An initiative born from a renowned local business leader, Alain Mérieux, also known for his philanthropy, who in 2019, upon returning home after a series of trips to Haiti and Madagascar, was shocked to see so many people living on the streets in the capital of the Gauls, when he had not encountered any during his travels in countries that are considered to be in greater difficulty.
He then rallied business leaders around associations working in the field of homelessness and created L'Entreprise des possibles, initially with about twenty companies. Today, there are 160.
L'Entreprise des possibles offers several avenues for action. The first is the donation of monetized paid leave. This involves offering employees the opportunity to donate their paid vacation days or rest days before they lose them. The employer then pays the equivalent of the daily salary, with the possibility for the company to match that amount, creating a shared effort between employees and the employer.
Additionally, there is traditional financial sponsorship. Volunteering is also offered to employees through a platform where they can choose the missions they wish to engage in, often for half a day during their working hours. “These missions primarily require not their skills,” emphasizes Etienne Piquet-Gauthier, “but rather elbow grease, courage, and everything that will allow for very concrete contributions: doing gardening work, assembling beds and wardrobes in a building made available to an association.”
It can also involve collections, donations in kind, loans of real estate, or skills sponsorship, meaning the provision of employees.
The funds raised support projects carried out by local associations that work on housing and accommodation for homeless individuals. “We are not operators,” explains Etienne Piquet-Gauthier. “We are, in a way, collectors of generosity. And we try to break down the silos of all the actions carried out by the associations, in connection obviously with the public authorities, namely the Lyon metropolis and the State, to find practical solutions for sheltering, whether it be emergency accommodation or permanent housing.”
These actions allow for the collection of between €600,000 and €700,000 each year. With financial sponsorship, about twenty projects are supported annually, totaling just over one million euros.
