VIRTUS award for 2016
National level contribution award
Hemofarm JSC Vršac for the campaign The Most Important Call in Life, which is implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Serbia. The goal of this campaign is to raise awareness among citizens about the importance of organ donation and transplantation, to create a positive attitude towards the adoption of a new law on transplantation, and to increase the number of donors in Serbia. . In the past year, Hemofarm donated medical equipment, devices and medicines to health institutions in Serbia, provided scholarships to medical and pharmacy students, provided financial support for the implementation of cultural and artistic events, educational institutions, vulnerable categories of society and invested in environmental protection.
Award for contribution to the local community
KPMG Ltd. from Belgrade for money donations and volunteer work of employees through mentoring programs, providing professional pro-bono tax consulting and auditing services, Green Four actions, decorating Drinka Pavlović’s home and collecting New Year’s packages for children from Niš and Obrenovac. With their donations, they helped BELhospice, KEC MNRO, Nataša Kovačević Foundation, various student organizations and associations, professional associations and young talents in the field of natural sciences, who enabled them to participate in international competitions and science Olympics.
Award for Small and Medium Enterprises
YUMIS Ltd. from Niš for financial support to sports associations, the University of Niš, the scout detachment and various cultural events. Yumis has donated the products to various associations, including the Association of Single Mothers, NURDOR, homes for the elderly and associations of persons with disabilities. This company was also active in the field of education, so it organized professional practice for high school students and students.
Award for Long-Term Partnership Between the Business and Non-Profit Sectors
Telekom Serbia JSC for its eleven-year partnership with the National Children’s Line NADEL 116111 – a free telephone counselling service for all children in Serbia. This partnership includes providing financial support, free services, equipment and on-call technical support 24 hours a day. NADEL’s mission is to effectively help children solve their problems, to ensure that children’s voices are heard, to adequately respond to their needs and to raise public awareness of children’s rights. In addition, in 2016, godini donirala sredstva za osnivanje call centra za Roditeljsku liniju (ROLIN).
Award for individual contribution to philanthropy
Hido Muratović, for help with money, food, clothes and shoes, medicines and white goods, which he provided for 7 families from the vicinity of Novi Pazar during the previous year. . This benefactor, better known as “the man who finds forgotten souls”, has been visiting poor and hungry families with many children for more than thirty years, as well as exhausted and sick senior citizens living alone in the remote villages of Golija, Peštera and Rogozna. He records all his actions, as well as the fates of abandoned, forgotten, helpless people with a camera and publishes them on local television and social networks. He is most proud of the fact that during his many years of philanthropic involvement and with the help of good people, he managed to build 30 houses from the ground up to the roof and to bring electricity to at least as many.
Special award for individual contribution to the development of the local community
Ljiljana Nedeljković, president and founder of the Višnja Women’s Association in Grgurevci, for contributing to the development of her local community through the organization of work actions for the improvement of the village, the adaptation of the kindergarten, the procurement of packages for preschool children, the organization of children’s excursions and cultural programs for the locals, as well as encouraging women’s activism in her village. In the past ten years of her engagement, she provided significant financial support and donated her time, but also involved her entire family in improving the lives of the local community where she lives.
Special award for the most innovative project
ERSTE banka JSC Novi Sad for the launch of the Superste.net donor platform, with which the donation program is aimed at organizations and young individuals for innovative ideas in the fields of culture, art and education, modernized, digitized and more transparent. After the online application, participants go through workshops, webinars, and mentoring sessions, during which they acquire various practical knowledge and improve project ideas. The winners are chosen through public voting on the platform and social networks, but also by the jury’s decision. Through the phases of the Superste Club and Centrifuge programs, 22 projects worth 7.2 million dinars were supported in the previous year.
Special award for initiation, support and promotion of the Heart for Children action. Ringier Axel Springer for initiation, support and promotion of the Heart for Children action within which, through several humanitarian actions, conditions for a better life for over 400 children were provided. During the implementation of the action, the company informed the public daily about the initiatives they could support and the results of the campaign, which encouraged donations for the common good and improved the trust and motivation of citizens to engage in this area. During the three years since the establishment of the Blic Foundation and the launch of the campaign, the company has collected more than 89 million dinars for philanthropic initiatives throughout the country. . In the previous year, the company Ringier Axel Springer and Blic Foundation actively worked on solving housing and existential issues for vulnerable families, equipping maternity hospitals and renovating hospital departments in Serbia.