Our charity has been developing for over eleven years now, with the help of volunteers only. This results from a decision we made at the very beginning of this beautiful human adventure, mostly to avoid spending money on anything other than actions in the field. This paid off. Indeed, until today, we allocated nearly every resources of the charity to our young recipients in the programs : the only administrative fees being insurances and bank account fees, which are inherent to the good functioning of any institution. We succeeded in making the slogan « 100% of donations sent in the field » a reality. Besides, you will see in a few days that our 2020 financial statement clearly shows that we sent all the funds collected (and even more) to our programs. In the world of charities and nonprofits, this is outstanding. We must thank all those who made this possible, with their time and meticulous work, often behind the scenes, in the field or on their computers.
Today, we are entering a second phase in Solibad’s growth. Last fall we welcomed Corentin and Ceylian for seven months through the amazing platform that is « Service civique », they were our first recruits with this status. As their seven month contract came to an end, Neemati and Caroline, who we welcomed a few days ago, will pick up where things were left off. They will help improve our digital skills and grow our reach. All of this was made possible through a platform that allows Solibad to spend little to no money thanks to Government funding.
However, we also wanted a change of paradigm, a change of the way we work. We did so by hiring Corentin, on a one-year fixed-term contract which will hopefully be renewed. In early 2021, the board voted for a budget to welcome Corentin for two main reasons : first because we are sorely lacking human resources to manage the multiple operations of our charity and the volunteers who are very much in demand in this pandemic have now less time to effectively manage our different programs. But also because, we felt it was our role to help a young adult in a time when entering the labour market is extremely complicated. In line with our values, this is a "little push" that we are willing to give to someone who has been so devoted to Solibad and someone who we want to see thrive at a job we had planned to create one day anyway. This one-year fixed-term contract is 65% subsidized by the state, in order to minimize financial risk and to keep in mind to send most of our resources in the field. This decision is also an investment for the future, with the help of other volunteers - such as Virginie, who is also joining the team - Corentin should be able to help Solibad find more resources and more means in order to develop our actions and programs, allowing us to offer better help.
We are delighted to welcome our first employee to Solibad in the person of Corentin, and wish him a warm welcome (back), as well as Neemati and Caroline, whom you will have the opportunity to meet, in real life or virtually via their articles and posts.
Raphael and the entire Solibad team,