Elior Group is proud to support a large variety of activities on a voluntary basis, such as sporting, cultural and charitable activities. This support may give rise to donation and pledging operations or, in other cases, patronage (or sponsoring).

Donations/pledges are material or financial support granted to a charity or legal entity for the exercise of activities that are in the public interest. No direct or indirect consideration may be accepted or solicited in exchange.

Patronage/sponsorship is a commercial practice that enables Elior Group to contribute financially to actions and causes while securing compensation aimed at increasing its visibility. There is a risk that these activities may, by their nature, secure or influence a business relationship in favor of the Group or might be perceived as such. Under no circumstances should that be the case.

Before making a donation/sponsorship

• Make sure they are not connected or appear to be connected to any commercial consideration,
• Make sure they do not give rise to funding or donation to political parties and local or regional authorities,
• Get a written agreement that specifies the conditions of the action, in particular its grounds and the conditions for the financial contribution, and
• The decision to participate must be approved collegially (priority for the management committee of the entity involved).

Principles to uphold

• Read Elior Group’s policy on sponsorship, pledges and patronage,
• Ensure that any payment made goes directly to the beneficiary organisation,
• Ensure that the organisation’s management and controlling bodies are sufficiently independent of any business relationship,
• Ask yourself whether this contribution can be perceived as consideration for a business activity.

Examples of unethical behavior

Inappropriate sponsorship

The person in charge of purchasing for the city’s collective catering contracts asks us if it would be possible to sponsor a cultural association. In return, he/she promises to convince the call for tenders commission to select your bid for the award of a contract.

Improper donation

A training center specialised in healthcare professions calls upon us to make a donation towards the purchase of awareness-raising kits on issues about aging. We find out that the director of this training center is married to the director of a healthcare facility with which we are currently in the tendering phase.