The BIC Corporate Foundation, the philanthropic arm of BIC, is evolving its mandate that builds on its long-standing dedication to education. The Foundation believes in the power of creativity as a driver of change and as a result is pivoting to a new focus, expanding its support to include projects under art, entrepreneurship, music, written and spoken word and body expression.
The BIC Corporate Foundation was established in 2016 with a focus on improving access to education, improving learning conditions and ensuring equality in education. To date, programs funded by the Foundation have positively and directly impacted the education of over 120,000 children and youth through 43 discreet programs in more than 20 countries. With the evolved mandate, the Foundation aims to help build the creative skills of underserved and disadvantaged children and young adults to help inspire and equip them to drive change in their communities.
In the coming years, the BIC Corporate Foundation will also create a community of practice that brings together field experts to share knowledge and best practices to accelerate the development of creative skills in disadvantaged youth. The community of experts will help connect non-profit organizations and leaders in the industry to encourage actionable conversations and fill missing gaps in the sector.
Speaking about the new focus Alison James, Executive Director of the BIC Corporate Foundation said "We are excited to evolve our mandate to shine a bigger focus on creativity as it is a key skill to cultivate the spirit of lifelong learning both in our kids and during our adult life. Our new mandate aligns with BIC’s Horizon Strategy of enabling human expression in all of its forms. As a Foundation, we are on a mission to help build the creative skills of children and young adults around the world and help empower them to build stronger, more inclusive, more creative communities”.
As part of the new focus, the BIC Corporate Foundation is also revamping its corporate identity to reflect the new creativity focus.