Corporate Social Responsibility

İşbank engages in substantial and sustainable social responsibility projects that contribute to the wellbeing of society.

Originally established at the orders of Atatürk in the earliest years of the Turkish Republic as one of the first moves, ever since then İşbank has contributed to social progress through comprehensive projects in the areas of culture, arts, science and sports just as it led the way forward in the business of banking.

Playing an active role in industrial and commercial development in every part of the country İşbank engages in substantial and sustainable social responsibility projects that contribute to the wellbeing of society. Some of the highlights of the Bank’s social responsibility activities in 2011 are presented below.

Education-related activities

Chess

Despite the existence of a dedicated circle of devotees in Turkey, chess somehow never attained much popularity or any recognition as a “mass sport”. Before the 2000s, the country was almost completely lacking in representation at the international level

In December 2005 İşbank began cooperating closely with the Turkish Chess Federation. In a joint effort to turn the game into a “mass sport” that was played throughout the country, İşbank became one of the main supporters of the game on a national scale

Since the onset of İşbank’s sponsorship of the sport:

• The number of officially licensed chess players increased from 30,000 to 185,000
• The number of students taking chess as an elective course at school increased from 100,000 to 2,500,000
• The number of medals won in international competitions reached 147.

Following activities were carried out in 2011 in line with İşbank’s chess sponsorship

• Introduction of chess classes in primary schools
İşbank supports the introduction and conduct of chess classes in schools as a way of encouraging schoolchildren to play chess, of attracting teachers’ interest to the sport and of overcoming the resource inadequacy from which many schools suffer.

Growing public awareness of İşbank’s role as a sponsor of chess appears to have spurred a significant rise in demand for the introduction of chess as an elective course in schools. The number of chess classes included in school curriculums reached 5,554 in 2011.

• Chess license cards dispensed by İşbank branches

Since 2007, the licenses granted by the Turkish Chess Federation to its registered players have been issued in the form of Bankamatik (ATM) cards, which come in three kinds:

• Electron Bankamatik cards for players who are over 18 years old,

• Maestro “First Signature” Bankamatik cards for players in the 12 to 18 age group,

• a token plastic card for players younger than 12.

• satrancoyna.com.tr
Under the heading of chess sponsorship, In 2008 İşbank entered into a comprehensive collaboration with Playchess, whose 250,000 registered users make it the world’s biggest internet chess platform. As a result of this project, the content on the Playchess website was translated into Turkish and access to it was provided from the www.satrancoyna.com.tr website.

5,700 licensed chess players who connect to playchess.com from Turkey are allowed to play online chess there free of charge. By giving chess players in Turkey a chance to take part in international competitions, this project contributes towards the improvement of their playing skills.

• İşbank Chess Festival for Children Under 8
Conceived as a way to provide children with a chess playing environment that is fun while also supporting their parents’ efforts to encourage them to play the game, since 2006 İşbank has been conducting the “İşbank Chess Festival for Children Under 8” every year in the month of June.

The 6th round of the festival, which was held in 2011 at the İşbank Employees’ Association’s Çamlıca Sports Complex, was attended by chess players in the 6-8 age group hailing from many different parts of Turkey. Children attending the five-day festival not only played chess but also had a chance to take part in many other enjoyable games and activities.

• Türkiye İş Bankası Chess League
Chess matches and tournaments are conducted by the Bank under the “Türkiye İş Bankası Chess League” name. The İSEK Aquamatch Sport Club team won the Türkiye İş Bankası Chess League’s 2010-2011 season championship.

Under the "81 Students From 81 Cities" project, İşbank provides full scholarships to 81 students who are successful in the Darüşşafaka placement exams every year.

81 Students From 81 Cities
In 2008 İşbank entered into an agreement with the Darüşşafaka, which owns and operates the oldest and most prestigious school for children in need in Turkey. Under this agreement, the Bank provides funding for its “81 Students From 81 Cities” project, one of the biggest and most visionary programs ever undertaken in education in Turkey.

The Darüşşafaka school was founded to provide education to fatherless children who are in financial need. Pupils are admitted to this all-expense-paid boarding school beginning with the fourth grade. The curriculum, which gives attention to both academic as well as social progress and which seeks to provide a warm and supporting environment for young people to grow up in, begins with the fourth grade and continues until graduation.

Under the “81 Students From 81 Cities” project, İşbank pays all the expenses of 81 children who successfully pass each year’s entrance exam. The Bank plans to continue supporting these students when they attend university as well.

By the time that the first students admitted to the program graduate from university, in the 14th year of the project, the number of young people being supported by İşbank is projected to be more than one 1,000.

The first children who began studying under the program in 2008 entered the 7th grade at the start of the 2011-2012 academic year. As of current academic year, the number of students being supported by the İşbank 81 Students From 81 Cities Project at Darüşşafaka is 317.

In keeping with its goal of supporting all of Darüşşafaka’s educational and social objectives, İşbank provides students with much more than just financial and material aid. Through a variety of activities it also contributes to their development as useful members of society as well.

“Show Your Report Card, Get Your Book” Campaign
As the 2007-2008 academic year was drawing to a close, İşbank launched one of the biggest book-related campaigns ever undertaken in Turkey. Dubbed “Show Your Report Card, Get Your Book”, the goals of this campaign are to acquaint more children with quality reading, to increase the number of young people who are critical readers and to contribute towards opportunity equalization among students.

Under this campaign, primary school children who show their report card to any İşbank branch in Turkey or TRNC get a free book. In 2008, one million children each received a copy of Alice in Wonderland. This title was followed by Yazarlarımızdan Masallar ve Öyküler, a selection of tales and short stories by Turkish authors in 2009; Yazarlarımızdan Öyküler, another collection of short stories in 2010; and Halime Kaptan, a novel by Rıfat Ilgaz in 2011. Everyone also receives a free copy of “Küçük Mavi Gezegen” [“The Little Blue Planet”], a booklet containing simple suggestions about protecting the environment and conserving natural resources that is designed to foster environmental awareness in young people.

Over the last four years, five million children have received books under this İşbank program.

Other İşbank-supported social responsibility activities in 2011 included:

• “Firefly Mobile Education Unit” in collaboration with the Educational Volunteers Foundation of Turkey
• Annual “Golden Youth” awards
• Education grants for earthquake victim students

Environment-related Activities

81 Forests in 81 Cities
İşbank regards it as a duty both to protect the environment and to increase people’s environmental awareness. The “81 Forests in 81 Cities” project that it launched in late 2008 is the biggest and most comprehensive institutionally-supported forestation program ever undertaken in Turkey.

The program, which is being carried out in collaboration with the TEMA Foundation and the Ministry of Forestry and Water Resources, completed its fourth year of life in 2011 having concluded forestation projects in 65 cities. To date, 1.7 million saplings have been planted and are being cared for on a total of 1,200 hectares.

Unlike most programs of this sort in our country, “81 Forests in 81 Cities” also provides for the care and maintenance of the forested areas for a period of five years after the initial planting in order to achieve higher rates of forested area sustainability. In 2011 for example, more than 145,000 saplings which had failed to take root were replaced with new plantings.

Studies have shown that about more than 63% of the land in Turkey suffers from “serious” and “extremely serious” risk of erosion while 20% of it is exposed to “average” erosion risk. Estimates put the amount of soil that is lost through erosion at around 200-220 million tons a year. Nearly all of the erosion that depletes our land and threatens our future is due to the effects of water runoff. The oldest and also the most effective way of combating such erosion is terracing. In recognition of this fact, 936 kms of terracing has also been carried out under the “81 Forests in 81 Cities” program in order to additionally protect the soil against erosion.

Culture and Art

İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları
İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları is an İşbank-owned publishing house that was established in 1956 by Hasan Âli Yücel, a former Minister of Education. Since then, Kültür Yayınları has been providing Turkish readers with a steady stream of publications that are both rich in content and superior in quality.

İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları publications embrace a broad catalogue of genres and subjects ranging from histories and memoirs to books for children and young adults, from biographical interviews to art, from modern classics to outstanding examples of Turkish and world literature, from the social sciences and humanities to studies and research and from economics and business administration to personal development. Released under 13 separate headings, Kültür Yayınları publications attract widespread interest and are an indispensable source of material not just for academics and researchers but for all the educated.

In 2011 Kültür Yayınları once again gave special importance to children’s books, with new releases bringing the total number of titles in the children’s series to 713. Carefully crafted and beautifully produced coloring books, sticker books and handwriting books as well as books specially designed for infants appeal to youngsters.

As of end-2011, İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları had published a total of 1,725,000 books under 2,400 titles since its inception.

In the course of eleven seasons since it was originally launched in 2000, İş Sanat has hosted about 350,000 art lovers at more than 600 events as it continues fulfilling its mission of advancing the arts in Turkey.

İş Sanat
In the course of eleven seasons since it was originally launched in 2000, İş Sanat has hosted about 350 thousand art lovers at more than 600 events as it continues fulfilling its mission of advancing the arts in Turkey.

One of Turkey’s most important art platforms, İş Sanat has become a premier calling-place for the world’s leading names in the arts. But in addition to serving as a venue for stellar performances by major national and international artists, it also hosts children’s theater performances and poetry readings as well.

Celebrating its 11th anniversary last season, İş Sanat held 39 concerts, 6 children’s events and 5 poetry readings in 2011.

İş Sanat inaugurated its 12th season on 25 October 2011 with a concert by Efe Baltacıgil, one of the young praiseworthy artists in Turkey and the Borusan İstanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, a leading symphonic group in the country. The center will continue to host artists and groups of international reown artists as well as selected musicians in Turkey.

Türkiye İş Bankası Müzesi (İşbank Museum)
The mission of the İşbank Museum is to securely house and protect documents, banking equipment, communication devices, photographs, pictures, advertisements and promotional materials and films which bear witness both to the Bank’s own history since the day it was founded and to the economic development of Turkey and to do this in such a way as to ensure that these assets are passed on to future generations.

For the initial formation of the museum’s collection, a painstaking effort was made to seek out not just documents, photographs, films and objects but also the cherished recollections of those who had been involved in events. Gathered from all over the country, such materials and testimonies were documented, restored where necessary and preserved for the future.

Paralleling the social responsibility projects that the Bank conducts for children, in 2011 two workshops for primary school children –“My Moneybox” and “Budget, Thrift & Saving”–took place at the İşbank Museum.

More than 200,000 people had visited the museum as of December 2011.

“Writing History in Glass since 1935” Exhibition
“Writing History in Glass since 1935”, an exhibition that opened at the İşbank Museum in 2011, gives viewers a panoramic view of the 76-year history of Şişecam. Having commenced operation in November 1935, Şişecam today ranks among the world’s leading glassmakers. In the course of more than three quarters of a century, Şişecam along with İşbank’s other subsidiaries have played key roles in the processes of Turkey’s industrialization.

A rich assortment of documents, photographs and films from İşbank’s and Şişecam’s archives as well as examples of tools and equipment used in manufacturing draw attention to the scope of the company’s activities. A variety of exhibition techniques are used to enhance the visual and informational impact of the show.

Galleries
İşbank’s art collection is acknowledged to be the biggest privately-owned compilation of modern Turkish painting in the country. Having acquired its first work of art in 1940, İşbank has been serving Turkey’s art lovers through its galleries since 1976.

İşbank’s Kibele (İstanbul) and İzmir art galleries serve as venues for the display of paintings, sculptures and ceramics created not just by established masters but also by promising newcomers in the world of art.

In the 2010-2011 season, the Kibele gallery hosted retrospective exhibitions of works by Tankut Öktem, Nuri İyem, Mevlut Akyıldız and Kemal İskender. The gallery’s shows were visited by a total of 33,424 people.

Similarly during the 2010-2011 season, the İşbank İzmir Art Gallery mounted eight exhibitions at which a large number of paintings, prints and ceramics were displayed. The gallery’s shows attracted tremendous interest and were visited by 15,430 people.

The İzmir Art Gallery also conducts workshops for primary school children. Designed to create an awareness of art and artistic expression among children and to foster an appreciation for art in the younger generation, these workshops combine a host of activities such as exhibition visits and explanations of works followed by practical, hands-on experience with drawing and painting.

İşbank Art Collection Conservation and Restoration

Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts Laboratory & Studio Project Conversion of the Bank’s historic Beyoğlu branch into a museum

Work has begun on a project to set up a painting conservation and restoration laboratory at Mimar Sinan University. The first facility of its kind in Turkey, the laboratory’s mission will be to protect the priceless heritage of art which our country has built up and to ensure that it is handed down to future generations. In the first stage of this project, the materials and equipment which the laboratory needs to restore paintings have been imported from abroad and turned over to the university.

Formal establishment of the laboratory will be completed in 2012 after which restoration work will begin there.

In line with this project, an undergraduate program in artwork conservation and restoration has also been set up at MSU to train the people needed for such work. The program will admit its first students in 2012.

İşbank’s original branch building located in the historic district of Beyoğlu is planned to be restored and turned into an art museum.