Acting in the interest of vulnerable children around the world
The foundation was born out of the desire of the ÏDKIDS community, led by its brands, to foster a sense of generosity and advocate positive initiatives to help vulnerable children around the world. The development, protection and rights of children are at the heart of its activities.
Three action areas:
Early childhood and parenting
Birth to age 3 is a pivotal time in a child’s development. The ÏDKIDS.COMMUNITY Endowment Fund supports several initiatives to promote early learning.
Protection and integration
At any point in their lives, children can feel isolated and helpless. The foundation finances projects to protect children’s basic rights.
Education and openness
From age 3, children learn the basics and how to socialize at school. The ÏDKIDS.COMMUNITY foundation supports several projects that emphasize the importance of social skills as much as learning.
Act, unite, commit
The ÏDKIDS.COMMUNITY Endowment Fund’s three objectives are:
01 Act for the most vulnerable families in the group's countries of production
In addition to the commercial relationships that connect us with our countries of production, we invest locally and in the long term to support the most vulnerable families and uphold children’s rights. For years, the Endowment Fund has worked with partner NGOs such as Inter Aide, Grameen Shikkha and BICE who take care of families’ basic needs: health, education and the protection of children.
In the group’s countries of production, such as India, Madagascar, Bangladesh and China, the Endowment Fund finances schooling and healthcare programmes that enable the most vulnerable children to receive an education and access to medical care. The Endowment Fund also helps projects to become sustainable and autonomous.
The ÏDKIDS community has set up a social business in Bangladesh to improve employment opportunities for women and schooling for children in slums. Find out more
02 Unite around our brands’ commitments
The Endowment Fund has created a wide collaborative network engaged in social projects. It brings together a number of stakeholders led by the brands from the ÏDKIDS community. Each stakeholder puts child-centred initiatives at the heart of their business.
- For 20 years Okaïdi has endeavoured to promote children’s rights, sport and music.
- Obaïbi, Rigolo Comme La Vie and Bubble support early childhood projects and parenting.
- Jacadi supports projects that focus on heritage, family ties and culture.
- Oxybul develops projects on early learning, education and talent development, especially for the most vulnerable children (‘Disability and Play’ network).
03 Commit to maximizing the worldwide impact of the Endowment Fund's We Act For Kids initiative
- Our own staff lead the way, especially those participating in the employee volunteer programme.
- Our customers are increasingly willing to take action when asked to by our brands.
- Other stakeholders including franchisees, partners and suppliers.
“We created the foundation to allow every member of the ÏDKIDS community to fully embrace the selfless nature of We Act For Kids.”
Jean Duforest and Jean-Luc Souflet
Founders and leaders of the ÏDKIDS community
To successfully fulfil its We Act For Kids objectives,
the foundation depends on three resources:
the foundation depends on three resources:
01 Funding
The company can fund the foundation because of its strong financial performance. The brands, their customers and their employees are at the front line of the foundation’s activities. Other foundations and partner brands that share the values of We Act For Kids co-finance projects to benefit vulnerable children.
02 Equipment
Brands from the ÏDKIDS community make annual donations of clothing, toys and babycare accessories. These donations are distributed by Dons Solidaires and other charities that assist vulnerable families.
03 People
As the vanguard of the ÏDKIDS community, staff can take part during working hours in activities that benefit children through the employee volunteer programme. Some also volunteer to help organizations supported by the foundation in their own time. Our other stakeholders are right by their side, regularly taking action that makes a difference:
- Our franchisees involve our customers in the foundation’s campaigns with boundless energy.
- Our suppliers play their part too, as in Bangladesh where we were able to set up a social business to finance a school for 1,500 children in a Dhaka slum by reselling surplus product from one of our key suppliers.
- Our customers are eager to help, with more than 550,000 taking part in mini-donation drives in 2016. Their generosity meant that in 2016 we were able to donate 85,000 euros to Magic Place projects run by the Fondation Chemins d’Enfances (‘play and learn’ workshops for children in temporary accommodation) and to Ninsun Project (for its videos promoting the inclusion of children with autism in mainstream schools). They also never fail to buy the exclusive Jacadi Christmas plush toy every year with part of the proceeds donated to SOS Children’s Villages.
Thank you to all our customers who continue to inspire us so much with their generous contributions to our donation campaigns and charity drives. Let’s keep on making a difference!
ÏDKIDS.COMMUNITY foundation IN FIGURES:
children helped
around the world
charities and NGOs supported
Red Noses sold in “Make Someone Smile” campaign
ÏDKIDS donations, of which €1,900,000 product donations
donated to charities
thanks to mini-donations made by our customers all over the world
Breakdown of donations in 2018
Taking part makes a world of difference
Any employee in the ÏDKIDS community who wants to be involved can be. The company and the foundation have come up with a variety of activities for those who want to donate their time. Any employee can:
- Take part in a solidarity day (the group gives one day off a year for this).
- Sponsor a charity project (as a special representative).
- Be the “eyes on the ground” on a business trip. Witness first-hand the activities supported by the foundation and its partner charities in our countries of production.
- Become a brand ambassador on behalf of the foundation.
The number of employee volunteers continues to increase each year. Among them are shop, logistics and head office staff in France and abroad. In 2016, more than 2,000 of them offered their time, talent and energy to We Act For Kids to help vulnerable children.
Making a difference in 2017:
Read testimonials from ÏDKIDS employees who took part in a project or volunteer day to help children.
