Sustainable social and economic stability is essential for cities, regions, and nations to thrive and prosper. Achieving and maintaining such stability, however, is a pressing issue not only for developing countries; wealthy developed countries also have economically stressed communities suffering from instability. Since the beginning of the 1990s, Deutsche Bank has been committed to community development.
In the past, people were often left out of plans and efforts to strengthen and build their communities. These “top down” approaches, while well intentioned, often failed as they were not grounded in the realities of local priorities, cultures, and leadership. Our efforts in community development have a deliberate strategy to rely on the beneficiaries themselves to define and implement plans to advance social and economic development. Importantly, these efforts often take the form of public-private partnerships with local citizen groups working alongside governments and the private sector as equal partners in advancing revitalization plans. Deutsche Bank has a long standing tradition of supporting community development through philanthropic grants, as well as loans and investments that promote place-based revitalization.

Through the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation and Community Development Finance Group, we support a number of communities in the U.S. in a way that far exceeds legal requirements. Year after year, U.S. government regulators have awarded us the rating of “outstanding” for our support. A key reason is that our commitment is not restricted to finance only; we also consult social organizations and support them in planning and realizing complex financing concepts.
We share a common goal: to further develop disadvantaged communities by creating jobs and social housing for the homeless and low-income earners. DB SHARE (DB Supportive Housing Acquisition and Rehabilitation Effort) is a Deutsche Bank initiative in New York that has been focused on this challenge since 1998. By creating more than 2,000 new living units, we have been able to ease the homeless problem significantly.
In other parts of the world, community development activities are gaining momentum – essential to building a civic infrastructure that can nurture and sustain community revitalization.

In Peru, where more than half the population lacks access to water, Deutsche Bank is supporting Agualimpia which is bringing potable water and sanitation systems to isolated rural villages. The organization’s model is based on the involvement and training of local residents who are also provided earning opportunities through building and maintaining the water systems. Aqualimpia is unique in delivering their water solutions in a remarkably short turn around of just a few months where past efforts have required years of planning. The involvement of local residents is central to their success.
Our social commitment extends beyond helping improve the infrastructure of economically weak communities. For example, the Americas Foundation of Deutsche Bank, with its “Arts and Enterprise” program established in 2003, combines conventional community development with many other areas sponsored by the Bank, such as art exhibitions in poor city neighborhoods and art training for disadvantaged children and young people. Currently, we support more than 30 such projects. Offering underprivileged children opportunities for a better future is the focus of “Future for children” (“Zukunft für Kinder”), an initiative launched in 2003 by Deutsche Bank and Deutsche Bank Bauspar AG in cooperation with SOS Children’s Villages. The goal of the initiative is to provide long-term support for children and open doors to a better future. A huge portion of the contribution was used to launch a children’s and youth center in Berlin-Moabit. In addition, Deutsche Bank employees participate in excursions organized by SOS Children’s Villages. To commemorate our fifth year of cooperation, we organized and sponsored a summer camp for children from all SOS Children’s Villages in Germany.

Our commitment to creating opportunities through social investments clearly shows how investments in infrastructure, education, and culture can positively influence each other and how they can collectively foster the social and economic development of a community.