Deloitte marked 25 years in Bulgaria with volunteers’ initiatives of the employees

Sofia, December 2017

In 2017 Deloitte marked 25 years since the beginning of its operations in Bulgaria. Deloitte office opened for the first time in Sofia in 1992 in an apartment on Rakovski str. Today more than 250 employees provide consulting services, tax, legal and audit services to a substantial number of big and medium local and international companies, financial and public institutions.

As a continuation of its “Make an impact that matters” purpose, Deloitte marked its 25th Anniversary in Bulgaria in a very special way by creating a platform for supporting the social causes lead by the employees. To make it happen, there was a budget determined and an internal competition was announced. Everyone employed in the firm had the opportunity to apply for financial support for their social projects. The internal campaign “Your initiatives. Our impact” lasted until the end of 2017 but with a chance for continuation of the socially responsible activities during the following year.

An internal Deloitte jury including partners and employees of the company selected 7 out of 13 causes, with leading criteria - contribution to the social change in Bulgaria, number of beneficiaries, scope and objectives of the project. The dedicated personal time of the employees for the volunteering work is an inseparable part of the social initiatives.

The implemented projects show the exceptional engagement of Deloitte employees towards socially disadvantaged children. Together with Give a book Foundation children who are due to leave the social institutions in Dolna banya village and in Vratsa when reaching 18 years of age, were supported by Dennitsa Dimitrova (Tax Services) and some of her colleagues in their personal development for a better start of their independent life outside of the institutions. Deloitte managers were their coaches and mentors during the transformation workshop with world consultative psychology experts. They worked together in identifying real life objectives for the children, and how they should adhere to the goals (July 2017)

Within Ivan Gelov’s initiative (Risk Advisory) 35 children and young adults from the social institution “K.Lyapchev” in Dolna banya village received educational support in the form of computers and training for MS Word and MS Excel. An access to a popular online platform for self-training in school subjects will be provided to the children and will be paid for by Deloitte.

Initiative for equal rights for children deprived of parental care is in process in “Maria Rosa” home in Assenovets village, Nova Zagora. Bratan Ivanov (Financial Advisory) and Deloitte volunteers work towards providing not only the necessary technical knowledge and skills for the kids but they also aim through regular visits, verbal and non-verbal communication and unconditional friendly attitude to achieve minimizing the negative psychological impact due to the fact of the different treatment they get in the society.

Another initiative for kids with special needs took part as a joint project with the “Multi Culti Collective” NGO. The aim of the initiative is through regular sport trainings, entertainment and teamwork, to improve the physical and mental status of 105 children across the country with different illnesses. With the funds donated from Deloitte, the project leader Kaloyan Yordanov (Deloitte Legal) organized two sports event for table cricket, for which the necessary equipment was purchased in advance. The aim of the volunteers was to have a positive impact on the public communication with kids with special needs and to promote understanding towards these children and their families.

Apart from the causes of the employees, which currently received funding, there was also a project focused on the care for the homeless animals. In support of the efforts of Animal Rescue Sofia, Marina Gigova (Audit) and the volunteers of Deloitte visited the animals orphanage The Farm in Dolni Bogrov (September 2017) and cared for the dogs during the traditional weekend walks. The team have also planned the following visits. The money donated by Deloitte supported the purchase of vaccines, food and consumatives for The Farm inhabitants.

Ivan Lesov (Business Process Services) and his project inspired his colleagues with his attitude towards health and the environment. As a result of this idea Deloitte created a bicycle park in the office, those bicycles will be available to the employees as an alternative transport without harmful emissions.

Miglena Micheva, Manager in Deloitte Legal, implemented a project in support of the cancer patients. Her idea is to help them go through the hardships of the illness. Together with The Association of patients with cancer diseases and friends” Megi identified a way to improve the health state and the quality of life of the patients. The money donated by Deloitte will be utilized for aesthetic procedures, medical massages as well as for procedures for minimizing the side effects of the treatment. Megi and her colleagues who supported her cause engage themselves in objectively and independently choosing the candidates who will make use of the therapies.

Deloitte plans a long-term support of the selected social projects in order to encourage the sustainable engagement and a long-term positive effect in the areas chosen by the employees. The managing partner of Deloitte in Bulgaria Sylvia Peneva commented: “In relation to the 25th Anniversary of the company in Bulgaria we decided to provide the budget for the socially responsible causes instead of celebratory activities. However, it does not mean that in 2018 we will stop the support for what is important for our employees. As a participant in the economic and social life, apart from maintaining a high standard of professionalism, Deloitte is here to leave a significant positive impact. This could not be achieved by a single act. That is why the partners in Deloitte Bulgaria decided to register a Foundation, through which the causes of people working in Deloitte will remain sustainable in time. I hope there will be ever more supporters internally and outside the company.”