While the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted everyone, it is affecting the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people the most. Therefore, iPoint is not breaking with the tradition of annual Christmas donations in 2020. Instead of sending gifts or cards to customers and partners, we will once again support various charities and projects, as in previous years. In 2020, iPoint's Christmas donation will go to the Frauenhaus Reutlingen (Women’s shelter Reutlingen), to Ein Herz für Kinder (A Heart for Children), the Digital Education Foundation, and the Stiftung Zukunft Wald (Foundation Future Forest). Many thanks to our employees for these suggestions!
The Corona pandemic is forcing us all to spend more time at home – for many families, this extra family time may be primarily a gift, but for other families, this time means more stress and, in the worst cases, an increase in domestic violence, especially directed at women and children. In these cases, women’s shelters offer them sheltered accommodation, counselling, and accompaniment at all times. The women's shelter in Reutlingen (Frauenhaus Reutlingen) also offers a place of refuge for women who have experienced physical, sexual, and/or psychological violence at home – regardless of income, nationality, religious confession, or age. With our donation, iPoint can support not only this immensely important work, but also the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3 (Good Health and Well-being), 5 (Gender Equality), 10 (Reduced Inequalities), and 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions).
Hamburg-based “Ein Herz für Kinder” (A Heart for Children) is a charity organization initiated by publisher Axel Springer and the German newspaper Bild. Founded in 1978 as a campaign for more road safety in Germany, today the aid organization supports children and families in need, both in Germany and abroad. Since the association only supports specific projects, one hundred percent of all donations go to these projects. The funded projects are diverse and support, for example, children's hospitals, soup kitchens, kindergartens, and schools in Germany and around the world. Internationally, the organization provides, among other things, aid in war and disaster areas and supports life-saving operations. We are pleased to be able to help children in Germany and around the world with our donation and, in doing so, also support SDGs 1 (No Poverty), 3 (Good Health and Well-being), 4 (Quality Education), and 10 (Reduced Inequalities).
Above all else, the Coronavirus crisis has made one thing clear in the field of education: Germany is lagging behind internationally in terms of digital schooling – a major problem at a time when home schooling plays such a significant role. The Digital Education Foundation, which is based in Germering near Munich, has set itself the goal of providing optimal multimedia learning tools to give everyone the chance for individual and autodidactic learning. With the combined expertise of authors, UX designers, software engineers, and experts, "digital learning" is to be advanced. We are pleased to support the digital skills of the next generation with our donation, while supporting SDGs 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure).
Stiftung Zukunft Wald (Future Forest Foundation)
Even in times of this pandemic, the fight against climate change and the preservation of our environment must not fall from view. Since healthy forests are the basis of life for numerous animal and plant species, for the climate on planet Earth, and in a special way for us humans, the foundation “Zukunft Wald” (Future Forest) promotes forest-related environmental education projects and nature and species conservation measures in Lower Saxony. “School forests against climate change,” the lighthouse project of the foundation, supports all types of schools in creating, maintaining, and using their own school forests. Thereby, the associated CO2 reduction and the promotion of biodiversity gets pupils involved in forest, environmental, and climate protection. The goal of the foundation is to influence sustainable development and the sustainable use of nature and forests, and to draw attention to the importance of forests for society. With our donation, iPoint can support reforestation projects and at the same time support SDGs 4 (Quality Education), 13 (Climate Action), 15 (Life on Land), and 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).
Learn more about iPoint’s sustainability commitment here.