PAI Partners | Supporting community projects

PAI Community

We established our foundation, PAI Community, in 2012. Its aim is to invest in and support projects that will leave a lasting legacy by creating employment and economic activity, and to promote social inclusion for people at the fringes of society.

People we are able to help may be suffering from extreme poverty, social exclusion, mental illness, or may just be from tough neighbourhoods. The common feature is, they are out of work. We provide funds for associations that offer guidance and a framework to help people along the path towards a job. It’s hard work for these associations, but it’s life-changing for the people they help.

Providing time as well as money

This philanthropic initiative is based on the power of work. Employment and social entrepreneurship lead to social inclusion (also known as insertion in French), and reintegration into society. PAI Community contributes more than money though. Our team gets involved through pro bono work, which we encourage, taking time from their working week to help projects with advice and encouragement in areas such as budgeting and reporting, and improving fundraising.

How are we doing?

Our team of around 20 people do an amazing job through the PAI Community by selecting, monitoring and supporting pro-bono each of the associations we back. Since inception, we’ve invested more than €4.5 million in 25 projects across six countries. We’re proud to report that each year we help hundreds of people get a permanent job thanks to the projects we’ve backed.

What does the future hold?

Now, we’re looking to involve more and more people within PAI, in all the countries where we operate – the common goal brings our diverse teams together. We also aim to make the most of our investment portfolio, which is a unique asset. It has excellent companies with ambitious ESG goals. We can work with them to set up joint social ventures, helping them accelerate their ESG strategies. We’re also looking to involve our investors. As far as the longer term goes, this is one investment we will never exit.

Here are some examples of projects we support:

Adie

Project inception: 2012

Adie provides micro-financing to help people excluded from the labour market and a banking system to start a business.

PAI Community supports the “Créajeunes” programme, launched in 2007 by Adie to help young people develop their own entrepreneurial projects through coaching, financing, networking and project management support.

In addition, a number of representatives from the foundation as well as PAI volunteers take part every year in end-of-training panels of judges hosted at PAI’s office.

APCDS - Lulu dans ma rue

Project inception: 2014

APCDS was created by the founder of Emmaüs Défi in 2014 to make modern cities more human and reduce social exclusion. Its concept ‘Lulu dans ma rue’ offers neighbourhood services such as gardening, housekeeping and odd jobs from a kiosk in Paris, manned by people who are excluded from the job market.

PAI Community contributed towards the pilot project and helped the social entrepreneur, Charles-Edouard Vincent, define the concept, put in place the first platform and raise enough money to develop the concept. We have supported the initiative since inception.

The initiative has developed very successfully with 7 kiosks opened today, more than 500 Lulu delivery services, and the association has provided jobs for c.240 people who are paid the RSA or an equivalent.

The social and human impact of ‘Lulu dans ma rue’ is now clearly recognized. ‘Lulu dans ma rue’ will become an even bigger success story in the coming years as it looks to deploy the initiative across France.

Ares

Project inception: 2012

Ares is a group specialised in the insertion and re-insertion of people into a professional activity, with 27 years of experience in this field. Its main purpose is to promote the inclusion of people with social difficulties (homeless, young people without qualifications, disabled people, etc.) by using and adapting various insertion programs combining social assistance and job opportunities.

Ares is growing through innovation and the introduction of concepts such as the JVS, which is gaining momentum, and Access Inclusive Tech with Accenture for IT assistance.

Our long-standing support has been very enriching and constantly evolving as Ares has continued to engage with different projects, beneficiaries and sectors (waste, logistics…).

A solid partnership has been built over the last six years founded on common values: re-insertion through education, training and work; very good responsiveness to our queries; and a focus on the needs of their partners especially when building Social Joint Ventures to ensure that the skills and training acquired will translate into work opportunities. Ares teams are fostering the emergence of a new model for our society, more inclusive and stable.

Aurore

Project inception: 2012

Aurore promotes the social and professional rehabilitation of people facing exclusion and/or extreme poverty. The association has created ‘Les Jardins Biologiques du Pont-Blanc’, an organic farm near Paris which provides professional rehabilitation through the growing and selling of vegetables as well as garden and park maintenance.

So far around 50 people have benefited from state-supported jobs at the gardens, working alongside its eight regular employees. It also welcomes children through educational activities, and families who want to cultivate their own strip of land.

In 2018, PAI Community ran the ’20km de Paris’ race to raise funds for Aurore. PAI employees, LPs and portfolio companies were all involved in this great team initiative.

BGE

Project inception: 2013

BGE is a nationwide network that helps entrepreneurs to create and develop activities, whether economic, social or cultural, that promote autonomy and responsibility for those involved. It also helps them work out how to best generate income.

PAI Community supports this network by participating in selection panels to choose the people who will benefit most from BGE’s economic incubator, and by taking part in a brainstorming session on the association’s strategy for the coming years.

Beam

Project inception: 2019

Beam is the world’s first online platform that crowdfunds employment training for disadvantaged people. The organisation was founded in 2017.

Crowdfunding removes financial barriers and provides support networks from funders of campaigns. Beam is a social impact business (not a charity), with its model based on solving social problems. The ultimate customer is the government, who will pay for cost effective, scalable ways to get disadvantaged people into jobs.

Our donation funds full time employment of a caseworker or ‘Member Manager’, an employee of Beam who helps those referred to Beam to plan a crowdfunding campaign and supports them through training and into work. We will also involve our UK portfolio companies in providing employment opportunities to Beam Members once their training is complete.

Clubhouse

Project inception: 2014

Clubhouse is a dedicated 350sqm space that is open daily to people with mental health issues, such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorders. They are offered the chance to get involved in social and professional environments from which they have previously been excluded. Managing the Clubhouse by themselves is a way to actively rebuild their dignity, responsibility and freedom.

PAI Community supports Clubhouse’s professional integration initiatives, including training and coaching as well as administrative tasks performed within the club, such as accounting, newcomer registration and meal supervision.

Emmaüs Connect

Project inception: 2013

Emmaüs Connect develops initiatives that transform telecommunication tools into an opportunity to accelerate social insertion rather than being another source of exclusion.

Having supported the expansion of the ‘Connexions Solidaires’ project in Lille, Lyon and Bordeaux, PAI Community now helps develop the programme in new locations. The objective of this programme, already deployed in seven major cities, is to facilitate the professional insertion of people who are socially and economically vulnerable, particularly thanks to e-inclusion initiatives and the creation of jobs for people who are excluded from the job market.

Emmaüs Défi

Project inception: 2013

Emmaüs Défi is a French organisation that promotes the social reintegration of homeless people by giving them access to jobs appropriate to their situation.

PAI Community supports the ‘Convergence’ project that provides for people suffering from extreme social exclusion and helps them reintegrate society by partnering with housing, health and employment organisations to meet their vital needs.

Fleurs de Cocagne

Project inception: 2014

In 2014, Paris Cocagne launched the first organic horticultural farm in the region of Ile de France (in Avrainville, department of Essonne) with ‘Fleurs de Cocagne’.

The goal of this association is to help people, primarily women, who are in need of social and professional integration. The association offers fresh, high quality, natural and seasonal bouquets and floral arrangements to companies and private clients.

PAI Community has supported ‘Fleurs de Cocagne’ since inception, helping them with resources and to improve their business impact.

Fundacion Konecta

Project inception: 2016

Fundación Konecta is a not-for-profit association based in Madrid, which provides professional and social re-integration for disabled people and people at risk of social exclusion. The association develops joint activities with other companies, public institutions and social entities to support social development and achieve greater impact.

Homeboy Industries

Project inception: 2020

Homeboy Industries is the largest gang rehabilitation and re-entry programme in the world. For over 30 years, they have stood as a beacon of hope in Los Angeles to provide training and support to formerly gang-involved and previously incarcerated men and women, allowing them to redirect their lives and become contributing members of their community. Each year they welcome thousands of people seeking to transform their lives. Whether joining their 18-month employment and re-entry programme or seeking discreet services such as tattoo removal or substance abuse resources, their “Homies” are embraced by a community of kinship and offered a variety of free wraparound services to facilitate healing and growth.

Alongside portfolio company Areas, PAI Community supports the Feed HOPE Programme, an initiative launched in April of 2020 as a response to the Covid pandemic. Feed HOPE is a social enterprise where Homeboy staff produce, package, and home deliver meals to vulnerable seniors in LA.

Not only is it our first ever US initiative but it is also a case study of how PAI Community can work alongside our portfolio companies on social ventures and have a greater impact on the community.

Lazare

Project inception: 2013

Since 2006, Lazare has promoted the re-integration of homeless people by rooming them with young professionals. The association’s mission is to renovate and rent accommodation where homeless people and young adults can live together.

PAI Community offers financial support for a vacant house in the region of Picardie, with the objective of hosting homeless people from cities who have experienced trauma and enabling them to break away from their environment to more suburban and calm surroundings. During their stay, they can participate in activities that help them reintegrate into society.

Les Plombiers du Numérique

Project inception: 2018

Founded by Florian du Boÿs (brother of Xavier du Boÿs of Kiloutou), les Plombiers du Numérique is an association targeting the reinsertion through work of young adults that left school without job, with a specific focus on employment in the digital industry. The objective is to have 40 young adults reinserted every year.

PAI Community supported the launch of a school in Lyon, which focuses on fiber deployment, by providing investment for its technical equipment . PAI personnel participated in the selection process of the trainees.

Florian du Boÿs has plans to adapt his model to other sectors and we are working with him to identify areas where his model can be replicated (call centers, sales force teams, etc.)

MicroLab Onlus

Project inception: 2012

MicroLab Onlus is a non-profit organisation which promotes microcredit in Italy, supporting access to financing for socially disadvantaged groups of individuals or local entrepreneurs and working through a network of volunteers.

In 2014, the organisation created the ‘Up to Youth’ project, supported by Youth Business International, a non-profit organisation founded by The Prince of Wales. ‘Up to Youth’ helps people under the age of 35 to set up their own businesses. It involves three steps: theoretical training (i.e. credit instruments, business plan), individual consultancy for those who wish to go ahead, and mentoring during the start-up. These activities take place in 7 Italian cities.

Solidarités Nouvelles face au Chômage

Project inception: 2013

Solidarités Nouvelles face au Chômage (SNC) is a national network of more than 2,500 local volunteers created in 1985. It combats unemployment and social exclusion through solidarity activities such as mentoring. It provides jobseekers with advice and guidance to gain self-confidence, along with training to rebuild their professional prospects and job-seeking assistance. SNC helps more than 4 000 job seekers every year.

In addition, SNC finances some “Emplois Solidaires” in non-for-profit or ESS organisations for people who need help into getting back into the job market.

Studienkompass

Project inception: 2019

Founded in 2008, Studienkompass is the largest private student support programme in Germany. It helps young students from non-academic backgrounds reach their full potential. Led by the Foundation of German Business under the auspices of the Federal Minister of Education and Research Anja Karliczek, the programme has over 1,300 current participants and more than 2,400 alumni.

PAI Community supported the opening of a new venue in Munich, which can provide for a class of 20-25 students. In 2019, all the money raised from the first edition of our fundraising initiative ‘Drawings for the Community’ went directly to support the platform.