SOMFY Foundation looks back on 2023

2023 in figures

A stronger commitment from our employees throughout SOMFY Group made possible, among other things, thanks to the structuring of the Foundation's operational team, with a role dedicated to the search for missions with our partner associations in order to be able to offer more solidarity missions to employees.

In France 
119 missions carried out
568 solidarity days carried out 
520 employees involved  
34 associations supported

Internationally 
8 projects completed
120 solidarity days carried out
136 employees involved 

In total, 127 solidarity missions were carried out within the Group, involving 656 employees around the world, for a total of 688 days of solidarity. 

International focus

A new partner for the SOMFY Foundation: ACTED

In 2023, the SOMFY Foundation continued its international mobilisation by welcoming a new partner to expand its international offering as part of the ‘A house is a home’ programme.

ACTED has joined the SOMFY Foundation as an international partner and completes the partnership that has existed since 2014 with HABITAT FOR HUMANITY and its ‘housing’ dimension with its ‘humanitarian and environmental’ dimension illustrated in its ‘Zero Exclusion, Zero Carbon, Zero Poverty’ strategy.

This new partnership has already enriched and developed proposals for collaboration with the SOMFY Foundation and Group subsidiaries.

An ongoing commitment to international solidarity

Numerous initiatives have been undertaken by our employees in subsidiaries:

• solidarity projects to renovate, paint and clean houses and shelters for people in very precarious situations
• houses have been equipped to facilitate the mobility of people with disabilities
• equipment donations
• collections and emergency aid
• tree planting and environmental initiatives
• English and sports lessons for remote schools in big cities
• get-togethers with the elderly to break the cycle of loneliness
• outreach work with homeless people
• collective intelligence workshops for the SOMFY Foundation's 2 partners Acted and Habitat for Humanity
• Emergency aid in the form of financial sponsorship was also provided to Turkey and Morocco.

Resumption of the solidarity leave commitment format with Planète Urgence

SOMFY Foundation wanted to diversify the ways in which its employees could get involved and affirm its commitment to international action by rethinking the concept of solidarity leave. In 2019, 4 departures had been organised, but unfortunately the partnership with the Planète Urgence association was interrupted due to the Covid-19 crisis.

In May, employees interested in this format took part in a webinar presenting solidarity leave, run jointly by SOMFY Foundation and Planète Urgence. The process and stages were covered during this presentation. People wishing to get involved had one month to submit their application to the Foundation for a mission of their choice, published on Planète Urgence website. Internally, the Human Resources Managers and SOMFY Foundation conducted interviews to assess the candidates' motivations and objectives for this solidarity mission. Planète Urgence and the local associations then selected the volunteers.

Three people were therefore selected to go on solidarity missions. One of them went to Togo for a training mission on the objectives of sustainable development, another went to Cameroon for training in Word/Excel and PowerPoint, and the third went to Cambodia to develop the association's communication strategy.

These departures were prepared in collaboration with Planète Urgence. A return process A return process including an interview with the Human Resources Manager was put in place by SOMFY Foundation, as well as a time to exchange experiences with the volunteers. 

New associations have become partners of SOMFY Foundation in 2023

On the strength of its expertise in poor housing and its desire to align itself with the strategic pillars of SOMFY Group, SOMFY Foundation is broadening its corporate purpose in 2021 to add two new dimensions to its actions in favor of decent housing:

• an environmental dimension through 2 axes: reducing the energy footprint of existing buildings and preserving the living environment
• combating inequality of opportunity

In November 2022, the first reforestation of the Magland forest was carried out with the Office National des Forêts. The seeds sown by this first environmental action bore fruit, enabling 153 employees in 2023 to get involved in 21 environmental missions in partnership with 11 new associations: France Nature Environnement, the Ligue de Protection des Oiseaux, the Centre Permanent et d'Initiative à l'Environnement du Léman, Ecotrivelo, Alvéole, Hopika, Apollon 74, Champ d'action (Toulouse), Nettoyons la nature (Gray) and ONF.

"What a great experience, thank you for this opportunity! Great association, we were made very welcome, in a dream setting under the sun’ ’It was a great day volunteering!’ Mission for Ecotrivelo
‘It was very rewarding and the ALVEOLE team is really nice! Patrice, our contact, gave us a good explanation of his work in the association. Thanks to him, I rediscovered certain plants and I have to say that you grow from this experience" Mission for Alvéole

A wide range of projects, including setting up composting sites and shared gardens, weeding out invasive plants, collecting litter and cigarette butts, harvesting wildflower seeds, and maintaining dry meadows and plots of land in Magland, have made a tangible contribution to preserving the environment.

New partnerships have also been set up to promote employment and combat inequality of opportunity.

In addition to our long-standing partnership with the Apprentis d'Auteuil, which supports young people in difficulty by welcoming them, accompanying them and training them to become fulfilled adults despite their difficulties, two new associations have joined the SOMFY Foundation in its action:

- Ma Chance moi aussi, whose aim is to give all children the same chances of success, particularly in disadvantaged neighbourhoods, by highlighting their potential.

- Energie Jeunes, which works with pupils in CM2 and collèges to help them develop the motivation to learn, maintain their interest and curiosity, so that they are more receptive to learning and can say no to dropping out of school.

Focus Solidarity Challenges 8th edition

Once again this year, SOMFY employees have been actively involved with associations, taking part in the collective intelligence workshops organised by the SOMFY Foundation.

Did you know?

A challenge takes the form of a 3-hour workshop, bringing together the association, the leadership team and the volunteers.

The challenge attempts to respond to an issue raised by an association, by looking at it from a different angle that complements that of the associative world, that of the company.

Volunteers can come from all walks of life at SOMFY

To try and find an answer to the problem, 4 questions are put to the employees to get them thinking and then encourage the emergence of ideas and sharing.

This year :

8 associations, including 2 international ones, came to meet the volunteers
5 challenges took place face-to-face and 3 remotely
16 facilitators and time keepers agreed to facilitate the workshops
2 associations were selected for each of the Foundation's areas of work
‘Dignified housing and the fight against precariousness: L'entraide internationale des scouts de cluses, Habitat et Humanisme
‘Preserving the environment": Hopika, Ecotrivelo
‘Combating inequality of opportunity": Energie Jeunes, Apprentis d'Auteuil
 ‘International programme - A house is a home: Habitat for Humanity, Acted
85 employee volunteers, 16 of them international, took part on a single day.

The issues at stake were studied:

• ‘How can we successfully complete the project to overhaul the websites of the Apprentis d'Auteuil Foundation establishments?
  ‘How can we recruit new volunteers in Haute-Savoie for Energie Jeunes and retain them?
  ‘How can we provide recommendations on developing a new sales offer for Ecotrivelo?
  ‘How can Hopika provide recommendations on its service offering for companies and their employees?
  ‘How can Entraide Internationale des Scouts de Cluses communicate effectively with its various target audiences about the charity's project?
  ‘How can Habitat et Humanisme explore new avenues of research to find new solidarity owners?
  ‘How can we help Habitat for Humanity improve its reputation in Europe?
  ‘How can we help Acted raise public awareness and diversify its sources of funding?

It was a day rich in emotion, sharing and the search for solutions, which the teams will be able to revisit in May during the retrospective of the solidarity challenges. This get-together gives the participating associations a chance to tell their stories and set out the ideas implemented at the suggestion of the employees, and enables the employees to stay in touch with the association they have chosen to support.

And what about 2024?

In 2024, for the first time in its history, the SOMFY Foundation will work on measuring its impact on its partner associations.

The SOMFY Foundation acts for the common good and the general interest and involves its employees in this dynamic.

A survey was offered to SOMFY employees during the last quarter, and 119 of them responded. The aim of the survey was to gain a better understanding of their relationship with skills sponsorship and solidarity, and also to gain a better understanding of their expectations of the Foundation and the nature of their commitment.
An initial workshop on the theme of ‘evaluating our partnership and collaboration’ was organised at the end of the year with a representative panel of our partner associations, 12 in all, some of them long-standing and others new. This workshop was the first step in measuring our impact. The initiative will be continued with individual interviews with each participating association to measure our impact in greater detail.

The SOMFY Foundation's ultimate goal is to measure our impact annually, both internally among SOMFY employees and externally among our partners. In this way, the SOMFY Foundation will be able to take the pulse of its stakeholders once a year on what has worked well and assess our growth opportunities together.

MERCI ! 

This new year of solidarity with associations and employees has enabled the Foundation to affirm its message: Everyone, at their own level, everywhere in the world, can act and have a positive impact on the planet, and contribute through their actions to making the world a better place.