Air Products contributed over $6 million in support and product donations to community organizations, schools and municipalities in approximately 15 countries. More is given through in-kind goods and services as well as through the contributions of our employees. Many of our employees serve in leadership and volunteer positions with non-profit charities throughout the world. Thousands more give of their time and talent as part of our innovative employee volunteer program. From Allentown to Piedmont to Rio Rancho in the United States, and from the United Kingdom to South Africa to Indonesia worldwide, we show our caring about community concerns in hundreds of different ways every day.
Our commitment to corporate citizenship is about striving to improve the quality of life in our host communities, working in partnership with local government and organizations.
Our support priorities include:
Our Communities
We actively engage the communities where we operate and our employees live and work in a number of ways, including:
- Building relationships with and providing educational training about our facilities and products to local authorities and emergency response personnel.
- Providing outreach training for key operations managers at major facilities to engage their host communities.
- Meeting with legislators and officials on permitting, regulatory and other issues.
- Participating in community activities and responding to local grant and sponsorship requests.
- Organizing and participating in Community Advisory Panels and similar community groups around our plants.
- Promoting a corporate policy that allows employees to volunteer during work hours with the support of their managers. Thousands of Air Products employees volunteer hundreds of thousands of hours annually, both as individuals and as groups through dedicated “Days of Caring” events.
- Supporting the United Way Campaign for the Common Good as one of 125 Global Corporate Leaders. We raised a total of nearly $2 million in 2009.
United Way
Our company and our employees have a strong commitment to the United Way. Air Products contributed nearly $2 million in combined gifts from the Air Products Foundation, U.S. employees , and retirees, with nearly two-thirds of local employees participating, many at the leadership level.
We believe strongly in giving employees a true voice in directing the charitable contributions made by the company. For this reason, each United Way contribution is matched at $0.50 on the dollar. Employees who make a gift and designate it to a nonprofit human service agency can then benefit, because Air Products’ matching funds follow the gift to that agency. These contributions compliment the hundreds of volunteer hours our employees donate to helping charitable organizations and causes.