KĘTY 2023

GRI 413-1

Year 2023 was special to the organisation owing to the 70th anniversary of Grupa KĘTY.

The Capital Group was celebrating symbolically binding the jubilee motif with social activity. At the same time, the Company continued support to the Ukrainian employees and citizens.

We were observing a changing situation, a larger group of people who had previously availed of support became independent, and some of them returned to Ukraine. At the end of 2023, support was provided to 18 people, out of which were the employees of the Capital Group companies.

In 2023 over PLN 0.3 million was allocated to support for Ukraine, making it roughly PLN 2 million in total since the outbreak of the war.

Local projects

The Capital Group engages in the communities of the areas where its companies are located. We take efforts to create positive change and, therefore, together with our employees who form local communities, we respond to challenges and needs and contribute to the region’s development.

‘70 local projects for 70 years of Grupa KĘTY’ was the motto of the 9th edition of the ‘Together with the Group’ programme. The voluntary efforts of our employees combined with financial support of the organisation have translated into 70 diverse projects. Among them, a major part has been devoted to sports, as an important aspect of our social engagement. Some projects were devoted to supporting and developing the artistic passions of children and youths, there were suits for dancing ensembles, musical workshops or open-air activities.

As always, a strong accent were the projects carried out together with the Voluntary Fire Brigade. There were also projects related to animal aid, educational workshops, providing equipment to schools and kindergartens or simply the communities where the employees of the Capital Group companies reside.

‘70 local projects for 70 years of Grupa KĘTY’ was the motto of the 9th edition of the ‘Together with the Group’ programme. The voluntary efforts of our employees combined with financial support of the organisation have translated into 70 diverse projects. Among them, a major part has been devoted to sports, as an important aspect of our social engagement. Some projects were devoted to supporting and developing the artistic passions of children and youths, there were suits for dancing ensembles, musical workshops or open-air activities.

As always, a strong accent were the projects carried out together with the Voluntary Fire Brigade. There were also projects related to animal aid, educational workshops, providing equipment to schools and kindergartens or simply the communities where the employees of the Capital Group companies reside.

‘70 local projects for 70 years of Grupa KĘTY’ was the motto of the 9th edition of the ‘Together with the Group’ programme. The voluntary efforts of our employees combined with financial support of the organisation have translated into 70 diverse projects. Among them, a major part has been devoted to sports, as an important aspect of our social engagement. Some projects were devoted to supporting and developing the artistic passions of children and youths, there were suits for dancing ensembles, musical workshops or open-air activities.

As always, a strong accent were the projects carried out together with the Voluntary Fire Brigade. There were also projects related to animal aid, educational workshops, providing equipment to schools and kindergartens or simply the communities where the employees of the Capital Group companies reside.

‘70 local projects for 70 years of Grupa KĘTY’ was the motto of the 9th edition of the ‘Together with the Group’ programme. The voluntary efforts of our employees combined with financial support of the organisation have translated into 70 diverse projects. Among them, a major part has been devoted to sports, as an important aspect of our social engagement. Some projects were devoted to supporting and developing the artistic passions of children and youths, there were suits for dancing ensembles, musical workshops or open-air activities.

As always, a strong accent were the projects carried out together with the Voluntary Fire Brigade. There were also projects related to animal aid, educational workshops, providing equipment to schools and kindergartens or simply the communities where the employees of the Capital Group companies reside.

‘70 local projects for 70 years of Grupa KĘTY’ was the motto of the 9th edition of the ‘Together with the Group’ programme. The voluntary efforts of our employees combined with financial support of the organisation have translated into 70 diverse projects. Among them, a major part has been devoted to sports, as an important aspect of our social engagement. Some projects were devoted to supporting and developing the artistic passions of children and youths, there were suits for dancing ensembles, musical workshops or open-air activities.

As always, a strong accent were the projects carried out together with the Voluntary Fire Brigade. There were also projects related to animal aid, educational workshops, providing equipment to schools and kindergartens or simply the communities where the employees of the Capital Group companies reside.

‘70 local projects for 70 years of Grupa KĘTY’ was the motto of the 9th edition of the ‘Together with the Group’ programme. The voluntary efforts of our employees combined with financial support of the organisation have translated into 70 diverse projects. Among them, a major part has been devoted to sports, as an important aspect of our social engagement. Some projects were devoted to supporting and developing the artistic passions of children and youths, there were suits for dancing ensembles, musical workshops or open-air activities.

As always, a strong accent were the projects carried out together with the Voluntary Fire Brigade. There were also projects related to animal aid, educational workshops, providing equipment to schools and kindergartens or simply the communities where the employees of the Capital Group companies reside.

Care for the people threatened with social exclusion

The objective is achieved mainly through the activities of the ‘Grupa Kęty for the Children of the Podbeskidzie Region’ Foundation. This is a response of the organisation to the problems of children and youths threatened with social exclusion, as defined in the region.

The Foundation’s objective is to cooperate with and to take care of children from children’s homes and special educational establishments, for example by implementation of the ‘To ensure a better start’ action. This means helping the children to get education, expertise and qualifications, which, in consequence, will give them a better start in their independent adult lives. The Foundation runs the 16PLUS programme ensuring individual support to children and youths.

Every child under the care of the Foundation may voluntarily join the programme. In the course of the programme, representatives of the Foundation periodically (twice a year) meet with the children to discuss plans and current achievements, and to plan the support that the Foundation can offer to meet their needs (e.g. tutoring in science subjects, English language courses, driving licence courses, other specialised courses, assistance in furnishing a flat). In addition, the Foundation runs transitional-living flats in Kęty. The flats are occupied by adult wards, where over a period of two years they prepare for independent life.

In 2023, apart from providing individual support to children and youths, the Foundation also ran regular programmes targeted at care and educational institutions, including off-site photography workshops, workshops devoted to reacting to hate, educational and sightseeing trips within the ‘Experience Poland with the Foundation’ project, a trip to Slovenia within the ‘Get to Know the Group’ programme, or mountain excursions with the ‘Mountains not Keyboard’ project.

The idea behind the activities of the Foundation is to gradually abandon children’s homes and propagate the concept of foster families. In 2023, together with the Bielsko-Biała Welfare Centre, the Foundation continued the social campaign entitled ‘Share Your Home – Bielsko-Biała For Child Custody Support’. Within the campaign special posters and graphic art on city buses appeared in the public space of Bielsko-Biała, whereas the children in the existing foster families in Bielsko-Biała were subsidised by the Foundation.

In 2023, the Foundation spent PLN 535,000 on statutory activities. All the activities of the Foundation are presented on the website: www.dziecipodbeskidzia.pl

Propagation of the idea of educating through sport

Sports means discipline, fair play, principles, and consequence – all values we care for in business. Sports also means a perfect tool for cooperation and employee engagement. For many years now, the Capital Group of Grupa KĘTY S.A. has been investing in and developing ‘the idea of educating through sport’.

By way of engaging the organisation in various sports events in the region, we cope with the challenge of the 21st century, namely encouraging young people to actively spend their leisure time and fight obesity – the modern-age disease. Caring for the health of the future generations, the Group has officially included such objectives in its Corporate Social Responsibility Policy.

We take an active approach to sport – apart from the local communities the events are actively attended by the employees of the Grupa KĘTY S.A. Capital Group and their families as well as the children under the charge of the ‘Grupa Kęty for the Children of the Podbeskidzie Region’ Foundation.

Sports events of which the Capital Group was a partner in 2023 included:

Skiing competition for the children in winter, and cycling competition for children in summer. The character of Reksio comes from Bielsko-Biała, so the project combines not only the idea of educating through sport, but also the promotion of the region in which some of the Capital Group companies are located. The ‘Reksio’ cartoons present simple but important values.

Cycle of beach volley ball tournaments for youths. Since 2015, thanks to the engagement of our company, young people have rivalled in beach volleyball at specially prepared courts.

In 2023 there were two championships held, one in Mysłowice attended by 25 parent-and-child teams, and one in Dębowiec, where youths in categories U15 and U19 rivalled.

A tradition in the sports events portfolio of the Capital Group. Within the spring and autumn editions the Company endows the main prizes – bicycles, while the employees and the children under the charge of the ‘Grupa Kęty for the Children of the Podbeskidzie Region’ Foundation are the most numerous among organised groups.

In 2023, the autumn edition was combined with the final of the ‘Bike Helps’ action, which we have described in the part devoted to Sustainable Development Goal 13 – Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

A strong accent are running events, where sport is usually combined with charity: The Wings for Life run is the only global run in which the Catcher Car pursuing the participants is the moving finish line.

It is held in 12 locations around the world and starts exactly at the same time everywhere – our team competed in Vienna. The Run is for all who want to support the activities of the organisation by raising money for research on a cure for spinal cord injuries. Similarly open is the Poland Business Run (the largest charity relay-run event in Poland), in which not only the employees of the Capital Group of Grupa KĘTY S.A. took part but also the children under the care of the ‘Grupa Kęty for the Children of the Podbeskidzie Region’ Foundation.

Together, there were 13 packs of GrupaKetyTeam. The beneficiaries of the run are people with motor disability. ‘Outdistance Breast Cancer’ Charity Run is another sports event gladly attended by Grupa KĘTY.

In 2023 autumn edition there participated the total of 30 employees. The central theme of the run was breast cancer prophylactics.