Sabancı Foundation has been supporting the projects of civil society organizations for the last 15 years in order to promote access women, youth and persons with disabilities to participate in all aspects of society through its Grant Programs. A total of 32 million Turkish Liras has been given to 183 projects conducted in 76 cities up to today.
Sabancı Foundation adopted the approach of “making a lasting impact” so that the effect brought about by the Foundation’s Grant Programs can be amplified and give rise to true social change.
With this strategy, on the one hand, the Open Call Grant Program continues for education-themed NGO projects, while on the other hand, projects in areas such as disability rights, the prevention of child and forced marriages, and the empowerment of teachers are supported as part of the Invited Grant Program, which is based on long-term and in-depth cooperation.
There were 346 project applications from 54 cities across Turkey for the Open Call Grant Program in 2021. These applications were reviewed by Sabancı Foundation experts and further assessed by independent experts before several were handpicked for grants. Below is a list of the seven projects the Foundation supported following the approval of Sabancı Foundation Board of Trustees:
| Project Title | Conducted By | Project Goal |
| Value to My City | Four Seasons Lifelong Play and Learning Association | Playing an active role as young people in creating an innovative, inclusive, and needs-based urban policy, and developing the practice of working together between young people and local governments |
| Kids: The Compass of a City | Hempa Children’s Association | Developing awareness of the right to the city of socio-economically disabled or refugee children living in two neighborhoods in Altındağ district of Ankara and increasing their belonging to the city |
| Social Gender Sensitivity of Gender-neutral Professional and Professional Chambers | Anka Producing Women’s Association | Disseminating awareness of gender equality to all segments of society through training and advocacy activities for professional chambers |
| We Empower Women in Local Governments | Association for Supporting of Women Candidates | Contributing to the mainstreaming of gender equality through trainings for the personnel of 14 municipalities in seven different regions, NGOs in the provinces and women, establishing of a municipality-NGO network |
| Deaf and Hearing Impaired Women’s Rights Education Platform | Dem Association | Increasing awareness of deaf and hearing-impaired women about their rights, especially violence against women and mechanisms to combat violence |
| Parıltı and TÜRGÖK Prepare Blind Youth for YKS | Parıltı Support Association for Children with Visual Impairments | Informing young people with visual impairment who are studying in the 12th grade or who have graduated from high school and will take the Higher Education Institutions Exam (YKS) about the process and supporting them in their preparation for the exam |
| Bilingual Reading Development Applications for Turkish Sign Language Knowing Deaf Children 2 | Association of People with Hearing Impairment of Turkey | Creating five bilingual electronic interactive children’s stories in Turkish Sign Language and Turkish to support the reading development, linguistic and cognitive development of deaf and visually impaired children over the age of 4 |
Under the category of Invited Grant Program, projects on Disability Rights, Early and Forced Marriages, and Teacher Empowerment were supported.
| Project Title | Conducted By | Project Goal |
| Dream Designers | Technology Development Foundation of Turkey | Raising students who can take advantage of the digital transformation in education and use these skills in both academic and business life. |
| Purple Certificate Program | Sabancı University | Implementing gender equality awareness at different levels of education |
| Teachers Network | Education Reform Initiative | Uniting teachers with their colleagues as well as people and institutions from other disciplines to empower them through a sustainable exchange and cooperation network. |
| Prevention of Child Marriages Project 2 | United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) | A comprehensive and local intervention mechanism and education to prevent child marriages |
Highlights from the Grant Projects Completed in 2021
Association of Supporting Women and Culture in Yüksekova
The project aimed to educate women on gender equality, teach them about fundamental rights and services, and support their access to services to combat violence and discrimination against women.
Eskişehir Development Foundation (EGEV)
The program aims to formulate an educational program to inform children and parents concerning special needs in early childhood, brief them of their rights, and provide them social and emotional support.
Colorful Hopes Association
The goal is to curb discrimination and violence by nurturing self-acceptance and diversity in children and helping them recognize cultural diversity, trust individuals of other identities in their community, and boost their self-confidence.
Technology Development Foundation of Turkey
The goal was to raise students who can take advantage of the digital transformation in education and use these skills in both academic and business life.
Grant Program Monitoring - Evaluation Work
Impact and monitoring-evaluation work is conducted for projects supported by Sabancı Foundation Grant Programs. Depending on the needs of the project, the support of independent professionals or monitoring – evaluation experts within the project team is solicited.
Independent monitoring-evaluation studies were conducted on the results of the projects that were supported under the Invited Grant Program in 2020 – 2021, namely the projects by UNFPA, Sabancı University Gender and Women’s Studies Center of Excellence (SU Gender), and Technology Development Foundation of Turkey.
The objectives of the projects were set out together with the grantee organizations, and through a collaboration with YADA Foundation, the projects were monitored by independent experts in accordance with concrete and measurable targets, and reports were prepared.
After the goal-setting process of other projects, the monitoring-evaluation studies were conducted by methods and experts who were designated by the organizations themselves.
A Field Worker in the Being aWoman in Yüksekova Project:
“The awareness efforts helped us perceive the importance of creating a positive environment where women could talk, question, understand, and receive accurate information. We’ve learned to change our perspective on family conflicts and realized there are many women who are actively trying to change this.”
Sowing Season: Experience Sharing Meeting
On October 6, 2021, the “Sowing Season” activity was held face to face with a limited number of participants and the event was also broadcasted live on the Sabancı Foundation’s YouTube channel and Instagram account. At the event, the eight organizations that completed their projects in 2020-2021 shared their experiences. Following up with that activity, the Sowing Season: Grant Program Stories book was published on the web and in print. The program also celebrated the 15th anniversary of the Grant Program, and an online Sharing Meeting was organized the next day on October 7, 2021. At the “Sabancı Foundation Grant Programs at 15 Years” meeting, we shared experiences on running a grant program and provided information on application criteria, project admission processes, and support mechanisms. Additional meetings were also organized on “Designing Accessible Events” and “Gender Based Discrimination”.
A Father Participating in the Koza (Cocoon) Project - Development of Parent-to-Parent Support Program:
“Searching for another family with a child with Down syndrome is not your first thought when trying to figure things out. But then, you begin to wonder ‘Should I maybe go see this other family, see how they do, how they overcame that stage?’ and about other such information.”
