The commitment and involvement of Deutsche Bank employees reached new heights in 2008. Altogether, they contributed no less than 35,738 days of volunteer work worldwide, an 84 percent increase over the previous year. The participation rate globally was 12 percent, with Germany achieving an impressive 17 percent. In 2008, the Bank’s financial support for non-profit projects involving employees rose from € 5.7 million to € 6 million.

Although employees in certain countries can take paid leave for a full day of charitable work, roughly 80 percent of the volunteering was outside working hours. In addition, we launched the “Corporate Community Partnership” program. In 2008, nine employees took advantage of this program. In addition, the number of projects in which our employees could leverage their core competencies increased substantially in the same year.

Despite the global economic downturn, our colleagues in the U.S., the U.K. and South Africa have donated nearly € 4 million (2007: €4.1 million) under the “Matched Giving” program. The Bank donated the same amount.

Corporate volunteering now extends beyond the traditional volunteering of our employees. Deutsche Bank, for example, has launched the special program “Help for Helpers,” which encourages clients and non-clients alike to become involved in a non-profit project in their region with financial support from the Bank.

What we have learned

Our employees have a genuine interest in corporate volunteering. In fact, many are “infected” by a desire to commit themselves to their community: 68 percent of those who take part in a project, volunteer again the following year (2007: 63 percent).

Their experience has also inspired colleagues to become involved. Employees have welcomed the new offers from the Bank, incl. paid leave, the global Corporate Community Partnership program, and regional expansion of “Initiative plus.” Structural differences exist between the regions: while corporate volunteering activities in the Anglo-Saxon countries, for instance, often take place during working hours (U.S. 78 percent and the U.K. 37 percent respectively), in Germany the opposite applies (just one percent).

A survey of our non-profit partners shows an overall good achievement of targeted goals. Some 20 percent of them cite a noticeable improvement in achieving project targets, another 30 percent claim a major improvement. Subjective satisfaction is still higher: in 90 percent of the projects, our partners say their specific expectations have been “fully met.” In our view, these assessments reflect a well functioning, lasting collaboration.

Our goals for the future

Deutsche Bank will expand corporate volunteering as an integral part of its introductory programs for trainees. We aim to extend “Initiative plus” and paid leave to other countries to encourage more employees to become personally involved in their local community – ideally by using their professional skills. We will expand the global Corporate Community Partnership program to 30 employees who can contribute their expertise to microfinance institutions or act as “social entrepreneurs” in emerging countries. At the same time, we will urge more colleagues to serve as mentors and offer schools training modules to promote a greater understanding of finance. Moreover, we will continue the “Help for Helpers” initiative to underpin our profile as a highly responsible corporate citizen in the private client market.