The Vodafone Foundation announces the winners of the 'World of Difference' program

The Vodafone Foundation has announced the winners of its fourth annual 'World of Difference' (Rok jinak) program. Three women and four men are going to carry out their own projects for nonprofit organizations, being paid by the Vodafone Foundation for one year.

“The main idea of the 'World of Difference' program is a long-term interchange of know-how and experience between the nonprofit and business sectors. The winning projects entirely accomplish that idea,” says Ondřej Zapletal, the Executive Director of the Vodafone Foundation. “I am truly pleased that we have been able to increase the number of projects that we can support. More enthusiasts from the business sector can now spend a year working for nonprofit organizations,” he adds.

The winners of the fourth annual 'World of Difference' are:

Dominika Kovaříková - Sociální služby Světluška, o.p.s.

Dominika Kovaříková works as a manager at Budějovický Budvar. She wants to use her experience in management and financing in the Světluška organization. Světluška runs a day and week care center for children and youth suffering from a heavy combined disability in České Budějovice. In her project, Dominika wants to create a good and sustainable system of financing, fundraising and further development of the organization.

Tomáš Pavlík- IQ Roma servis, o.s.

Tomáš Pavlík wants to swap his post of the spokesman at Unicredit Bank for that of a PR manager at IQ Roma servis. This civic association provides comprehensive pedagogical and social service to the socially disadvantaged, particularly the Romanies. Tomáš wants to prepare the launch of the Gendalos program, which is going to support education of individual clients. Furthermore, he wants to build up a professional PR team and offer the employees managerial support and coaching.

Marek Šálek – Via Foundation

Marek Šálek is a journalist and chief reporter of the Týden weekly. He wants to carry out a project called “Via Bona Times” for the Via Foundation, aiming to build up a reliable information source on philanthropy for the high-income earners in the Czech Republic. The new magazine should inspire and motivate private donors to give meaningful and systematic support to the nonprofit sector.

Bohuš Získal, Hudební informační středisko, o.p.s.

Bohuš Získal is a project specialist in the area of digital archives. For the 'World of Difference', he has chosen the Music Information Centre (Hudební informační středisko), which promotes and informs about Czech music and administers an archive of scores, prints and records of Czech classical music. The project aims to create a digital archive of classical music and scores on the Internet and make it accessible to the public and schools.

Miluše Dvoržáková – Amelie, o.s.

Miluše Dvoržáková works in the Monsato company as a manager of communication, crisis management and marketing. For her project, she has chosen the Amelia association, which offers psychosocial support to oncological patients and their families. She wants to help Amelia find a long-term financial partner in the business sector and become financially secure. At the same time, she wants to find them a foreign partner in order to share know-how and experience on a long-term basis.

Jan Krčmář – Auto*Mat, o.s.

Jan Krčmář works in public relations. For one year, he would like to use his experience for the benefit of the Auto*Mat association, an initiative for safe, healthy and lively Prague. It organizes watchdog activities, supports cycling and public transport in Prague. Jan wants to help them create a long-term communication strategy with a strong, consistent and sustainable impact on the public.

Zuzana Křivánková – Život 90

Zuzana Křivánková has broad experience in communication and marketing. She wants use it for the benefit of the association of Život 90, which gives comprehensive support to senior citizens. Zuzana wants to promote their services and increase the demand for them through good communication and marketing.

Dominika Kovaříková obtained the highest score (a total of 5,155 votes) in the internet voting on Facebook and www.rokjinak.cz, which qualified her for the Wild Card and a straight advance from the Top 12 among the winners. The other six winners have been chosen by a jury, which included Ondřej Zapletal, Executive Director of the Vodafone Foundation, Pavla Teplá, Deputy Vice President for HR at Vodafone, and Filip Hrubý, Head of Corporate Communication at Vodafone, as well as Veronika Bednářová, a journalist and reporter at Lidové noviny, and Jan Rybář, this year’s winner of the 'World of Difference' who works for the independent server Ekolist.

The winners are now going to sign their contracts and handle all necessary paperwork. They will start to work on their projects in January.

Twenty-eight professionals have applied their experience in non-profit organizations focusing on all topics from ecology to social issues as part of the 'World of Difference' program so far. Grant recipients may engage, according to their profession, in a wide range of activities from fundraising, PR and communications, to creating a long-term HR and development strategy.

Professionals who want to use their know-how and experience to help the nonprofit sector, yet cannot or do not want to interrupt their career for the whole year, can apply for the kRok jinak ('Step of Difference') program which makes it possible to work for shorter terms, from of one to three months. For more information, please go to www.rokjinak.cz.

The Vodafone Foundation was established in 2006 and is financed by the Vodafone Group Foundation and Vodafone Czech Republic a.s. In terms of allocated funds, it ranks among the top five corporate foundations in the country. During the five years of its existence, the Vodafone Foundation has distributed more than CZK 85 million to non-profit projects in the Czech Republic.