Since 2017, the Make.org Foundation is implementing civic action on the ground - based on citizens’ priorities. For this, the power of Make.org’s online consultation platform is used to establish people’s needs and ideas to positively transform society. Based on that, strong, diverse and agile coalitions are built to realise projects that tackle issues - identified in our consultations.
The Make.org Foundation is an endowment fund whose mission is to improve society in a sustainable way. It implements actions that address major societal issues, which are the result of citizen consultations and have a decisive impact on a national scale. For this, the “Great Causes” serve as the basis.
Great Causes are societal problems that are tackled by the Make.org Foundation, together with Make.org. In a first step, our teams identify a topic that must be confronted. We choose societal challenges that impact many people in society. At the heart of the problem must stand the prospect of further civic action making a difference in people’s life - that ultimately translates into the positive transformation of the society.
Once a problem is identified, Make.org launches a massive online consultation. We ask the general public to answer one single open question that is linked to the challenge we want to address. At the end stands the citizens’ agenda on what solutions to the issue are most supported by citizens.
Based on the citizen's priorities the Make.org Foundation selects ten civic actionable solutions. They provide tangible and actionable solutions to the identified challenges - on a national scale. Those initiatives can be projects that already exist and further scale, or new programmes to be designed from scratch. The Make.org Foundation supports those actions for two years, providing funds, project management, and a network of partners and resources.
Make.org and the Make.org Foundation also launch “Urgency Causes” if a societal matter must be addressed in a short-term horizon. In that context, we have launched, for example, a great Urgency Cause on energy sobriety in autumn 2022 - to address the energy crisis as it happened.
So far, the corresponding consultations and activities have involved 6.2 million citizens. More than 60 actions were implemented with general interest underway. More than 848 associations & companies involved.
To better demonstrate the link between citizens' ideas, the consultation, the partners and the projects on the grounds, we showcase two example initiatives:
We launched our Great Cause “Improving living conditions in your territories” in February 2021. More than 110.000 citizens contributed to the online consultation and shared their ideas. Fighting against medical desertification in rural areas emerged as an important concern among participants. In that context, the Make.org Foundation teamed up with the association Bouge ton Coq to pilot the project “Solidarity Doctors”. This action aims to create medical centers in rural areas, where a network of doctors will take one-week shifts instead of permanently moving there. The Make.org Foundation supports the action by raising funds and facilitating technical skills sponsorship to develop their website. The Foundation also advised Bouge ton Coq on project management.
The first medical center opened in 2022. In one month, more than 350 patients have seen the doctor. We hope to create 5 - 10 new centres by the end of 2023.
In late 2019, we launched the Great Cause “Act together for the environment”. More than 540 000 people participated in the online consultation. Greening urban areas and raising awareness about ecological issues emerged as a priority. The Make.org Foundation decided to support the Birds Protection League and their action “More nature in my neighbourhood”. It aims to mobilise and raise awareness among citizens living in priority neighbourhoods so they can create action to integrate and protect biodiversity in their living area. This action reunites an environmental objective and a social one by favouring cohesion. The project is currently being deployed in ten districts and aims for a national deployment during 2024.
Make.org Foundation supports the LPO by obtaining funding from the ANCT, the OFB and the Engie foundation. Make.org Foundation has also mobilised three groups of students from the multimedia school to work on communication to the general public. The Foundation obtained for them a sponsorship of competence in communication and design which resulted in posters for each city, visuals of kakemono, flyers. The foundation also helped them to think about how to improve their visibility.
We launched our first Great Cause “Combat violence against women” in 2017. More than 400.000 people contributed to the online consultation and shared their ideas to fight the issue. Amongst the items that collected most votes was the idea to “develop an application so that women can better report domestic violences”. The Make.org Foundation acted based on that and partnered with the NGO France Victimes to design and develop the app “Mémo de Vie” (Life Diary). The App allows victims of domestic violences to safely collect proof of violences. This empowers them to build a case before going to the authorities.
We launched the app in December 2021. Ever since, 17.000 people visited the platform and 4 340 accounts have been used. Our goal is to help 20.000 women by 2024.
Currently, the Make.org Foundation is running eleven Great Causes. A list below is providing an overview of the topics currently covered by our teams.
Emergency accommodation, equality between girls and boys, support for victims, training for the national police ... Discover (French link) the 7 actions co-constructed by 400 000 citizens, more than 100 associations, companies, institutions and media.
Mentoring, dropping out of school, commitment, twinning between classes, integration... Discover (French link) the 6 national actions co-constructed by 220 000 citizens, 45 associations, companies, institutions and media.
Accessibility of museums, access for people in extreme poverty, inter-class cultural twinning... Discover (French link) the 4 national actions co-constructed by 393 000 citizens and 40 associations, companies, institutions and media.
Short circuits, anti-waste, promotion of farmers' work, education on healthy eating... Discover (French link) the 8 actions co-constructed by 460 000 citizens, 60 associations, companies, institutions and media.
Isolation, intergenerational links, help for carers, home care... Discover (French link) the 7 national actions co-constructed by 415 000 citizens, 40 associations, companies, institutions and media.
Accessibility of roads and places, professional and educational inclusion, mobility support... Discover (French link) the 8 actions co-constructed by 274 000 citizens, 65 associations, companies, institutions and media.
Sorting and recycling, education for sustainable development, reduction of plastic, renovation of energy depots... Discover (French link) the 11 actions co-constructed by more than 540 000 citizens, 95 associations, companies, institutions and media.
Encourage local development, develop training, strengthen the healthcare offer, encourage soft mobility... Discover (French link) the actions co-constructed by 110 000 citizens, 60 associations, companies, institutions and media.
Fighting against cyber-violence and harassment, breaking taboos, supporting parenthood, training health professionals... Discover (French link) the actions co-constructed by 70 000 citizens and 80 associations, companies, institutions and media.
Precariousness, dropping out of school, future choices... Millions of young people are questioning their place in society. Discover (French link) the actions co-constructed by 297 876 citizens and 80 associations, companies, institutions and media.
Wage disparities, job insecurity, gender discrimination, division of household tasks... Although inequalities between women and men are slowly being reduced, in some areas they are still glaring. Discover (French link) our actions.