The Avast Foundation is an integral part of Avast and exists thanks to the hard work and dedication of the company’s 600 employees. Many Avastians volunteer in various non-pro­fit organizations and are interested in playing a part in making both their local communities and the world a better place.

The Avast Employee Fund gives Avast employees the opportunity to help and recommend support for any of the publicly benefi­cial organizations for which they volunteer or support. Upon the selection of an employee‘s proposal, The Avast Foundation gives them the opportunity to help decide how the allotted funding from the Foundation will be put to use.

2016 marked the fourth year that the Avast Employee Fund has been in place. This year, Avast expanded the fund to function on a global scale for the first time. While past Employee Funds accepted nominations of organizations located only in the Czech Republic, this year’s applications were open to organizations located in each country in which Avast is located: Germany, USA, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Czech Republic.

In total, the Avast Foundation received 75 grant applications for this year’s Employee Fund, 62 of which were successfully supported and funded by the Foundation.

Highlights of the 2016 Avast Employee Fund

Here’s a quick look at three of many organizations funded by the Avast Foundation in this year’s Employee Fund:

South Yuba River Citizens League (SYRCL) | Yuba River Ambassadors

Recommended by Robin Selden

Image via SYRCL Facebook page

The Yuba River Ambassadors are a group of volunteers who educate their community to care for the South Yuba River in Northern California.

From the SYRCL’s website:

“This dedicated team promotes an ethic of responsible, non-polluting use of the river by speaking one-on-one with visitors at crossings, beaches and on trails. Using a friendly, non-confrontational approach, River Ambassadors educate folks about the polluting impacts of trash and dog waste, the dangers of broken glass, and the catastrophic potential of wildfire.

"With an estimated 700,000+ people visiting the South Yuba River State Park every year and the thousands of pounds of trash removed during SYRCL’s Annual Yuba River Cleanup, the River Ambassador program was developed to prevent the South Yuba River from being ‘loved to death.‘”

Read more about the Yuba River Ambassadors program on the SYRCL‘s website and Facebook page.

Pink Crocodile | Pink Crocodile School Bus

Recommended by Andrea Kwolek

Image via http://school.pink-crocodile.org

The Pink Crocodile School is a unique education program that focuses on the education of children with severe, complex needs and who have difficulty fitting into the current education system in the Czech Republic due to severe diagnostics or medical conditions.

The mission of the Pink Crocodile School is to provide the best education services for children with special needs. Pink Crocodile School is registered as a kindergarten and elementary school for special needs children by the Czech Ministry of Education, and it has received recognition as an exemplary education program by the Czech government's school inspection.

Learn more about Pink Crocodile’s mission on their website and Facebook page.

GOOD ANGEL | Direct support for families of the assistance benefi­ciaries

Recommended by Pavol Virdzek

Image via GOOD ANGEL Facebook page

GOOD ANGEL is a system through which as many as tens of thousands of donors, known as “Good Angels”, can provide much-needed help to thousands of people facing serious illness through regular monthly payments.

From the organization’s website:

“GOOD ANGEL is a unique system because:

1. It distributes the donations down to the last penny. The donations from thousands of donors, or Good Angels, received in a given month are distributed evenly through the GOOD ANGEL System among hundreds of families, always on the first business day of the following month. All operating costs of the GOOD ANGEL endowment are covered out of the private funds of its founders.
2. You can see who you are helping. Each donor, or Good Angel, has their own Angel ID and password, allowing them to access their Angel Account at www.dobryandel.cz. There, they can check the current amount of donations they’ve made, as well as the names, addresses, and life stories of the people to whom the GOOD ANGEL System has delivered the given donor’s donations.
3. It provides help every month on a regular basis. The GOOD ANGEL System makes it possible for thousands of donors, or Good Angels, to provide monthly financial assistance to thousands of families in financial distress, in which the father, mother or any of their children suffers from cancer, or in which a child suffers from another major, long-term illness.”

For more information about GOOD ANGEL, subscribe to their Facebook page and YouTube channel (available in Czech language only).

We would like to thank each and every our colleagues for showing interest in the world around them. We appreciate the fact that a large portion of our employee base takes action on issues that are near to their hearts – by participating in the Avast Employee Fund, they play a meaningful part in changing the world for the better.

For a complete list of the organizations that the Avast Foundation supported in our 2016 Employee Fund, check out the online report.