Employee Involvement
In 2008, more than 6,300 Baxter employees spent more than 140,000 volunteer hours in their communities, helping to address local concerns such as healthcare and education (see Case Study: Fostering a Culture of Volunteerism).
Employee involvement takes many forms, such as volunteering at a local school or at a blood drive, serving at a hospital or food pantry, building homes for needy families, participating in community park clean-up days, or joining a local nonprofit board or committee. Employees at each Baxter site select volunteer activities to undertake and organizations to support, as they are best able to determine the most relevant and highest impact projects.
For example, 12 Baxter employees devoted nearly 100 volunteer hours in 2008 at Lekorice, a center in Prague created in 2005 to support patients, especially the elderly, young and those affected by long-term illnesses, during their stays at Thomayer Hospital. In Beltsville, Maryland, a Baxter team of volunteers participated in Montpelier Elementary School’s Science and Career Day. The team discussed Baxter’s mission and how the company works to save lives around the world, and then led interactive science experiments with sixth-grade students.
Employees can track their efforts using Baxter’s internal volunteerism website. Each year, the company recognizes employees with certificates if they volunteer for 40 or more hours of community work. Employees who donate 75 or more hours a year are eligible for a drawing in which selected employees choose an approved charitable group to which Baxter will donate $1,000 in the employee’s name. In 2008, 30 employees were selected for recognition based on their 2008 recorded volunteerism.
In the United States, The Baxter International Foundation Dollars for Doers program provides grants to qualified organizations in which Baxter employees have actively volunteered for at least six months. Past recipients include hospitals and hospices, humane societies, historical societies, emergency shelters, volunteer fire departments, substance-abuse prevention services and youth service organizations. In 2008, the program donated $29,300.
Baxter employees also contribute financial resources to worthy causes. The Baxter International Foundation Matching Gift program matches employee donations of $25 or more, up to $5,000, to nonprofit, tax-exempt U.S. hospitals and healthcare agencies, schools and cultural organizations. The program matches gifts of $100 to $500 two-for-one. In 2008, the foundation matched more than 2,370 qualifying employee donations to contribute a total of $718,135 to organizations in need.
