RWE Companius: More than 1,000 voluntary projects completed in six months

Thanks to RWE Companius, the umbrella organisation for employees of the RWE Group engaged in voluntary work, more than 1,200 voluntary projects were seen through to completion in the first six months of 2009 alone. RWE Companius became a Group-wide initiative at the beginning of the year and since then has been providing support for voluntary campaigns and projects outside RWE as well.

The principle could scarcely be easier: RWE Companius supports projects in schools, social areas, arts and culture, sport, energy, environmental protection and nature conservation with grants of between €500 and €2,000 each. Funding is granted subject to the proviso that at least one RWE employee is actively involved. In addition, the recipient of the funding must be an institution, such as a non-profit organisation or private initiative.

“RWE Companius now has some 2,200 members who between them have completed or will soon have completed more than 3,000 projects,” says Labour Director Alwin Fitting, the Board member responsible for CR. “What is especially pleasing is that the initiative has caught on among our foreign subsidiaries, too,” he says.

Thanks to the support of RWE Companius and many dedicated employees, numerous nursery schools and other educational facilities such as schoolyards and playgrounds have been repaired and modernised. Other volunteers have committed themselves to nature conservation or to the needs of the homeless. RWE Companius encourages employees who have never before done voluntary work to become involved as well. It does this by teaming up with non-profit organisations and spotlighting specific projects on its web platform www.rwecompanius.com for which volunteers are still being sought. Right now, some 15 employees are involved in a project called “Friends for children” in the German city of Essen. This project supports children of primary-school age who because of their family circumstances lack adult friends and positive role models, but thanks to this project can take part in an organised recreational programme in which they will receive individual attention.