All over the Henkel world employees and retirees voluntarily work in social projects. Henkel supports their voluntary work and for this reason founded the MIT initiative (Make an Impact on Tomorrow) more than ten years ago. Each year Henkel promotes hundreds of MIT Children’s Projects all over the world with a total amount of one million euros and a maximum of 10.000 euros per project.

Once a year a Henkel-jury decides on which MIT Children’s Projects will be supported. The applications of employees and retirees are discussed extensively, descriptions of several projects are worked through and at last it is decided on the amount of funding. Now, the MIT board met again in Düsseldorf and discussed hundreds of projects.

To get the year 2010 off to a good start let’s have a look at the exceptional results of all Henkel Smile activities in 2009:

In the past year Henkel supported more than 2,200 charitable projects with a financial input of nearly 7.7 million euros (~11 million dollar).

An incredibly high number of 1,250 MIT-projects were realized worldwide by Henkel employees and retirees. 318 times Henkel granted a paid day off for the purpose of giving employees the possibility to spend time on their projects.

On seven occasions, Henkel provided financial support and in-kind donations in response to natural catastrophes. The company and its brands were also involved in 1,005 projects of their own.

In sum, the social engagement of Henkel, its employees and retirees in 2009 has served to improve the lives of over 500,000 people.

Dear Volunteers, Dear Colleagues,

On December 5 the world celebrates the International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development. On this occasion we would like to thank you – the Henkel employees who are doing voluntary work in all parts of the world – for your outstanding achievements.

May I express my appreciation to those of you who spend a great deal of your free time supporting the disadvantaged, serving the public good or helping people in need.

The significance of volunteering cannot be valued highly enough.

I am really proud to see the great dedication of all Henkel volunteers in 2009!

Henkel employees around the world are engaged in social charity-project. Many pictures and videos show the variety of their social engagement. The most moving pictures are chosen every year in the international MIT-Photo Competition. Here you can see some of my favorites. You can find more pictures on www.henkel-smile.com