SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
La Française des Jeux (FDJ) has opened the application window for projects to become a partner of its Corporate Foundation for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The state-owned betting, gaming and lottery operator has outlined projects focusing on the inclusion and education of young, vulnerable and disabled people as being of particular interest.
Organisations that prove they can leave a ‘lasting mark on the territories affected by the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games’ will receive a minimum grant of €1m from FDJ until 2026.
Charles Lantieri, Deputy CEO of FDJ and Chairman of the FDJ Corporate Foundation, said: “FDJ has allocated a budget of €25m to its Corporate Foundation to contribute to equal opportunities in society over the next five years, an increase of 30% compared to the budget for the previous period.
“The needs are, indeed, immense to enable everyone to find their place in society. Echoing the partnership established between FDJ and the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the FDJ Foundation is therefore launching a call for major projects to contribute to the lasting positive mark that the Games must leave on the territories concerned.”
FDJ has outlined a number of additional requirements for prospective project partners. Applicants need to be led by ‘a coalition of general interest organisations’, have a main sponsor and have a territorial reach with the Paris 2024 Games.
Projects must also place a heavy emphasis on equal opportunities as part of their overall operations, via both integration and education projects, and must demonstrate the societal impact they have.
The application process has four phases – starting with formulation of the project, where applicants must form a coalition and co-construct their project, and followed by verification of eligibility, taking place between July- October 2023.
Projects have until 15 November to complete application submissions via email, after which the final jury of FDJ Foundation administrators and other ‘qualified personalities’ will audit project structures.
The FDJ Foundation has also emphasised that the projects it has chosen to partner with since 2017 have all been organisations which have proven their effectiveness on a large scale.
Although the FDJ Foundation is a long-running operation, the operator has been placing a heavier emphasis on social responsibility policies and activities of late, such as strengthening its partnership with LGBTQ+ advocacy group L’Autre Cercle.
