RWE Companius Wins Award as Exemplary Initiative

said Sven Olderdissen of the Deutsche Bank in praise of the RWE Group’s community involvement initiative when handing over the prize to RWE Human Resources Director Alwin Fitting. “It is with great pleasure that I accept this award today on behalf of all those who do voluntary work as part of the Companius community”, responded Mr Fitting. “This prize is theirs, as is my respect and admiration.”

The “Selected Landmark 2010” award rewards innovation as part of the “Germany – Land of Ideas” initiative under the patronage of the German president. The aim is to win recognition for ideas that show inventiveness, creative energy and vision. RWE Companius was selected as a landmark in the “Society and Social Issues” category for its innovative approach to corporate-sponsored voluntary work. The initiative scored well on criteria ranging from individual responsibility and employee choice to opportunities for involvement by people outside the company and the social-networking character of its internet platform. Since its founding in 2007, RWE Companius has enabled 13,271 helpers to become involved in 5,042 projects which have received support totalling €6.34 million.

True to its motto “People make it possible” Companius itself took the opportunity to honour those projects which, because of the exceptional commitment they entailed or their innovative approach to a known problem, last year won the most votes in the ballot to select the “Project of the Year 2009”. For more on the “Project of the Year 2009” see here.

The Companius Marketplace held under the banner of “inform – activate – engage” aims to bring together not-for-profit organisations and people interested in doing voluntary work in their spare time. As at any marketplace, there was a lot of talking and exchanging of ideas. Plans were made, joint projects agreed and helpers found.

For more on the initiative “Germany – Land of Ideas” see here.