Henkel's corporate volunteering initiative celebrates its 25th anniversary

Henkel's volunteering initiative “Make an Impact on Tomorrow” (MIT) celebrates its 25^th anniversary. The aim of the initiative is to promote the voluntary engagement of employees and retirees in social projects. Over 17,300 projects in more than 100 countries around the world have already been supported.

The MIT-initiative was launched in 1998. This made Henkel one of the first German companies to make voluntary social engagement a key element of its sustainability activities. “MIT is at the heart of our social activities. We are convinced that we can make a difference in society if we get personally involved. That's why we offer our employees and retirees a variety of opportunities to get engaged, both individually and in teams,” says Karol-Monique Westhoff, Global Head of Corporate Citizenship at Henkel.

Henkel's support includes financial and in-kind donations as well as the opportunity to take paid time off to dedicate to a social project. Employees can support their own projects and also participate in projects that have already been funded. “The response to our MIT program has always been very good and the interest is growing: over 10,000 employees and pensioners worldwide have already become socially involved with the help of the program.”

One project focus in 2022 was on activities for Ukraine. This includes, for example, Henkel's cooperation with the non-governmental organization ‏(NGO) “Habitat for Humanity”. Four Henkel employees supported the organization for a month in Warsaw, Poland, with refugee aid thanks to paid time off. The volunteers helped both with setting up emergency shelters and with administrative activities. In addition, two Henkel teams were again involved in building shelters for families in need in Romania. Henkel has been supporting this project for over 8 years, during which more than 250 Henkel employees have built and renovated houses. Another example is the global employee initiative “Trashfighter”, which is part of Henkel’s ongoing commitment to a sustainable circular economy and the prevention of plastic waste in the environment. Lastly, Henkel again supported the inclusive Special Olympics World Games sports event in Berlin this year and was on site with 60 volunteers.