Dear Stakeholders,

We woke up to the biggest earthquake disaster in the history of the Republic in the morning of February 6, 2023. We are deeply saddened by the earthquakes that hit our country, and we know that it will take quite a while to heal the wounds. From the first moment, both Sabancı Foundation and Sabancı Group mobilized to aid those affected by the disaster. We will continue to do our part with determination until all wounds are healed.

This dire catastrophe once again revealed the chain of consequences triggered by disasters. The subsequent devastation significantly struck the lives of those in the earthquake region, followed by our entire country and eventually the world. As in the pandemic, in war, and in economic struggles, this disaster further proved that it is always women and children who suffer the most.

At Sabancı Foundation, we also draw important lessons from these challenging times and strive to eradicate inequalities, support those with limited access to opportunities and facilities, and leave no one behind.

As the only foundation in Turkey to provide grants to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) for the past 16 years, we support equal opportunities and active participation for women, children, and people with disabilities. This year, we continued to support the projects of NGOs in our grant program. By the end of 2022, we supported a total of 218 projects and touched 300,000 lives directly and 1.2 million lives indirectly.

In 2022, we issued the first grant to be awarded to a climate emergency project in Turkey. We joined the "Philanthropy for Climate" movement and became the first Turkey-based organization to sign the International Philanthropy Commitment on Climate Change."

In February 2022, we launched our project titled “Young Women Building Their Future” to empower women and to raise awareness of women who are not in education, employment, or training (NEET). The project is implemented by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and our Foundation in cooperation with the Ministry of Family and Social Services and the Ministry of Labor and Social Security. It will be scaled to impact all of Turkey. In 2021, we initiated preparations for an action plan, needs assessment and analysis, a digital portal, and field studies for this long-term and multi-stakeholder project. Following the project launch in 2022, we carried out field studies and published the Opportunities Map.

The English Together project, in cooperation with the Ministry of National Education and the British Council, contributes to the professional development of English language teachers in Turkey and the project has been expanded to reach more teachers in 2022.

The Changemakers Program promotes the stories and efforts of extraordinary people who have helped advance social development in Turkey. Aiming to encourage Changemakers and inspire society, the program had reached out to 204 Changemakers by the end of 2022.

We focused on the climate emergency at the 15th International Philanthropy Seminars of the Sabancı Foundation. Speakers from around the world and young activists from Turkey discussed the role of philanthropy in the climate emergency, concrete steps to be taken by NGOs, and the importance of youth activism in the climate emergency.

As the foundation that established Sabancı University, we maintained our support for its operating and investment expenses in 2022.

We also continued to build new institutions and to renovate, repair, and maintain existing ones throughout the year. Hacı Ömer Sabancı and Sadıka Sabancı dormitories in Adana were renovated, strengthened, and inaugurated in March. Our Foundation also granted support to the renovation of Sakarya Toyotasa Hospital, and it was inaugurated in October as Sakarya Sadıka Sabancı State Hospital. The construction works of the two vocational and technical Anatolian high schools funded by Enerjisa's conditional donations continued. Furthermore, an additional workshop building at the Sabancı Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School in Kocaeli and the deconstruction and reconstruction of Sakıp Sabancı Secondary School in Adana was commissioned in 2022.

We held the awards ceremony for the Sabancı Foundation Sixth Short Film Competition with the theme “New Jobs In The New World” and the slogan “Short Film, Long Impact” to nurture awareness of social issues by wielding the creative perspective and the impact of the seventh art. Furthermore, we determined the theme of the seventh competition as "Young Women Not In Education, Employment, or Training," inspired by our project Young Women Building Their Future, with the motto “Starring for the First Time... Now is the time for all women wishing to take control of their lives to star in their own stories!”

The 23rd International Adana Theater Festival hosted 19 theatrical troupes from Turkey and three from abroad, with a total of 22 different plays. It is the only international festival to last a month, and approximately one million theater lovers so far have watched the plays performed throughout the festival.

The Turkish National Youth Philharmonic Orchestra took off on a European tour following the pandemic and performed three times in Turkey and four times in different European cities.

This year, on April 23, we celebrated National Sovereignty and Children's Day by flying a gigantic kite of unprecedented size decorated with a portrait of Atatürk, with the motto "Fest in the Sky." The fair in Istanbul welcomed disadvantaged children. We also delivered kites and organized workshops at our institutions in numerous cities.

On October 11, International Day of the Girl Child, we brought a heartwarming true story from our country to the screens, in which we emphasized the importance of equal opportunities. The story takes place in the Kolluca village of Sivas and follows a girl as she is admitted to medical school and sets an example to other girls in the village as well as their families and friends. The underlying message of the story is that "Change a Girl, Change the World." And our task is to replicate good examples, to make them more visible, and to encourage other families and other villages. The film created a great impact on social media and reached nearly 32 million people, with lots of views and likes.

Our efforts were awarded in 2022. Our film for October 11, International Day of the Girl Child, received the Golden Compass Award, while our field study for the Young Women Building Their Future project received the Silver Owl Award.

Once again, we provided scholarships to almost 1,500 students with around 350 new participants. We continued to reward successful students and young artists to encourage achievements in education, arts, and culture.

At Sabancı Foundation, we will continue to strive for the fair and inclusive world order that we aspire to. I would like to thank all members of the Board of Trustees, our donors, the general manager of our Foundation, our colleagues, and all stakeholders for their contributions and encouragement.

Güler Sabancı

Chair, Board of Trustees