Grace, Portugal
January 2012 
Leonor Botto, Board member at Grace highlights the major achievements in the GRACE’s 10 years history as well as future directions, and discusses about “Corporate volunteering” project positive outcome for companies and their workforces. She also explains the outcomes of 'Research on Social Responsibility' award that GRACE is offering in order to promote and distinguish academic research projects in CSR by post-graduates, masters and doctorates.
First of all, we are very pleased to welcome GRACE to CSR Europe's National Partner Organisation network. What are your key expectations from being part of this network and how would you like to contribute?
With our involvement in CSR Europe we expect to get access to EU initiatives, to participate in a European forum, to have access to know-how and to have an active voice when defining policies and communitarian projects. We would also like to share knowledge with the other NPO’s and to have the chance to provide to our associated companies, first hand, CSR information and access to European forums, a place where they can share their best practices.
In 2010, GRACE celebrated its 10th Anniversary. Could you highlight the major achievements in GRACE's history? How do you see the road ahead for Grace?
Our major achievement has to be GIRO, our major corporate volunteering project which has been a reference in terms of the development of corporate volunteering in Portugal. Then we have a partnership with Aga Foundation through KCIDADE, a program of urban community development. Here we use the skills of our companies’ workers to intervene socially throughout a closer relation between companies and social organizations.
Our publications could also be considered another major achievement; they serve as codes of practice that should be adopted by socially responsible companies. We also gather our associated companies every three months to discuss CSR and to share experiences.
As a non-profit we’re proud to say that we’ve been audit and certified by KPMG. And we didn’t receive special treatment just for being non-profit.
We see the road ahead for GRACE to have a major influence on CSR development in Portugal and due to that, we should be called to support, advise and intervene in the drafting of new legislation and in the definition of national plans for CSR. We also see ourselves with a greater range of associated companies, with more sectors of activity, different dimensions and geographic dispersion.
In what sense does your flagship project "corporate volunteering" accelerate positive outcomes for companies and its workforce? Considering your experiences, can you give some examples of corporate volunteering and the feedback from companies and volunteers?
Once again our flagship project is GIRO – GRACE, Intervene, Recover and Organize. This project is a good example of the positive impact that a one day initiative can have for everyone involved. In just eight hours everybody wins, the beneficiaries, the volunteers and the companies. At the end of a GIRO day, they all return home with a sense of humanity.
Since 2006, this successful project left its mark in about 65 institutions, which support children, youngsters, elders, homeless, immigrants, the community and the environment.
But in 2011, GIRO crossed new borders. In addition to the usual rehabilitation of institutions and environmental protection, there was a commitment to animal rights and sports inclusion. This was a difficult year; volunteers had to deal emotionally with different realities (people with AIDS and animal cruelty) and some hard work since they collected more than seven tons of garbage cleaning cliffs.
GRACE’s members are eager to make a difference. Many companies have contributed, with money, volunteers or in-kind donations. With a total budget of EUR 52 000, the contributions of the members came to EUR 42 000.
Volunteering is really gaining strength in Portuguese companies. In 11 years of activity, GRACE has had 81 volunteering actions with more than 3,100 volunteers, reaching more than 13 000 beneficiaries, in a total of 50,000 hours of volunteering. According to the average monthly basic salary practiced in Portugal, these numbers represent almost half a million Euros of community investment.
But we acknowledge that companies shouldn’t focus their entire CSR on this type of project, they should work as a way for companies to know a social organization and to be aware of different realities/problems. The next step is to focus on social engagement and defining structural initiatives to work in a long-term.
GRACE gives an Award for 'Research on Social Responsibility'. Could you tell us a bit more about it?
GRACE’s Award is aimed to promote and distinguish academic research projects in CSR by post-graduates, masters and doctorates. These projects should be relevant in the Portuguese business world.
In 2010, this initiative was sponsored by the British Embassy in Lisbon and had the support of the British Airways, so the winner had the chance to visit the Young Foundation in London for a week. The goal is an exchange of experiences between Portugal and other countries. The winner shares Portuguese methods abroad and we asked her to share her experience at Young Foundation with us.
For 2012 we’re still looking for sponsors and partners.
For more information about Grace go here.
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