The Grand Prix 2012

Viviane Senna Da Silva Lalli received the Grand Prix on behalf of the Institute Ayrton Senna, of which she is the Founder and President. Established in 1994, the Institute works to assist Brazilian children and young people, providing them with educational opportunities designed to help them build a better life for themselves.

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The Jury’s Special Prize 2012

Michael de Giorgio was awarded the Jury’s Special Prize on behalf of the Greenhouse Charity for his work with children from underprivileged backgrounds, which helps them to find fulfilment in such fields as sport and the performing arts.

Individual philanthropy – which has seen strong growth in recent years, with total private giving rising from €228bn in 2009 to reach €329bn in 2010 according to the Hudson Institute 2012 Index of Global Philanthropy & Remittances – now plays an increasing role in financing projects and initiatives of general public interest.

BNP Paribas Wealth Management was the first Private Banking institution to become closely involved in philanthropy. In 2008 we set up a special unit to assist clients in their philanthropic endeavours. With a view to disseminating information and raising general awareness of the growing global phenomenon of philanthropic giving, BNP Paribas Wealth Management instituted that same year the BNP Paribas Awards for Individual Philanthropy. On 20 June 2012, these two honours – the Grand Prix and the Jury’s Special Prize, which recognise outstanding initiatives by major philanthropists, were awarded for the fifth consecutive year.

The winners were chosen by an independent jury, made up of experts from the world of art, culture, business and NGOs, chaired by Suzanne Berger, Professor of Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, USA. The jury studied the profiles of all the nominees and made their decisions based on various criteria such as the social impact of the philanthropy initiatives, the philanthropists’ personal and financial investment, and the professionalism, and viability of the projects.

The Independent Jury of the BNP Paribas Awards for Personal Philanthropy is composed of:

– Suzanne Berger, Professor of Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, Chair of the Jury
– Yann Arthus-Bertrand, photographer and Chairman of the Good Planet Foundation
– Michael Golden, Vice-President of the New York Times Company
– Lorenz von Habsburg, banker and Board director of several listed companies
– Anand Mahindra, Vice-President and CEO of Mahindra & Mahindra, one of India’s top ten industrial companies
– Maria Nowak, Founder and President of the Association pour le droit à l’initiative économique (ADIE)
– Jacques Rigaud, Honorary French State Councillor, former Chairman and CEO of RTL
– Louis Schweitzer, Former Chairman and CEO of Renault Automobile Group, Former Chair of the Haute Autorité de Lutte contre les Discriminations et pour l’Egalité (HALDE)
– Amartya Sen, Professor of Economics and Philosophy at the University of Harvard, winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics, 1998
In addition, the 2011 winners of the BNP Paribas Awards for Personal Philanthropy sat as specially invited Jury members for the 2012 Awards:
– Rahmi Koç, representing the Koç family (Grand Prix winner, 2011)
– Peter Carey, co-founder and sponsor of the Cambodia Trust, (winner of the Jury’s Special Prize, 2011).

The two categories of Award are:

– The Grand Prix, which honours an individual or family for their overall philanthropic activity, giving recognition especially to the ethical standard and exemplary nature of their actions as well as impact and long-term commitment. Each year, BNP Paribas publishes a book on the winner, highlighting their initiative and dedication.

– The Jury’s Special Prize, which recognises a committed philanthropist who has initiated an original project and has been working to implement it. The project must have been running for at least three years but still be in its development phase or at a critical stage. The Special Prize confers €50,000 for the furtherance of the philanthropist’s project.

About the Winners

The Institute Ayrton Senna was founded in 1994 by Viviane Senna Da Silva Lalli, who had already decided not long before the tragic death of her brother to set up jointly with him an organisation to help Brazilian children. The aim of the Institute is to improve the quality and results of Brazil’s education system so as to be able to offer underprivileged Brazilian children a better life.

With the help of other members of her family, Viviane Senna Da Silva Lalli established this new foundation, with herself as President, which uses funds from her brother’s legacy, to optimise the quality of the Brazilian education system through a range of training programmes and teaching methods and materials, working in close cooperation with local and national authorities.

The Institute Ayrton Senna offers special teacher training to local government staff, who are selected by the national Education Secretary, and provides mentoring through a pyramid structure so as to enable the maximum number of school teachers to draw on the expertise of others, plus a series of educational programmes and a system of follow-up and pupil assessment in order to measure pupils’ progress and rapidly resolve any problems which may arise.

To date some 16 million Brazilian children and young people have benefited from the educational programmes supported by the Institute, which has also provided training and mentoring to over 690,000 teaching staff in 1,530 towns across the country. The Institute’s own internal assessment system claims a 95% success rate in terms of the number of pupils completing their studies and obtaining a diploma, versus a national average success rate of just 30%.

The Greenhouse Charity was founded in 2002 by Michael de Giorgio and a number of his professional associates. Now up and running for some ten years, Greenhouse seeks to change the lives of young people from some of the most deprived areas of London through high-level sports and performing arts training programmes.

Greenhouse runs over 45 full-time programmes in conjunction with state, private and special needs schools and local clubs, using specialised coaches who work with the young people before, during and after school and in the school holidays. The coaches, who also act as mentors, aim to engage with the young people, pass on their experience and help them towards better educational achievements and higher self-esteem.

Michael de Giorgio has been honorary Chief Executive of the Greenhouse charity since its foundation ten years ago. In 2009/2010, a total of 10,000 young people benefitted from Greenhouse programmes in over 40 schools and clubs. Greenhouse is today supported by 120 volunteers.

Announcing the Awards, Jury Chair Suzanne Berger underlined that “Viviane Senna da Silva Lalli is an outstanding example of how personal deep commitment to philanthropic work can be put into practice: identify a profound social need, realise that one’s own personal resources and dedication can help to bring about a solution, and then dedicate oneself to accomplishing the necessary changes.” Ms Berger added: “The Award that we have conferred on Michael de Giorgio this year highlights how innovative thinking – coming up with an innovative response to major needs – can also help to make philanthropy more effective. Michael de Giorgio realised that under-used sports facilities in some of the more privileged schools in London could be used to help large numbers of children from less advantaged areas.”

source: © bnpparibas.com