ABN Amro Foundation
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The Challenge
Imagine growing up in circumstances where your world is small. Not because you lack curiosity or ambition, but because poverty, family stress, and lack of access have drawn invisible boundaries around your life. You've never been to a museum. Never seen live theater. Never discovered what makes your heart race or where your talent lies. For 12,500 children in the Netherlands each year, this is reality.
ABN AMRO Foundation recognized something crucial: equal opportunity isn't about charity. It's about access to the moments that change you.
The BIG idea
We created a film that captures what happens in those transformative moments. A child sees live art for the first time. A teenager discovers spoken word and finds a voice for what they're carrying. A kid watches a scene that stays with them all year. These aren't big moments in the world's eyes. They're everything in a child's world.
The voiceover guided viewers through the philosophy: "You stand at the beginning. Open, unguarded, ready to discover. Where your heart beats faster. Where a spark becomes a fire. Where someone sees your strength. But when your world is small by circumstance, and your possibilities are limited—that makes all the difference."
The film showed real volunteers—ABN AMRO employees—not as saviors, but as witnesses. Present. Attentive. Creating space for discovery. The message wasn't complex: sport, art, and culture aren't luxuries. They're how you develop, explore, and connect.
Impact
300 activities per year. 12,500 children reached. 5,000 ABN AMRO employees volunteering. Research shows these interventions increase CITO scores and expand horizons in measurable ways. But the real impact is harder to quantify: a teenager who discovered their voice. A child who dreamed bigger. A volunteer who left their comfort zone and saw inequality differently.
The campaign aligned with ABN AMRO's brand promise: "We are there for every beginning." For these children, every activity is a beginning. For the volunteers, every interaction is a beginning too—a chance to step outside their bubble, to be changed by what they witness.
The message was clear: "It begins with discovery. ABN AMRO Foundation. Different start. Together forward."