Trag Foundation announced the winners of the VIRTUS Award for Philanthropy for the 16th year in a row, awarding companies, enterprises and individuals who performed altruistic deeds, initiated and supported philanthropic initiatives throughout the previous year and thus contributed to the development of communities in which they live and work.
The awards were presented to the winners by Todd Andrews, USAID Acting Mission Director for Serbia, H.E. Sian MacLeod, British Ambassador to Serbia, Plamena Halacheva, Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia and Gordana Delić, Director of the Balkan Trust for Democracy.
The recipient of the Award for Corporate Philanthropy is the company Vega IT d.o.o. Novi Sad. The Award for Small and Medium Enterpriseswas presented to Bosis d.o.o. Valjevo,while the Award for Long-Term Partnership between Business and Civil Sector was given to the company Generali Osiguranje Srbija a.d.o. VIRTUS Award for Individual Philanthropy went to Mikica Petronijević from Belgrade,whilethe Award for Young Philanthropists was presented to Đorđe Tomić from Veternik.
VIRTUS special awards were given to Slobodan Vasić for personal contribution to the local community, Sandra Tomić for personal contribution to poverty reduction, Magdalena Stanković and the group of friendsfor encouraging peer philanthropy, while Nikola Stojković was presented with the awardfor personal contribution to animal protection.
Through the VIRTUS Award, established in 2007, Trag Foundation has been awarding for 16 years individuals and companies that have contributed to the development of the communities in which they operate, presenting them to the general public in order to inspire others to take part in similar initiatives. There has been a certain shift in the very understanding of the idea of philanthropy, which is being confirmed by the fact that philanthropic giving is constantly increasing, as well as that Serbia jumped from the bottom of the World Giving Index to the enviable 27th position in the previous two years.
The VIRTUS Award for 2022 is presented with the financial support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.