Focal areas

Our social commitment – Sustainable and personal

Munich Re and its staff support social institutions and projects in Germany and internationally. As well as the financial help we provide, a number of our employees also devote part of their leisure time to good causes. They participate in charitable sporting events, donate a portion of their monthly salary or do voluntary work.

Due to natural catastrophes, disabilities, illness or other twists of fate, people can find themselves in great need through no fault of their own. That is why Munich Re supports selected aid projects worldwide via fund-raising campaigns and » corporate volunteering activities..

Supporting and integrating people with disabilities

We attach particular importance to the integration of people with disabilities. As a result, since 2001 we have supported Munich’s Stiftung Pfennigparade, a foundation dedicated to the physical and mental rehabilitation of people with disabilities. For example, at our Munich site we regularly employ interns with physical disabilities whose placements are arranged via Pfennigparade.

We are also involved in projects that bring together disabled and non-disabled children, The integration of people with disabilities is promoted at Munich Re’s international sites as well. The client call-centre staff at DKV Seguros in Spain numbers 226 colleagues with a physical disability – 52 of them have in the meantime transferred to other company units. In cooperation with the Integralia Foundation set up by ERGO Hestia, Poland, 20 physically disabled colleagues are now contributing to the insurer's success. "CaFée mit Herz", another ERGO project, provides a meeting place and daily point of contact for the unemployed and homeless in Hamburg's St. Pauli district. The institution's director was presented with a donation of €10,000 by ERGO Board member Dr. Daniel von Borries. This money will help "CaFée mit Herz" fund breakfast for its up to 300 daily visitors for a whole year. The CaFée team has also launched a number of different projects including a choir, football matches, theatre performances and gardening activities. ERGO employees raised the funds for the institution at a celebration at its Hamburg location in 2010.

Protecting primary school children on their way home

ERGO has also made a commitment to “Helfende Hand” (Helping Hand), a project founded by several Düsseldorf primary schools and the Düsseldorf police. The initiators want to help make children’s journeys to and from school safer. Selected businesses partnering the project and located on the routes taken by young schoolchildren are marked with a “helping hand” symbol. Children can obtain assistance there in critical situations.

Promoting international projects

Munich Re’s commitment to society does not stop at Germany’s borders. ERGO Belgium, for example, has devoted itself to the cause of socially disadvantaged children – including a campaign with the support of former professional racing cyclist Johan Museeuw. ERGO employees in Luxembourg support the local Red Cross by donating €5 for each insurance policy taken out.

In 2010, Munich Health North America decided to address two issues in one go: it stopped printing and sending Christmas cards by mail, and forwarded its season's greetings by e-mail instead. The money thus saved was given to charity.

To mitigate the consequences of the economic crisis in northern Texas, the local Munich Re branch office donated money to soup kitchens and social housing projects. Each dollar provides four meals.

MARC Life, a Munich Re company, makes financial and human resources available for selected social projects, in one case erecting a whole house for a needy family of immigrant origin in a very short period of time.