HSBC awards close to $100,000 to Filipino NGOs
We hear so much about banks taking things away — foreclosing on homes in the US, or recalling bad loans, for instance — so it’s nice when you hear about a bank actually giving money away. Specifically, HSBC, which recently awarded some US$100,000 to Filipino NGOs through its Future First global educational program.
At a recent lunch event at Dusit Thani’s Tosca restaurant, HSBC CEO and president Tony Cripps presented larger-than-life checks to three local recipients who are doing great work through non-governmental organizations.
That’s $26,008 to Teresita Silva who heads Childhope Asia Philippines, a program that deploys teachers and social workers to help kids protect themselves on the streets; $50,000 to Johnald Lasin, village director of SOS Children’s Village Lipa; and $22,668 to Vicente Tejada, village director, SOS Children’s Village Manila.
These three recipients participated in HSBC’s Future First program by sending detailed stories about their programs to the bank’s head office, which evaluates over a thousand applicants a year. HSBC started seeding the global educational program with an $10 million to help recipients in 87 countries outside the UK; it now has committed to an additional $15 million for the coming years. According to Cripps, the Philippines actually has won a good proportion of those awards since the program began in 2007.
“Since then, HSBC Philippines has, I’m pleased to say, received quite a large number of awards, thanks to the work of (HSBC Group Communications SVP) Johanna Garcia and others on her team, and thanks to the stories themselves that are so worthwhile of the support HSBC has given.”
Cripps noted in his remarks that the recent financial crisis has led to what sounds a lot like soul searching among bank executives.
“We’ve been in business for over 150 years. And when we ask ourselves, what does it mean to be in business that long, it’s obviously more than just making profits,” he said. “When we sat down with our executive group in London in March we asked ourselves what it meant to be in business: what is it, really, to be a bank? And programs like this are correlated with our core values. Our staff loves to be involved in programs like this. Our volunteers love to spend time with the kids at shelters.”
Since it began, Future First has helped nearly 35,000 Filipino children.
Last year alone, they reached more than 1,500 Filipino children through education and livelihood projects such as a community-kitchen school, electronic library project, and a mobile project vehicle for community services.
The awardees enjoyed the sit-down lunch at Tosca and told the press how their efforts caught the attention of HSBC’s head office.
Silva talked about how Childhope Asia Philippines plans to spend the award money: “We work with street children, especially those who have been physically or sexually abused or are runaways. Then we work increasingly with children living on the streets with their parents, because they’ve been dislodged from slum or squatter areas or relocated because of lack of income opportunities. And the third largest group is those who just work on the street but go home to their families and go to school. But we really don’t give priority to that group; we believe the first two groups are most vulnerable.”
Through HSBC’s support over the years, Childhope has been able to reach some 1,200 street children per year; some 10 to 15 percent leave the street for good.
“Our objective is, first of all, to teach children to protect themselves while on the street,” says Silva. “So we teach about 10 modules, and as a result of HSBC we’re able to employ 32 street educators — one teacher and one social worker. So classes are held on the streets or in churchyards or in parks. We teach children how to reduce or prevent substance abuse, or teach how to protect themselves from sexual abuse, primary healthcare, life skills and basic literacy.
“Our long-term goal is to help them and educate them to leave the street,” she adds. “That’s why Future First is quite significant: we help the children to really look forward, and aspire.”
Johnald Lasin and Vicente Tejada were each awarded large checks to help continue funding two local chapters of SOS Children’s Village, one of the largest NGOs in the world.
Says Lasin: “HSBC helps with our Family Strengthening Program. We have 89 indigent families living there (in Lipa), 300-plus child beneficiaries. HSBC’s help is through education: the money provides educational materials and basic scholarship support. We’re thankful that HSBC has awarded us this money to help these children.”
Adds Tejada: “SOS wants every kid to go back to a loving home. We want children to part of a family who will care for them and provide for them.” At SOS, orphans are placed in families in the Children’s Village. They’re given education. And that’s a good beginning. “There are many possibilities, it depends on the child. If the child has a dream, that dream can come true because we can send them to school and they have a supportive family who can encourage them to really pursue their dream. Some kids (in our village) have become teachers, one is a pilot, one works in the food services industry.”
The bottom line is that HSBC believes education is key to helping the underprivileged. “The best gift for an underprivileged child is a future,” says Cripps. “At the root of our social agenda is a commitment to education programs. Just giving money is one thing, but then the money is spent and what’s left? Education, we know, lifts people — children and adults — out of poverty.”
Garcia, HSBC Group Communications SVP, finds helping people is infectious. “HSBC doesn’t believe in just making a donation and getting a photo op. It’s a message we send to our staff that you have to be part of the solution, too. They’ve been great about creating these weekly volunteer opportunities so it’s part of our corporate DNA. Our staff members are very invested as volunteers. It’s not like we have to twist their arms. We have to turn them away from volunteering activities sometimes!”
