UNICEF Corporate Partner: Orange Center

Orange Center joined UNICEF’s network of partners in 2013, supporting the organization’s efforts to increase access to education for children in Bulgaria. UNICEF and Orange Center collaborate closely to address the underlying causes of school dropout and non-enrollment among children in Bulgaria. The programs focus on promoting early learning, facilitating children’s participation in various forms of preschool education and care, and supporting improved school retention rates among both boys and girls. 

Since 2016, Orange Center has been supporting the initiative “Together from Kindergarten”, implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Science. This initiative contributes to the creation of an inclusive and supportive environment in kindergartens, ensuring the full development of each child’s potential, with a particular focus on boys and girls with special needs. With the support of Orange Center and other UNICEF partners, 35 kindergartens across the regions of Sofia, Shumen, Sliven, and Montana have taken initial steps toward providing higher-quality and more inclusive education for children with special needs. 

In the spring of 2020, when schools were closed as part of the measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19, with the support of Orange Center, we were able to provide 414 children (grades 1 to 4) from vulnerable families in the regions of Montana, Sliven, and Shumen (including Montana, Lom, Berkovitsa, Sliven, Novi Pazar, Shumen, Kaspichan, Veliki Preslav, and others) with essential school supplies such as pens, pencils, notebooks, rulers, and erasers to support their learning process. 

In 2025, Orange bookstores and UNICEF continue their joint efforts for better education and increased literacy of children in Bulgaria. 

As part of the initiative, reading corners, libraries, and clubs will be established in dozens of schools and kindergartens across the country, along with professional learning communities focused on literacy. Thousands of children will directly participate in activities aimed at improving reading skills and functional literacy and will be engaged in community-based initiatives. 

“At Orange, we believe that business should have a mission. For more than 12 years, we have been actively working on programs related to education and early childhood development. Our brand recognition gives us the opportunity to send a message – reading helps raise a generation with values, a clear understanding of good and evil, imagination, and critical thinking. 
Over the years, we have supported key UNICEF campaigns, monitored their results, and believe in their impact. We are proud that the partnership between Orange and UNICEF continues. We have proven – and will continue to prove – that business can be a platform for sustainable social impact. We thank UNICEF and all our customers who embrace the cause as their own.”  

— Ms. Nia Arsenieva, Executive Director of Orange Center

Corporate Donation 

Between June 2025 and January 2028, Orange bookstores will contribute a minimum of BGN 250,000 in support of UNICEF’s work. 

Customer Donations 

Orange Center customers have the opportunity to: 

• Make a donation to UNICEF at checkout in any Orange retail location;
• Send an SMS with the number 5 to the short number 1021*;
• Donate online at www.dari.unicef.bg;
• Round up their purchase amount to the nearest higher value, with the difference automatically processed as a donation to UNICEF.. 

To date, the partnership has raised nearly BGN 1,000,000 in total contributions.