In 2012, Martin Hirsch founded the Institut de l'Engagement to spot and nurture talents who show strong potential during their community service missions. It helps them succeed in their professional integration while pushing the system to revise its selection and recruitment criteria.

Recognizing and valuing commitment

Since 2010, the Institut de l'Engagement has allowed 16 to 25-year-olds to work for the public interest without needing diplomas. The several-month experience often reveals qualities undetected in school, such as a sense of commitment, initiative and leadership. The Institut de l'Engagement supports former community service volunteers who have demonstrated these qualities on the road that suits them best: higher education, entering the business world or creating a company.

A new kind of institute

A selection committee drawn from the business, education and community sectors chooses the winners. The criteria are based on their personality, their project and the institute’s ability to support them. It helps them define and implement their project. Young people meet business and political players to find out about the issues and understand their new environment better. The institute also helps companies diversify their recruitment of skilled, motivated young people. It encourages the grandes écoles and universities to admit students with less academic profiles.

  • © Adrien Daste

The foundation, an early supporter

The Bettencourt Schueller Foundation has supported the Institut de l'Engagement since its creation. In 2014, the French president selected the institute for the "La France s'engage" program.

Grants for solidarity

Promoting a society in which everyone finds their place.

See all projects in the field of Solidarity