€1m donation from IKEA Foundation to The HOME Project
Howard Lake | 3 October 2017 | News
IKEA Foundation has made a €1 million grant to The HOME Project to support its work in housing and employing refugees stranded in Greece through the ongoing crisis.
The HOME Project focuses in particularly on helping lone refugee children and has already opened five dedicated shelters, with a structure of care and support.
The IKEA Foundation donation will enable The HOME Project to double the scope of its work. It will fund the opening of five more shelters, increasing its provision to care for more than 200 children in secure environments that give support, protection, education and social integration services to dozens of displaced children.
Advertisement
SEE ALSO: Why is IKEA a nonprofit?
This latest commitment will bring the total jobs created by The HOME Project to over 120, including employment for many of the refugees.
The HOME Project states that more than 8,419 of the refugees in Greece are unaccompanied minors. Having been separated from their parents they are at risk of violence, sexual abuse, exploitation and organ trafficking.
Per Heggenes, CEO of the IKEA Foundation, said: “All children have the right to a safe place to call home. The IKEA Foundation is supporting the HOME Project because we believe the private sector should work alongside governments and the UN to secure this right for vulnerable migrant children, helping them survive, recover and build a future for themselves.”
Sofia Kouvelaki, Director of the HOME Project, thanked the foundation for its support, saying: “The scale of this disaster is epic and children are the true victims of it. We are immensely grateful to the IKEA Foundation for recognising the HOME Project’s mission which is critical, and for this generous donation which will make a deep and lasting impact on so many lives. This vital work saves lives and needs support – we hope it will serve as an inspiration to the international community.”
WATCH: Creating circles of prosperity – the IKEA Foundation
- IKEA UK and Barnardo’s announce a three-year child-centred national partnership (8 May 2019)
- IKEA Foundation Play for Change campaign raises €3.4m for Save the Children (1 February 2017)
- The IKEA Edge: Building global growth and social good at the world’s most iconic home store
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.