Rabo Foundation 50 jaar

Lasting positive change; it is what we have been committed to since 1974. Just as it is for Rabobank, Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen's cooperative idea was our foundation: together we achieve more than alone. By joining forces and working together, people can strengthen their social and economic position. From the start, we have invested in the self-reliance of people in a vulnerable position in the Netherlands and far beyond. Our impact has grown over the past 50 years. We now support hundreds of organizations that work with smallholder farmers, such as savings and credit cooperatives, all over the world and social entrepreneurs in the Netherlands. Together and through these organizations we now support millions of smallholder farmers around the world. And we offer opportunities to thousands of people in the Netherlands who were previously on the sidelines. In this way, people improve their own lives – and little by little, the world. From a more inclusive job market to contributing to solutions to the global food issue. Read our timeline to discover the key moments from the past 50 years.

Rabo Foundation starts providing loans such as microfinance (short-term loan). Thanks to new rules, we as a foundation can provide loans in addition to donations. This allows us to support organizations even better and this also fits in with our vision of encouraging self-reliance. With loans we rely on people's own capabilities from the start and there is a better chance that they will ultimately survive without outside help. Rabo Foundation was one of the first foundations to provide loans and now providing loans is our key financing product. And, by starting to provide loans, Rabo Foundation became a revolving fund. With the loan repayments we can replenish our fund every year, redeploy the money and thus finance more organizations.

Stichting Steun door Rabobanken (SSR) is now called the Rabobank Foundation. This name has already been in use for some time internationally because it is easier to communicate. It proved inconvenient to work with a different name (SSR) within the Netherlands than abroad, which is why we opted for a single name.

Starting this year, Rabobank employees can make a donation to Rabo Foundation. It started as Share4More and we launched it a year ahead of schedule. The reason is the tsunami that caused enormous damage in large parts of Asia on Boxing Day 2004. Many of our partners in India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia are in the disaster area. Rabobank, Rabo Foundation, and bank employees donated money for emergency aid to those affected via Share4More. Today, Share4More is called Rabo Foundation's employee fund. Rabobank employees and retirees support the fund with a monthly contribution of 4 euros or more, and Rabobank doubles that amount.

The Rabo Foundation establishes the Rabo Rural Fund with support from Cordaid and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Now we can also finance cooperatives and farmers' organizations that are too big for Rabo Foundation financing and too small for a commercial loan. The fund finances agricultural businesses and cooperatives in the emerging economies of Latin America, Africa and Asia.
View the 2022 impact report to learn more about Rabo Rural Fund B.V.

The photo shows our client Acopagro, one of the largest cocoa cooperatives in Peru.

This year, national attention increased for the growing group of people who visibly had financial problems in the Netherlands. As a driving force behind social innovation, we saw it as our role to contribute to the solution with our knowledge, network and financial resources. For example, we supported projects such as Humanitas Thuisadministratie (Humanitas' Home Administration), in which thousands of volunteers work to help families with financial problems regain control of their finances. Later, we supported initiatives such as Geldfit.nl and the Nederlandse Schuldhulproute (Dutch Debt Assistance Route). These initiatives can now count on the support and involvement of Rabobank.

From its inception, Rabo Foundation has focused on achieving social impact. Measuring this impact, however, is not easy. Starting this year, we ask our project partners to report their results to us through an online survey. Measuring the impact gives us insight into the changes taking place, the role the Rabo Foundation plays in them and how we can further support our project partners.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) honors us with an FAO Award: the Jacques Diouf Award. In doing so, it recognizes our commitment to strengthening the economic self-sufficiency of smallholder farmers worldwide. And thus our contribution to the food system transition.

Ankie Wijnen, Chair of the Rabo Foundation Supervisory Board 2017 - 2023, accepted the award from FAO Director General José Graziano da Silva.

Whereas before we focused mainly on social and economic impact, we now broaden our focus with environmental impact. This is a direct response to the effects of climate change. With our support to partners, we can help smallholder farmers become more climate resilient. Only in this way can they build a sustainable future.

The global health crisis has a major impact on our partners – partly because the crisis is accompanied by drastic measures, such as lockdowns, social distancing and travel restrictions, which have negative effects on the global economy. We establish a temporary emergency fund of €750,000 for acute assistance to our partners' initiatives, and offer a number of organizations deferred repayments on their current loans.

This year we will also start the first discussions about the partnership program 'India Covid Response Program for Agri Transition'. Led by US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and supported by USAID along with Rabo Foundation and two European foundations and three financial institutions in India.

Smallholder farmers in Africa, Asia and Latin America are being hit hard by climate change. The transition to agroforestry can offer a solution for farmers. Rabo Foundation sees the benefits of agroforestry and is therefore starting to set up a new initiative this year, including in collaboration with Rabobank's Acorn. The new B.V. will provide impact financing to support smallholder farmers on a large scale in the transition to agroforestry and is expected to be fully operational by mid-2024.