Turkey's philanthropists

Philanthropic businesspeople would fulfil their social responsibilities by building schools, hospitals, mosques and dormitories or by distributing money. The first philanthropists were the wealthy leaders of the Turkish business world such as people like Vehbi Koç, İzzet Baysal, Sakıp Sabancı, Ayhan Şahenk and Kadir Has. Even though they are no longer alive, their families and the companies and foundations they established are continuing their philanthropic work. At Capital we have realized another first. With the support of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan and Fatma Şahin, the Minister for the Family and Social Policies, we have produced the first ever list of “Turkey’s 50 Philanthropic Businesspeople”. The top three places in the philanthropists’ list are occupied by Koç, Fiba and Doğuş, representatives of companies which have a tradition of philanthropy going back many years.

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CHARITABLE WORKS IN THE REST OF THE WORLD
In the rest of the world, businesspeople are involved in a lot of philanthropic activities, making major contributions to their countries and the regions in which they live. Recently, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet have vowed to donate half of their wealth to philanthropic works and support for the campaigns they have launched is growing. In order to become a member of the The Giving Pledges Foundation, billionaire bosses have to donate at least half of their wealth to charitable causes. The 105 billionaire members include Hasso Plattner, the founder of SAP, Richard Branson, the CEO of the Virgin Companies Group, Ted Turner, the founder of CNN, George Lucas, the producer of Star Wars, and Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook. These people have been included in the studies of philanthropists which have long been conducted by various publications from around the world.

KOÇ IS ALSO THE WEALTHIEST PHILANTHROPIST
When preparing the “Turkey’s 50 Philanthropic Businesspeople” study, Capital tried to contact all of the major groups and companies in Turkey. The basis of the study is a survey questionnaire. The board chairs participated in the survey on behalf of their companies or groups. The rankings were formulated on the basis of the answers to the survey questions “How much have you donated in total in the last ten years?” and “How much did you donate in total in 2012?” According to the results, Koç Holding Board Chair Mustafa Koç was the leading business philanthropist in Turkey in terms both of donations over the last ten years and donations in 2012. In addition to donations to the Vehbi Koç Foundation (VKV) and their companies’ CSR projects, over the last ten years the group donated TL 1.1 billion in cash and in kind, while the figure for 2012 was TL 185.6 million. These donations were mainly focused on education, health and culture and the arts.~

THE TOP FIVE IN A LONG TRADITION OF PHILANTHROPY
Second to Mustafa Koç in terms of donations over the last ten years was Bilkent Holding Board Chair Ali Doğramacı with a total of TL 762 million. Fiba Holding Board Chair Hüsnü Özyeğin ranked third with TL 675 million in donations. Doğramacı ranked fourth in the list for donations in 2012 with TL 63.5 million. Hüsnü Özyeğin ranked second in the list of philanthropists in 2012 with total donations of TL 137 million. Both Doğramacı and Özyeğin attach special importance to education in their universities and other CSR projects. They allocate a major proportion of their donations to education.

A 30-YEAR CULTURE OF DONATIONS
The survey revealed the donation culture and the profile of donations in Turkey. It clarified a number of issues, such as how many years philanthropic businesspeople have been making donations, the areas on which they have concentrated these donations and their plans for future donations. A total of 57 per cent of the philanthropists who participated in the survey have been making donations for over 30 years. 24.5 per cent started donating by educating children, 21.3 per cent by building schools and 17.4 per cent by providing aid to the poor.

Those who made donations by providing cash still account for the majority. 30.6 per cent of businesspeople only donate by providing cash. Those who make donations in kind accounted for 28.6 per cent. 26.5 per cent of the participants in the survey made donations via foundations. 4.1 per cent said that they made donations by allocating finds to CSR projects.

Corporate Social Responsibility Association President Serdar Dinler said that in recent years a growing number of businesspeople have become actively involved in trying to resolve social problems. He says that, while doing so, they made more donations in corporate structures and more transparently than the classical method.

RESOURCES FOR EDUCATION AND HEALTH
Philanthropists focus a significant proportion of their donations on education and health. 29.1 per cent of those who participated in the survey said that they focused on education, 19.4 per cent on health and social services, 13.8 per cent on disaster areas, 12.2 per cent on regional and human development projects, 10.2 per cent on the environment, 2.6 per cent on sports and 2 per cent on every area. Those who participated in the survey were eager to increase their donations. 81.4 per cent of the philanthropists intended increasing their donations over the next five years.