DPD Germany is committed to acting as a responsible corporate citizen and – making a positive social impact beyond its core business. The DPD Foundation focuses on three main areas. Firstly the DPD Aid Fund helps employees, transport operators and delivery personnel facing an emergency situation. Secondly, apprentices at DPD Germany are actively involved as sponsors and in contact with children in need from Africa, Asia and Latin America. And thirdly, the DPD Foundation supports charitable and non-for-profit projects run by the Plan International organisation and other partners. For example, we are currently supporting a project in Rwanda which promotes early childhood education and helps children create brighter futures.

Anyone can suddenly find themselves in a financial emergency - whether it is due to illness, natural disasters, an accident or family circumstances. We wanted to help DPD employees, transport operators, delivery staff, sorting hall contractors and their dependants in the event of personal misfortune. The Fund provides fast and flexible financial assistance, and in five years, has helped 51 members of the DPD family.

Employees can get involved in many different ways. They can make a voluntary monthly donation, opting to give the amount of cents behind the decimal point of their net salary or an amount of their choice. At present, almost 6,000 employees are involved in this «Rest Cent» initiative. In addition, there are regular fund-raising campaigns - for example a raffle or a bake sale - at many depots and locations. The proceeds then go to the Foundation.

The DPD Foundation seeks to improve educational opportunities and quality of life for children in Rwanda, where people have faced major challenges since the 1990s genocide. We began by supporting the establishment of four centres for early childhood education for around 2,000 children up to the age of six. The DPD Foundation is now supporting the three-year children’s aid project “Good education for children” to help improve education for 11,000 children in 20 schools and 25 kindergartens in the regions of Bugesera and Nyaruguru.