Accountability

Board Report 2024

This year under review was also a special year in a number of respects.

It started in January with a special event, the book fair of the Stichting Boeken Steunen Mensen, BSM, in Venlo. This magnificently organised volunteer organisation has no fewer than 120 volunteers, who collect books throughout North and Central Limburg at the request of the owner, to then sort and categorise them professionally and finally offer them for sale again at a three-day book fair in Venlo. BSM has chosen the continuation of the work of Frans Schlooz, our goal, as one of the three most important projects for BSM. We were able to receive a donation of no less than €20,000. Our foundation owes a great deal of thanks to the Rotary Club Maas en Peel, who was, so to speak, our choice.

The amount of the Stichting Boeken steun Mensen in combination with the donations of other good donors has made it possible to set up a new micro finance project in Trichy, for which € 60,000 has been pledged, to be paid out in 3 annual terms, after which it can continue as a stand-alone project.

A number of large donations from donors who wish to remain anonymous were special, but have enabled us to more than double the large donation from Boeken Steunen Mensen and to take on new projects based on the visit of board members in 2025.

It is the combined amount of all donations, large and small, that makes this possible. This year we would like to draw attention to the India Restaurant initiative of the Stedelijk Gymnasium in Nijmegen, whose students managed to raise no less than € 2,500 for the continuation of the work of Frans Schlooz. The students of this gymnasium have been organizing a real Indian restaurant for everyone for many years. Indian cuisine is something different than just coating potatoes together and cooking, a piece of meat and some vegetables and then onto the plate. Hats off to these great people.

Two more things deserve extra attention in 2024. The year was used to prepare a big trip of three people on behalf of our board and at their own expense to the work area of ​​Frans Schlooz. An important pillar of the board work. There were many questions from us for the helpers of the poor in Tamil Nadu and they were eager to show completed projects and to recommend new ones. The trip took place last January and you can look forward to the travel report.

We would also like to share with you that we will be organizing a golf tournament in 2026, a shot gun for golfers. Our board member Geert van Eijk is the spiritual and organizational father of this project and will inform you about this in more detail. We hope to generate additional revenues for our support of the projects.

In the reporting year, we have again succeeded in supporting our regular charities. You can read which projects these are elsewhere in this annual report. This also applies to the special projects that we supported in 2024.

Together we have a list and a total amount that we are very proud of.

And we are also proud of our successful efforts to keep our fixed costs at a lower percentage of 1% of our donations. We have often, but it cannot be often enough, pointed out that we owe this to our unparalleled donors and volunteers.

Last but not least, we would like to inform you that as of December 31, 2024, we have said goodbye to Paul Op Heij as treasurer and have been given a new treasurer in the person of Robby Geraerds. We will go into this in more detail in our next annual report. Fortunately, Paul will remain a member of our board. It remains for us to thank you all wholeheartedly for your commitment and support to the continuation of the work of Frans Schlooz.