Bosch Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. - Bursa Education Run

Background to the casestudy

Initial situation

Bosch started the project whose aim is to renovate needy primary schools in the Bursa area, to provide the students more decent learning environment and to draw attention of Bursa Public to social issues.

Relationship to core business

There is no direct relation on our business, however, as one of the biggest companies in Bursa, we have a large impact on society and we wanted to show our contribution with this project.

Intension of corporate citizenship

Description of the issue

Bosch promotes the project whose contributers are the public of Bursa city, private firms, the municipal administration and thousands of volunteers. Each year collected fund is used to renovate 4 schools in the Bursa area.
Bursa Education Run project consists of two steps; the first one is the run. The second step is the opening of one of the renovated schools.

Target group

Bosch associates, nongovermental institutes, other companies operating in Bursa, Bursa citizens.

Implementation

Resources

Bosch collegues lead the project (finding sponsors, defining the needy schools, organizing the run and opening…) Bosch Group companies also donate money for the project. Also some other companies in Bursa become sponsor and some NGO support us.

Strategy

In 2006, Bosch Sanayi ve Ticaret decided to have a bigger CSR activity additional to the smaller projects. The needs of the city, Bursa, were evaluated and Bosch decided to focus on education. It was decided to support the improvement of the education in the society by renovating Bursa village schools in need and supplying educational material.
Bursa Run is the first project that all Bosch Group companies in Turkey have been supported. Participation of the Bursa people, local government and private companies has been encouraged in order to draw attention of Bursa Public to the importance of education and the inadequacy of the education quality
Communication strategy has included press relations (press releases, special interviews before, during and after the project), a project specific web site, project hotline, project film, advertisements, stands and posters in Bosch plants and shopping malls. An integrated marketing communication approach was used in order to get effective results with short budget.

Partners

The public of Bursa city, private firms, the municipal administration and thousands of volunteers have contributed to the project. In 2006 one of NGOs was a partner. However the partnership did not continue in 2007 & 2008.

Challenges

Convincing other companies to support the project and donate can be challenging.

Achievement

In 2008 like the previous 2 years the collected fund has been used to renovate 4 schools in the Bursa area. The contributors of the Bursa Run Project have bought Bursa Run T-shirts via stands placed in central points in Bursa as well as telephone and internet by paying 5 YTL (around 3 $). This year around 1000 people have participated Bursa Run event with the Bursa Run labeled T-shirts. The total fund collected in 3 years by selling T-shirts and finding sponsors has reached almost one million dollars.

Lessons learned

The mechanism of the project should be simple to understand and attend.