Raiffeisen Bank launches grants program for small and medium-size local projects in Romania

Raiffeisen Bank recently launched the third edition of Raiffeisen Communities grant program for financing small and medium-size local projects dedicated to communities in which the bank operates, reads a statement from the bank. The program is meant to support financially or through direct involvement, such as volunteering or consulting, NGOs, schools or hospitals that promote projects best suited for the local communities. Raiffeisen Communities is shaped as an online competition and the winners will be designated through an online voting process. Raiffeisen Bank’s financing amounts to a maximum level of EUR 5,000 per project (RON equivalent), while the total budget for this program amounts to EUR 100,000 (RON equivalent). To be part of this program, the projects have to belong to one of these fields: education - financial and entrepreneurship, sports - such as a healthy lifestyle, environmental protection - urban ecology, health, social services - aimed at facilitating the access of young people coming from disadvantaged categories to education and the labor market. In the first stage of the project competition (July 15 - August 2) those interested in developing a social responsibility program have to submit a letter of intent, while in the second stage (August 19 - September 6) the selected projects will have to be explained in more detail. The projects passing this stage will be visible to everyone on the Raiffeisen Communities platform and their supporters will have to vote for them between September 9 and September 30. The grants will be awarded to the projects who will get more votes. Access the program and find more information, such as the competition's guideline and calendar, here. Raiffeisen Bank Romania recorded EUR 30 million after-tax profits in the first quarter this year, down by EUR 1 million, or 3.1 percent, on Q1 2012. The bank serves about two million individuals, 100,000 SMEs and 7,500 companies through its 525 agencies across the country. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com