We can make a difference

At Peerigon, we already sensed how important the topics of support and cohesion are when we founded our company. In the beginning, as a young start-up, we relied on support and tips from other organizations or individuals. We were grateful for every little bit of help that eventually helped us become the company we are today. Not only socially, but also economically, these issues are more relevant today than ever. Particularly in recent years, our continent and the entire human race have been put to the test by a number of crises. Above all, these crises have taught us one thing: anyone can be affected by them. Therefore, it is important to support people in crises when the possibility exists. Especially when you yourself are not affected by the crisis. Our society depends on mutual help and togetherness, and difficult times can only be overcome by working together. For this reason, it is particularly important to us to do our part to ensure that help and support reach where they are most needed. Since Peerigon first started making a profit, we have been making regular donations to various organizations. Corporate donations are attractive because there is no social security or taxes to pay on donations. So, roughly speaking, we can donate twice the amount that would be possible for a private individual.

We donate mostly to smaller organizations with many volunteers. With the donation we would like to strengthen their motivation and make their work easier. In addition, even small donations can often make a big contribution. In recent years, however, we have also increasingly donated to larger organizations that already have an existing structure. These organizations are also dependent on donations in order to be able to act quickly in crisis situations. In addition to monetary donations, we also make in-kind donations. This year, for example, we gave away two of our old notebooks to Kreisjugendring Dachau . With the donations we want to support active organizations and thus make a positive contribution to our society.

Everybody in our team has the possibility to submit ideas for donation projects. For this, each team member can fill a template and briefly explain where we should donate and why. After the collection phase, the Peerigon team has the opportunity to vote on the donation projects. For this, we use Konsens - our tool for participatory team voting. Once the donation projects are decided, we take care of the transfers as soon as possible so that the money can have an impact where it is needed most.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the entire Peerigon team for the good project ideas, for discussing the donation targets, for taking part in the surveys and, above all, for making the donations possible through your work. This is the only way we can make regular donations.

Thank you also to the individual organisations and the people behind them for their commitment. Below we've listed the projects we're donating to in 2022:

Amani is a kindergarten and preschool project in Karatu, Tanzania, which mainly supports children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds whose parents usually do not have the financial means for childcare. The children are to be provided with child-friendly, sheltered care. This opportunity for education in turn creates prospects for the children's future. In the Amani Kindergarten, 35 - 40 children between the ages of 3 and 6 are cared for by two kindergarten teacher. With only a few Euros, a child can attend the kindergarten for a month and receive a fresh, warm meal there every day. We support this project because we feel that even a small contribution has an enormous impact and would like to lay a foundation for the children's education.

Fridays For Future Augsburg are committed to preserving our natural livelihood. More specifically, it is an international and independent climate strike movement of young people that organizes regular demonstrations to fight for climate justice and related policy changes. The actions, demonstrations, stickers and posters of Fridays For Future are financed exclusively by donations. Only donations make it possible for the organization to organize demonstrations on this scale. Since our climate and our earth are of central importance to our humanity, it is in our interest to support this organization through donations so that our earth continues to provide a habitat for future generations.

The human rights organization HÁWAR.help is committed to a peaceful world in which every human being has equal opportunities to develop in safety, regardless of origin, faith or way of life. HÁWAR.help organizes development and education projects in Iraq and in Germany, as well as international awareness and education initiatives. In addition, the organization has supported the feminist revolution in Iran from the beginning and sees itself as a "mouthpiece of the freedom movement for human and women's rights in Iran". We would like to support the women in Iran through our donation, so that they can have a chance for an equal life.

The Deutsch-Bulgarische Gesellschaft Mittelhessen e.V. is the sponsor of the project "Musik statt Straße". Since 2008, the association has been helping children from children's homes, former street children and children from the slums, providing them with essential food, clothing, heating material and basic medical care. Furthermore, the children receive access to musical, artistic and school education and psychological care. In our eyes, this is a great and unique project that gives the street children hope and a better future.

The aid organization World Bicycle Relief has also already contributed to great changes with its idea. With the Buffalo bicycle, it has developed a reliable and high-quality means of transport that gives people in structurally weak regions access to education, health facilities, basic care and income opportunities. The aim is to break the cycle of poverty in the project regions. The sustainability aspect is also particularly important to the organization. We have decided to support World Bicycle Relief financially because we have many passionate cyclists among us at Peerigon and we hope that this success story will continue to grow and reach even more regions.

Of course, we were particularly moved last year by the outbreak of the war against Ukraine and its development. For this reason, as founders of Peerigon, we spontaneously decided to donate to organizations that provide assistance in Ukraine and urgently need funds for this purpose. The Peerigon team has chosen the following organizations as donation recipients: Ukrainischer Verein Augsburg e.V., Bündnis Entwicklung Hilft - Gemeinsam für Menschen in Not e.V. and Deutsches Rotes Kreuz e.V.. These organizations provide those affected on site with essential goods and offer them psychological support. We hope that the terrible events in Ukraine will end soon and that peace will return in the near future.

The year 2023 has unfortunately started again with some major turbulences, so we have already made our first donations again:

The first major cause this year was the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. We are shocked by the great suffering this has caused and also want to support organizations here that provide aid directly on the ground. Against this background, we have decided to donate to Aktion Deutschland Hilft e.V., Spendenkonto Nothilfe and Bündnis Entwicklung Hilft e.V..

Our local community in Augsburg is also close to our hearts, because there we can see and experience directly on site how donations are used and what great projects are set up by the organizations. So this year we decided to financially support the Modular-Festival and Christopher Street Day e.V. Augsburg.

How these donation projects represent our values and stand up for them, you will find out in the next donation blog post.