Colgate's strong commitment to caring and social responsibility extends to many local programs around the world. In each of the 80 countries where Colgate has facilities, the Company works with local organizations to accomplish mutual goals focused on health, education and underserved segments of society. Among the ways Colgate and Colgate people help are donating financial aid and products, sponsoring events, participating on boards and committees, volunteering time and partnering with more than 500 different nonprofit organizations around the world. Caring takes place through a wide variety of programs from promoting good health and hygiene to encouraging education to helping improve the self-esteem of women to helping youth grow into productive adults.
The Colgate Women's Games, the largest amateur track-and-field competition in the world, helps young women develop a sense of personal achievement and determination while instilling the importance of educational achievement by requiring school attendance for participation. For another program, the Starlight Children's Foundation, Colgate's donations help grant thousands of wishes to seriously ill children and their families. In the U.S., Colgate has created Healthy Bedtime Habits, a collaboration with Reading Is Fundamental, the nation's oldest and largest children's literacy nonprofit organization, to promote reading and education. Read more about these community programs.
Encouraging Academic Excellence
Colgate encourages academic excellence in various ways. In many communities, Colgate facilities "adopt" and partner with nearby schools, providing scholarships, grant programs, summer internships and volunteers. In some areas, Colgate provides assistance in applying to college and gives them exposure to a work environment.
Promoting Sports Activities
For more than 25 years, Colgate has sponsored Estrellas Colgate (Colgate Stars) in Mexico City, a nationally award-winning initiative that promotes character-building in economically disadvantaged children through an organized track-and-field athletic program. The children receive athletic training, healthy meals and proper personal hygiene education. They also acquire the skills and training to become future leaders in their communities.
In Colombia, Colgate has constructed six sports parks on city-donated land and has supported various sports programs at the parks since 1977. The Company has also funded the building of two schools and six dental centers in disadvantaged neighborhoods. In the Philippines, Colgate has created opportunities in sports for young athletes by building a variety of sports facilities and sponsoring a 20-week track-and-field competition.
Providing Dental Care
In rural South Africa, Colgate, along with other major corporations and organizations, is a founder-sponsor of the Phelophepa train, which means "good clean health." The train is a modern health care facility on wheels, which has provided health care, counseling, eye and dental care, and education to more than a million people in the past decade who otherwise would have little or no medical or dental care. The Company also provides oral care education in elementary schools and distributes free Colgate toothbrushes and toothpaste. Colgate also donated dental equipment and funding for a fully operational six-room dental clinic.
Also in South Africa, Colgate works with a local organization, the St. Francis Care Centre, to provide care for abandoned children living with HIV/AIDS and supports public and private education at every level from day care to medical and dental training.
In Latin America and Asia, Colgate funds Operation Smile to provide reconstructive surgery to needy children and young adults. In India, the Company offers aid to purchase hearing aids for children and in Thailand funds are allocated to build sports facilities.
Protecting the Environment
Colgate-Palmolive is a national sponsor of the 2009 Great American Cleanup. Colgate provided support and materials, including outdoor work gloves, to the program's estimated 3 million volunteers who united nationwide to beautify parks, clean seashores and waterways, handle recycling collections, pick up litter, plant trees and conduct educational events.
Stepping In When a Need Arises
We have also provided emergency financial aid to a number of natural disaster areas, including Germany, where there was severe flooding; the Philippines, where there were devastating fires; and the states of Colorado and California in the U.S., where there were wildfires. After Hurricane Katrina in the U.S., Colgate donated products as well as financial assistance. Hill's employees established a fund through a local community foundation to offer financial support to employees affected by Hurricane Katrina, approving grants for co-workers who lost so much during the storm.
Encouraging Caring
To recognize the charitable volunteer efforts by Colgate people, the Company created the Colgate CARES Grants Program in 2003, which gives financial assistance directly to the nonprofit organizations where employees donate their time. The grants focus on areas of community need such as education, recreation, civic and cultural affairs, health and social welfare.
Hill's Cares for Animals and People
Colgate's caring extends to animals. Through Hill's, Colgate has partnered with "Dogs for the Disabled" in the UK to provide the disabled with specially trained dogs that assist them with day-to-day functions. In other communities, Hill's supports a variety of programs and events related to the humane treatment of animals. As part of the "Hill's Shelter Program," Hill's provides Science Diet pet food for cats and dogs housed by participating animal shelters. Hill's also sponsors programs to support working K-9 units in law enforcement and other organizations. Responding to a natural disaster, Hill's donated Science Diet food to pets displaced due to Hurricane Katrina. In 2006, the Hill's Caring Hearts Committee, which coordinates many of the division's charitable activities, celebrated the volunteer contributions of more than 400 Hill's employees, who gave more than 9,700 hours of volunteer time during 2005. The amount of volunteer time donated by Hill's employees has increased exponentially each year since the program's inception. Some examples of activities include Meals on Wheels for pets; Paws in the Park, an annual fundraiser for a local shelter; Take Your Dog to Work Day; and teaching pet nutrition to prisoners who are training service dogs. Hill's Day of Caring, which began in 2002, allows teams of employees to choose an organization for which they volunteer during working hours when they are paid by Hill's; approximately 20 to 25% of Hill's Topeka employees participate every year. Families in need are also remembered by Hill's, which organizes teams to raise money for holiday gifts, which are purchased and delivered to the recipients' homes.
Contributing to Charitable Organizations
Colgate contributes money to support a wide variety of charitable organizations and is focusing its efforts on education, youth, women and inner cities. Among the organizations that have received Colgate donations are the National Dental Association in the U.S., which provides scholarships for minority dental students; the United Negro College Fund; Aspira, which supports Latino youth; and numerous women-oriented organizations such as Catalyst, Girls Incorporated and the Financial Women's Association, just to name a few.
Colgate employees also demonstrate their commitment to social responsibility by generously donating their resources and time to worthy causes. In the U.S., Colgate's Matching Gift Program enhances donations from employees to community programs. Colgate matches as much as double the amount of the employee donation to eligible institutions. In 2008 alone, the Company matched over $803,227 of employees' contributions.
In 2008, Colgate made a total of $24,181,000 in cash donations throughout the world, including contributions to Colgate's Bright Smiles, Bright Futures program.
