Our new funding per year
Africa
Latin America
2015
9,380,000
2015
9,001,000
2Ü15
6,886,000
2014
8,327,000
2014
8,606,000
2Ü14
5,877,000
2013
9,425,000
2013
6,889,000
2013
6,038,000
Contents Foreword Management report Corporate governance
Consolidated Financial Statements
Company Financial Statements
Pillar 3
Banking for Food
Banking for Food is Rabobank's vision on global food
security and the role of the bank. The Rabobank Foundation
contributes to this vision by supporting small-scale farmers
in 22 developing countries in Africa, Asia and South America,
providing access to finance, knowledge and networks. Through
our support to project partners abroad (270 in 2015), we have
been able to reach out to 4.7 million farmers. The Rabobank
Foundation also strengthens cooperatives and their members.
By providing cooperatives with working capital loans and
investments, the organisation has access to resources to issue
loans to members under fair market conditions.
The Rabobank Foundation also invests in capacity building
to professionalise and strengthen the organisations we work
with. Our social impact study showed that 13,410 board and
staff members received training on professionalising their
cooperatives in 2015.
More than 268,000 small-scale farmers have profited from our
technical assistance. They are being trained in better agricultural
practices. But we also focus on innovations to improve
the businesses of small-scale farmers. In 2016, Rabobank
Foundation enabled SoilCares to launch a new soil scanner to
support small-scale farmers in Kenya. Farmers in developing
countries often lack knowledge about the soil in which they
grow their crops. The SoilCares soil scanner andthe related
training programme enable farmers to achieve 50% better crop
yields. This enables them to improve both their income and
food security in their local regions. Read more about this here.
Cooperative nature
By forging links between local Rabobanks, staff, customers and
our project partners, we are able to emphasise the cooperative
nature of our bank. In 2015, 94.5% of all local Rabobanks
supported the Rabobank Foundation with funds. In 2016,
this 97% did so. But the local Rabobanks support Rabobank
Foundation with more than just financial donations. They are
also showing their involvement by 'adopting' a project abroad
or a project in the Netherlands. Rabobank Noord Oost Polder,
for example, is involved with a Rabobank Foundation potato
project in Peru, 'Papas de Colores'. Four Dutch potato growers
and clients of Rabobank visited this project in 2016 to exchange
knowledge. According to the Dutch farmers, the rudimentary
circumstances on the farmland formed a sharp contrast with
the fairly modern facilities at the new potato crisp factory, where
locally grown potatoes are processed into colourful crisps.
In the Netherlands, many local Rabobanks are involved in the
Home Paperwork project of Humanitas. Over the period 2014
2016 the Rabobank Foundation forged a partnership with
Humanitas and Dutch budget information service Nibud for
this project. The aim is to attract and train 500 new volunteers
annually to help people develop healthy financial habits and
get out of debt.
Client and employee involvement
Rabobank employees can also contribute to the Rabobank
Foundation. The Rabobank Foundation Employee Fund
allocated EUR 751,000 (2015) and EUR 790,141 (2016) for farmer
communities in 22 developing countries. These donations
help people get access to education and water (drinking water
and irrigation).
90 Rabobank Annual Report 2016