5 minutes

GivingTuesday - For Up group, giving all year round is essential

Every 30 November, GivingTuesday encourages giving and generosity in answer to consumerism (Black Friday, Cyber Monday). Up group is a part of this solidarity movement, through the partners of his Up Foundation, with the aim of encouraging employees to make a commitment throughout the year according to their means.

Up Group provides his employees with a turnkey commitment platform for those who want to get involved in civil Society but do not have the opportunity to get involved with an association (often due to a lack of time to obtain sufficient information and take action). Donations by Up employees can therefore take several forms, with a more or less strong commitment, depending on their possibilities.

Salary Donations

A simple and flexible system, the payroll giving allows Up employees in France to financially support the association of their choice every month and offers the possibility of contributing to something more important, thanks to the collective. 

In France, 4 associations benefit from the micro-donation :  

  • La Tablée des Chefs (food education and fight against food insecurity),   

  • La Fondation des Femmes, (women's rights),  

  • ODAAS (disability awareness),   

  • La Cloche (fight against homelessness).  

The latter was the most popular among employees. 

In international subsidiaries, 3 of them have also implemented the payroll giving. In total, almost €50,000 has been collected in 3 years (2018-2020), by an average of 520 employees, in France, Italy, Czech Republic and Spain.  

Donations in UpDéjeuner® shares

For Up Group, belonging to the social economy sector is accompanied by a dual requirement of solidarity and responsability.  

Thus, after having launched the first collection of meal vouchers in France in 1999, Up group created "Je Déj, Je Donne" operation with Action contre la Faim in 2009.  

All beneficiaries of UpDéjeuner® vouchers (paper or card) are encouraged to transform their UpDéjeuner® vouchers and cards into donations for Action contre la Faim, to contribute to access to healthy and sustainable food for all where the association is active.

Since its creation, the operation has collected more than 750,000 restaurant vouchers, i.e. more than 6 million euros collected thanks to everyone's mobilization. This makes it the largest collection of restaurant vouchers in France. 

Donations of equipment

In a more committed approach, Up invites his employees to buy specific products to contribute to thematic collections for the benefit of local associations. In France, at headquarter and in the 6 regional delegations, 3 types of products are collected and redistributed : 

  • Collection of hygiene products (1st semester)
  • Collection of new school supplies (September)
  • Collection of new toys (November) 

In the Czech Republic, during the confinement, employees mobilised to organise an emergency collection of clothes to help a children's emergency shelter in Prague. Similarly, in Slovakia, employees collected clothes to support an association that helps women who are victims of domestic violence. 

The Romanian subsidiary took advantage of its move to sort, collect and donate office supplies and computer equipment to local associations. 

Donations of time 

Up Foundation also encourages employees to do more than just provide financial assistance. The time donated by Up employees in the field is invaluable to the associations supported by the Foundation. And the French legislative framework is conducive to the donation of time : solidarity leave allows an employee to carry out a short voluntary mission to carry out humanitarian actions or other socially useful activities. 

78 Up employees were involved in France in 2020, carrying out 16 missions (i.e. more than one mission per month)/ Some of them are also involved outside working hours, for example by being present in shops, alongside volunteeres from the Banques Alimentaires, to help with the national food collection for the benefit of the disadvantaged. 

Whatever the form of the employee's commitment, the Up Foundation's ambition is to give pulse to the power to act to people whose situation of isolation deprives them of the power to act to develop freely. By working with "invisible" people such as the homeless, refugees, people living with HIV, and people in prison, the Up Foundation aims to support a change in perception, deconstruct prejudices and challenge stereotypes. This is an in-depth project to be carried out over the long term.