The Fund aims to support, through financing and mentoring, social-entrepreneurial initiatives that have a sustainable business model and that create social change in Bulgaria, especially for underprivileged people. We strive to engage the entire ING Bank team to participate actively and contribute to the achievement of these goals. We strongly believe that the growth and development of social entrepreneurship enables citizens to think and act as agents of change.

The Social Innovation Fund supports projects of social entrepreneurs working in the following fields: education, health, support for underprivileged people, especially children.

The Social Innovation Fund is ING Bank's main corporate social program in Bulgaria. It fits directly into one of the two main goals of the Company's Sustainability Strategy. We established the Fund in 2015 and since then the activities have been carried out annually and throughout the year

Over the past 4 years, the Fund has supported 9 social entrepreneurs. We work with each of them between 1 and 3 years. We provide them with financial and mentoring support - essential for start-ups. 18 employees of the company have joined as mentors or participants on the Board of the Fund. For them we organized training on the needs of social entrepreneurs and mentoring approaches. In 2019 we supported 5 projects: DigitalKidZ – develop digital knowledge among youths and different tools for modernization of the education in Bulgaria. ARTON - provides a hospital program for art and music therapy for children with cancer. Ole Male - promotes and sells handmade products by mothers of children with disabilities. Life per the kilo - a project aiming to prevent eating disorders among students. Technocrati - an educational center that uses new technologies to stimulate children's imagination.

In 2019, thanks to funding and extensive mentoring, entrepreneurs have achieved: Digital KidZ launched a pilot of their Open-source school in 15 schools. ARTON conducted therapy for 60 cancer patients. Ole - Male supported 23 mothers of children with disabilities. Technocrati organized the first school hydrogen car race. Life per the Kilo organized a photo exhibition dedicated to eating disorders.