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The Trafigura Foundation

 

Overview

 

The Trafigura Foundation is the vehicle for our community investment programme. Through the Foundation, we ensure that the benefits of our community initiatives are maximised, captured and reported.

 

The projects that are supported reflect the Foundation’s values through specific, employee-led proposals that make a real difference to charities at a local level and enable people to reach their full potential.

 

Following a worldwide employee survey the two issues that generated most support are education and the environment, so the Foundation priorities initiatives in these areas. However, we will also keep funds in reserve for urgent humanitarian emergencies.

 

The partnerships the Foundation supports are built upon Trafigura’s brand values and the individual approach that many of our people already take in supporting the communities through fundraising, and skills in-kind help.

 

Over 50% of Trafigura employees are actively involved in helping their communities. This is a figure we look to grow and support as the foundation gains greater momentum.

 

Examples of projects the Foundation already supports include:

 

Education

 

The National Autistic Society, UK

The Foundation provides funding worth £500,000 a year, as part of a three year agreement, to finance The National Autistic Society’s (NAS) Autism Helpline. This is a continuation of a long-standing relationship with the NAS, the UK’s leading charity for people affected by autism, which has to date seen employees raise funds totaling over £150,000 through a range of events including the running of sponsored marathons. Our additional support will enable the NAS to provide advice and support to a greater numbers of callers and deliver technological improvements that will make it easier to target and assist young people with autism via instant messenger and SMS text services.

 

 

New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, US

We have an ongoing commitment to support the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts Institute (NOCCA). The NOCCA is a world-class educational institution that has been changing the lives of young people since 1973. Every year, this professional arts training center provides intensive instruction in dance, media arts, music, theatre arts, visual arts, and creative writing, to students from public, private, and parochial schools across Louisiana. The Foundation’s donation of $1.125 million to the NOCCA Institute in June 2007 sets a firm foundation for future growth, enabling the Institute to acquire land for an expansion of facilities.

 

 

Instituto Fazer, Brazil

The Foundation works closely with the Instituto Fazer in Rio de Janeiro. An organisation established in July 2006 that works with underprivileged children and adolescents, in order to facilitate access to culture and encourage an interest in the arts. Instituto Fazer arranges visits to museums, art galleries and cultural centres for groups of disadvantaged children and teenagers. Our support has helped the institute offer new opportunities, develop citizenship, and promote social inclusion amongst young people within the city.

 

We have provided further support in the form of:

 

  • A US$200,000 gift to Teach For America (New Orleans) to increase the number of trained and certified teachers, in order to replace education professionals displaced after Hurricane Katrina.
  • A £90,000 match-funded donation to an Autism School in Southall, London to re-build their playground
  • A US$73,000 donation to the Liberian Education Trust, a U.S. entity dedicated to the building of new educational facilities in Liberia.
  • A US$50,000 donation to Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumosi Ghana to support the establishment of a chair of Petrochemical Engineering
  • A US$10,000 Contribution to Montana Tech – the University of Montana’s School of Mines and Engineering – to help the university retain and attract top talent
  • A £10,000 donation to the language unit at West Ewell Infant School London
  • Providing scholarships to students of physics at Argentine Nuclear Energy Board (CNEA)

 

The Environment

 

SMP4, Indonesia

In April 2005, Trafigura made a commitment to build a new school in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Replacing the previous building destroyed in the 2004 Tsunami. Construction was undertaken in partnership with United World College of South East Asia (UWCSEA) and the SMP4 school itself. Trafigura’s support has enabled the construction of a new 12-classroom building to accommodate 468 students. We also continue to provide ongoing funding for an annual scholarship, so a student is able to attend UWCSEA in Singapore.

 

 

Reo District, Burkina Faso

Trafigura is funding a construction project that will create a new dam and four large wells, providing a much-improved water supply for the 60,000 inhabitants of this region. The work will also help the people to retain more water from the rainy season, so extending the length of their crops’ growing period.The first phase of this work is valued at €280,000.

 

 

Peru

Trafigura initially provided mining equipment to clear roads blocked by the August 2007 earthquake. Since then, the company has donated more than US $2 million to rebuild houses situated near its mines (which are owned and operated by Trafigura subsidiary CORMIN).