Social Commitment

The Bayer Group’s social commitment is shaped by our three foundations [ 146 ]: the research-oriented Bayer Science & Education Foundation, the Bayer Cares Foundation, our foundation for the promotion of independent social initiatives, and the U.S.-based Bayer USA Foundation. Our subgroups and national companies also run their own projects. In 2011 Bayer set aside around €54 million (previous year €57 million) for its social commitment activities [ 147 ].

The Foundation & Donations Management Department within the Corporate Office of Bayer AG is responsible for strategically aligning our social commitment, coordinating the budget and conducting the related monitoring and reporting activities.

The selection criteria for our provision of support are innovation capability, a sustainable effect and efficient project implementation. We focus on countries in which Bayer is represented and on issues that are of relevance to our subgroups and their areas of business, because it is here that we can offer not just financial support but also the involvement of our employees and our technical and commercial expertise. All project sponsoring is subject to the provisions of a Group-wide directive that establishes a framework for its content-related and strategic alignment, as well as for the proper handling of our funds.

Our social commitment supports our business objectives by enabling us to achieve brand awareness among target groups outside our narrower customer base. This includes, for example, a positive media response to our activities in the international business press. Our science competitions draw the attention of young academics to Bayer, some of whom may be suitable as future employees. Our activities also encourage our employees to identify with the company.

For all societies, education is a vital factor in achieving sustainable prosperity. As a company that undertakes intensive research work, it is essential for Bayer to have highly trained employees and to be represented in locations that support education and research. This is why Bayer supports education initiatives in our social environment that extend beyond the company’s boundaries. We hope that, in doing so, we will recruit new young talent in the long term and raise society’s acceptance of technology as a whole.

The funding programs of the Bayer Science & Education Foundation cover the entire scientific training and career path. In 2011 the foundation approved total funding of about €1.2 million for dedicated school students, innovative school projects, ambitious trainees, exceptional university students, outstanding young scientists and leading researchers.

In 2011 the foundation added a further 52 teaching projects to its school funding program in the communities near Bayer’s German sites, bringing total funding for such projects to some €462,000. As part of Bayer’s support program for university and school students, around €237,000 was pledged in scholarships for 49 young people to study abroad. The foundation also made available a total of €179,000 to enable international young scientists to attend the Nobel Prize laureate meeting in Lindau, Germany, and to provide Bayer scholarships under the government’s “Germany Scholarships” program. In total, the foundation entered into sponsorship agreements with 22 top universities to support 100 students.

Alongside these sponsorship activities, our Bayer student laboratories (BayLabs) [ 148 ] are designed to improve science teaching and help support the promotion of scientific expertise. The “Making Science Make Sense” [ 149 ] program founded in the United States pursues similar goals. Due to the success of this program in the United States, Bayer has launched similar initiatives in a total of 14 countries on four continents, with Poland, Switzerland and Turkey joining the network of participating countries in 2011.

Progress in fundamental and industrial research is the company’s capital for the future. That is why the Bayer Science & Education Foundation recognizes outstanding research achievements with scientific awards [ 150 ]. More information is available on the internet.

Bayer demonstrates an active commitment to improving health services and social conditions in many regions of the world, thereby promoting stability in the communities around our sites and helping to solve global health challenges.

The support provided by the Bayer Cares Foundation for volunteering projects helps improve living conditions in the communities in which Bayer operates, while its Aspirin Social Award [ 151 ] – with a prize fund of €35,000 – promotes innovative, non-profit social projects in the health care sector.

The Bayer Cares Foundation spent a total of roughly €126,000 in 2011 to support 40 charity projects in the communities near the company’s sites in Germany. In addition, the Bayer Volunteering Program was launched in 13 countries of Central and Latin America based on the successful German model, with total funding of €55,000 per year. In this way the foundation is rewarding voluntary efforts by Bayer employees and other citizens who dedicate their free time to improving social conditions in their communities.

Disaster aid is another focal point of the Bayer Cares Foundation. While the company provides areas hit by natural disasters with immediate aid in the form of donations of money and goods, the foundation supports sustainable reconstruction projects to help people who find themselves in acute hardship. The foundation initiated a Group-wide appeal to help the victims of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan, to which employees from 20 countries responded with total donations exceeding €300,000. Bayer headquarters and the Japanese subsidiary topped this up to €700,000. Bayer is using this amount to support the relief organization Ashinaga [ 152 ] in building a care and education center for children who live in the affected region and lost their parents as a result of the disaster. In addition, the company donated €880,000 to the Japanese Red Cross and, via Bayer HealthCare, medicines worth €367,000 to the Japanese health authorities immediately after the disaster. In 2011 we also provided emergency relief and reconstruction aid totaling around €680,000 for flood victims in Australia, Brazil, Cambodia, New Zealand, Thailand and the Philippines and to famine victims in eastern Africa among other recipients.

As part of its ongoing aid programs, Bayer HealthCare again supported the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2011 in the fight against neglected tropical diseases and multiresistant tuberculosis in China. More information can be found on Promoting health worldwide.

The company as a whole attaches great importance to environmental protection and the judicious use of natural resources. Young people worldwide play an important role in sustainable development. Those actively involved in environmental protection at a young age today could well be the decision-makers of tomorrow. One thing is certain – they will all be affected by the consequences of how we handle natural resources today. This is why Bayer’s social commitment toward the environment and nature is designed first and foremost to raise awareness of environmental protection among young people and encourage their development.

As part of our global cooperation with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) [ 156 ], we organized again a dozen environmental projects for young people and children in 2011. These activities centered on the International Children’s Conference on the Environment in Bandung, Indonesia, attended by some 1,400 young people from 100 countries, the theme of which was “Reshaping Our Future Through Green Economy and Sustainable Lifestyles.” As part of the Bayer Young Environmental Envoy Program, a total of about 50 young people from 18 countries took part in a week-long study trip to Germany to learn more about environmental protection. Once again in 2011, the sponsorship budget for the UNEP cooperation was set at around €1.2 million. Thanks to its particular popularity in China, the annual UNEP children’s painting competition received a record 4 million entries from 99 countries in 2011. The subject for the 2011 contest was “Life in the Forests.”

In 2011, as part of the Bayer Climate Program, the Bayer Science & Education Foundation once more awarded scholarships enabling dedicated young people with an interest in science from Germany and the United States to attend the Bayer Sustainability Camp in Pittsburgh, United States.

We also supported sponsorship projects in 2011 aimed at raising environmental awareness among children in communities around the Bayer sites. Bayer Australia joined forces with the Commonwealth Scientific and Research Organisation (CSIRO) to sponsor a school education program on climate change known as “Carbon Kids” [ 153 ], while Bayer in Brazil is implementing the “Escola Verde” project at its Belford Roxo site.

For over 100 years Bayer has been running various initiatives and clubs – originally designed with its workforce in mind – to help enhance the attractiveness of its sites to employees and citizens alike. Our involvement in professional soccer is not part of our social sports sponsorship activities but plays a role in the Group’s image advertising.

Bayer is restructuring its sports sponsorship [ 154 ] in the communities around its Lower Rhine sites in Germany and will gradually shift its focus to six large clubs by 2015. These clubs will receive a total of some €13 million annually for activities in the areas of recreational, youth and disabled sports.

Another seven clubs have joined the “Simply Soccer” [ 155 ] initiative that was founded in 2010 in cooperation with the German Soccer Federation (DFB) as part of Bayer’s social commitment with the aim of promoting participation in the sport by schoolchildren with mental and learning disabilities. As a result, some 200 girls and boys with mental or learning disabilities regularly played soccer in 13 ordinary sports clubs in 2011. For many years Bayer has also supported a soccer school for children from socially disadvantaged families in areas close to the Belford Roxo site in Brazil. To take part in training, children must be able to prove that they attend school and are obtaining good grades.

Our commitment to arts and culture [ 157 ] is evidenced by the existence of 18 dedicated clubs in Germany alone, some of which are more than 100 years old. The company’s cultural activities also include high-quality artistic programs with partner organizations in Leverkusen and Berlin as well as independent initiatives put in place by numerous national companies.