Volunteering Programs

Contributing to greater humanity

The Bayer Cares Foundation supports employees of the Bayer Group and members of the communities surrounding our German sites who want to give up their time to do voluntary social work.

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The biggest motivation for many volunteers is the direct contact with the people they are helping, as well as seeing that their actions have an immediate positive impact. Voluntary work exposes those involved to totally new experiences in a new environment which they can then draw on in their day-to-day activities. As a result, volunteering projects do not just benefit society and those who are immediately affected, but ultimately also the volunteers themselves and the entire community surrounding the site. The Bayer Cares Foundation sponsors volunteering projects through two different programs:

Bayer-Ehrenamtsprogramm

Senior Experten Service

Project funding for creative ideas
By sponsoring volunteering projects, the Bayer Cares Foundation strengthens volunteer work in the communities surrounding Bayer’s German sites and supports volunteer plans through financial means.

All Bayer employees or members of the communities surrounding the company’s German sites who already do voluntary social work or would like to become involved in the future with a creative project idea can apply for financial support to implement their projects. We provide funding of up to €5,000 for each project submitted by an individual or team.

Whether the volunteer would like to build an enclosure in an animal shelter, appear as a “clown doctor” in a children’s hospital or initiate a clean-up project in a forest – our sponsorship criteria are flexible. What’s important is that the project is a charitable undertaking and that volunteers’ plans have project character, are independent and run for a specified timeframe.

The next selection meeting will take place on November 5, 2008. The deadline for applications is on October 10, 2008.

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Dr. Wolf-Dietrich Pflugbeil, retired crop protection expert at Bayer CropScience, has already been sent twice to China by the SES to help small enterprises and authorities with his extensive knowledge.

Sharing life experience
The Senior Expert Service (SES) is the German Industry Foundation for International Cooperation, which Bayer has supported since its establishment in 1983. Together with the SES, the Bayer Cares Foundation maintains an ambitious volunteering program for former Bayer employees that offers international post-retirement experiences.

The main objective of the Senior Experten Service (SES) is to strengthen the local economy – and thus improve the quality of life – in developing and newly industrializing countries through the deployment of retired experts. This program in turn supports the United Nations’ ambitious Millennium Development Goals to reduce by half poverty and underdevelopment throughout the world by 2015. The retirees receive free board and lodging, and in return volunteer their time to help those in the countries where they are deployed to help themselves, supporting small businesses, social institutions and educational institutes worldwide. The concept has been very popular, and the senior experts’ know-how is also in increasing demand in Germany and elsewhere in Europe.

More than 7,100 volunteers are registered in the SES register of experts, including 134 former Bayer employees. Application is open to anyone who has recently retired or is about to end his active career. There is a particular demand for experts who previously worked in technical, manual labor, commercial or medical and social fields.

An SES assignment pays off for everyone: “Bayer employees can continue to contribute their expertise to society even after their retirement. It is not just their social environment that benefits, but also they themselves, as they pursue a purposeful task,” says Thimo Schmitt-Lord, Chairman of the Bayer Cares Foundation and member of the Board of Trustees of the SES.

The Bayer Cares Foundation offers funding of up to €5,000 per project for Senior Expert assignments in the areas of nutrition, health care, education and youth assistance.

Retired persons who would like to register with the SES should contact Mrs Bettina Hartmann: Tel.: +49 228 - 2609070, Fax: 0228 - 26090970; E-mail: b.hartmann@ses-bonn.de.

Information about volunteering programs

Who receives support?	Active or former Bayer employees and members of the communities surrounding our German sites. Only persons may receive support, not institutions or organizations.
What receives support?	Volunteering projects in the communities surrounding the Bayer sites
How much monetary support is provided?	Up to €5,000 per project
How can I apply?	Applications can be filled in here: Bewerbungsformular
When will I find out whether I have been selected to receive support?	Two times a year / The next selection meeting will take place on November 5, 2008. The deadline for applications is on October 10, 2008.
Contact:	Hotline: +49 214 30 42224 (Mon - Thu: 9 a.m. until 2 p.m.) E-mail: volunteering@bayer-stiftungen.de

In addition to the volunteering programs of the Bayer Cares Foundation, creative and comprehensive volunteering initiatives were established a number of years ago at the Bayer subsidiaries in the United States, Australia and Canada.