Only several years ago a perfect employer was someone who, first of all, paid a good salary and, secondly, provided an extensive benefits package. Today, both employers and employees are starting to appreciate the non-financial values of companies which have a high culture of organisation and support of all sorts of cultural activity.

Encouraging employees to be creative, to support their creative activities or support the activities of cultural institutions still remains a goal of many companies. A few - such as Alior Bank, Google, Kredyt Bank, Dialog, Samsung or Citi Handlowy with its Leopold Kronenberg Bank Foundation - can boast not only a high culture of organisation but also a well established aspiration of supporting cultural initiatives.

It's a win-win. Sponsorship may become a tool for outdoor communication (promotion) and indoor communication (personnel policy). There is supporting and financing projects conducted by cultural institutions on one side, and using this activity to create an image of one's brand on the other. Sponsorship makes the audience associate the company with such values as prestige, creativity, tradition, elegance and exclusiveness. Supporting large projects makes it easier for the positive image to beat numerous ads that attack today's audience. Such support also allows companies to be perceived as a reliable contractors who work with major institutions of high reputation and position in society. But most of all, sponsoring cultural events and projects by a company can boost motivation of its staff and improve their level of identification with the company. Both cases are an important element of building an image of an organisation.

At Google it's manifested by supporting projects recommended by employees. And Alior - in cooperation with "Newsweek", "Fakt" and the National Culture Centre - in the scope of the "House with Higher Culture" ("Dom z Wyższą Kulturą") competition finances, for the second time, projects of cultural institutions such as community centres, foundations, associations and libraries. What is interesting, the decisive vote about which projects are to be financed belongs to Internet users. Samsung, on the other hand, has been supporting debuts of young visual artists for several years, and the Kronenberg Foundation has been supporting its founder - Citi Handlowy - since 1996 in its social mission. It focuses on economic education and cultural heritage, initiates and coordinates voluntary enterprises of Citi Handlowy's employees and supports propagation of the idea of Social Business Responsibility.

Social Business Responsibility and art sponsorship often go hand in hand.  According to the most recent research, more and more people think that art sponsorship is a manifestation of social business responsibility. And although the awareness of mutual benefits between sponsors and the sponsored is very high, art sponsorship is still recognised as something more than just marketing. Apart from the aspect of brand promotion, working in a socially responsible company holds nowadays more value to a conscious employee. The awareness of supporting or a direct possibility of conducting projects which bring the society not only material but also spiritual value are, and in the nearest future will be, a significant characteristic of a responsible employer and a responsible employee.



Text: Ewelina Anna Noga