With a wide range of corporate citizenship initiatives and the promotion of projects in the non-profit sector, Mercedes-Benz has a positive impact on society worldwide beyond its own business activities. The Stuttgart region has always been of particular importance as the company's main location.
Building on this long-standing commitment, the company will further strengthen its engagement in the region. Over and above existing projects, Mercedes-Benz will support initiatives in the areas of social welfare, the environment and culture with an additional 24 million euros until 2028.
Mercedes-Benz and Stuttgart: They go together. Daimler invented the car in Stuttgart, and today more than 60,000 colleagues work for Mercedes-Benz in the metropolitan area – and this is where we have been committed for decades, even beyond the factory gates. We will further strengthen our commitment to social cohesion, environmental protection and cultural diversity in the coming years and work together with strong partners from the region. Which just shows that, even though our business is becoming increasingly global, we stand by our home region.
Participation process "Mittendrin – Chancen für morgen gestalten" (“Right in the middle – shaping opportunities for tomorrow”)
With the promotion, Mercedes-Benz is supporting a new participation process of the “Bürgerstiftung Stuttgart” (Stuttgart Civic Foundation) with the aim of strengthening social cohesion in the region: To begin with, under the headings "Participation of children and young people", "Integration" and "Ways out of poverty", concrete fields of action for existing challenges were developed in interaction with other strong partners from civil society and from the City of Stuttgart. The call for proposals derived from the participation process currently allows organisations and associations to apply with concrete projects or project ideas. The call for proposals has already been running since August 2023. After the end of the proposal phase, the final projects will be selected by a panel of experts for funding from 2024. In order to strengthen the civic engagement in Stuttgart as a whole, Mercedes-Benz will also financially support the planned establishment of the “Haus des Ehrenamtes” (House of Volunteers).
By integrating the expertise of the civic foundation and the other partners from the social and societal sector as well as from the city, Mercedes-Benz aims to promote measures and projects that have a solid impact on urban society: The participation process aims to ensure that funding reaches where it can make a difference. The goal is to achieve structural and thus lasting improvements.
Mercedes-Benz will support the projects to strengthen social cohesion with a total of around 12.5 million euros until 2028.
We believe that challenges can only be solved together with everyone involved. We are very grateful that the partners from civil society have supported us in creating a good tendering process. This allows us to achieve lasting improvements in the city - literally right in the middle of it.
Promoting environmental protection in the region
Mercedes-Benz will also expand its commitment to environmental protection and make a relevant contribution to CO2 storage, resource protection and biodiversity in the region. In concrete terms, Mercedes-Benz will support the conservation and renaturation of moors in Baden-Württemberg with 5 million euros by 2028, working closely with the Ministry of the Environment of the State of Baden-Württemberg, among others.
Numerous promising project ideas already exist for the conservation of moors in the region; however, there is a need for expert support in their implementation. For this reason, among other things, the creation of a networking centre is planned in order to coordinate activities and achieve environmental goals in the area more effectively and quickly. The promotion concept also provides for a gradual expansion of the rewetting of moors in the Baden-Württemberg area in order to increase their ecological value. The exact programme is currently being worked out.
Expansion of cultural promotion
Mercedes-Benz already supports various large and small cultural institutions and projects, and contributes to cultural diversity in the region with its own initiatives. In addition to this broad commitment in the cultural field, Mercedes-Benz will develop a holistic funding concept together with stakeholders in the arts and cultural landscape in the region in order to further expand its involvement. To this end, the company will provide 6.5 million euros by 2028.
The concept will be guided by clear guidelines. Through targeted structural support, Mercedes-Benz will create spaces in which creative artists can experiment and grow. At the same time, the company wants the concept to bridge the gap between the cultural heritage and innovative elements in order to shape a diverse and dynamic cultural landscape.
Regional corporate citizenship engagement
Mercedes-Benz is involved in its home region in a broad and diverse way beyond its own business activities. Numerous large and small projects make up the overall location commitment in the greater Stuttgart area. Mercedes-Benz supports prominent institutions and events in the fields of education and culture, such as the University of Stuttgart with the Entrepreneurship Foundation Professorship, the International Bach Academy or the Jazzopen Stuttgart festival. In addition, the Mercedes-Benz Museum hosts its own series of events called “Stadtkultur” (City Culture), where creative artists from Stuttgart and the region present their programmes on the open-air stage. In addition to these well-known institutions and facilities, Mercedes-Benz also supports a large number of smaller projects and initiatives with donations and sponsorships every year. The spectrum here ranges from schools and music schools to municipal institutions and various foundations and associations in the social and cultural spheres as well as in environmental protection.
