Nordic gaming company Paf has taken a novel approach to corporate philanthropy with its Employee 100k Good Cause Initiative. The company provided employees with the opportunity to donate €100,000 ($109,260), with staff able to direct the funds toward various charitable causes and initiatives.
Paf's CEO, Christer Fahlstedt, emphasised the importance of allowing employees to actively participate in the decision-making process, stating: “We wanted to give employees a direct opportunity to influence where a sum of money should go. It is an initiative that is outside of Paf's normal mission, but it is very close to our basic purpose.
“It is important that everyone who works at Paf really feels that our main purpose is different and that it is something worth working for. At the same time, we all had the opportunity to end the year with a nice gesture.”
The initiative unfolded through a two-step process. First, employees were invited to nominate initiatives they deemed worthy. Subsequently, a voting process took place, with employees casting their votes for the nominated causes. The employee votes determined both the causes that received funding and the respective amounts allocated.
The distribution of the €100,000 revealed a diverse range of causes that resonated with the Paf workforce. The top three included initiatives for children with cancer, aid to Ukraine and support for animals. Noteworthy beneficiaries included Barncancerfonden, a Swedish organisation that focuses on eradicating childhood cancer, and Operation Aid, an NGO that focuses on providing help to Ukrainians affected by the war.
These seasonal donations were part of Paf’s larger ongoing philanthropic efforts, with the company having donated over €400m since 1966.
