Commmunity investment

We will make a positive contribution to the communities in which we operate, and invest in health and education programs and partnerships that aim to bring sustainable improvements to under-served people in the developed and developing world.

We provide money, medicines, time and equipment to non-profit organizations to help improve health and education in under-served communities. We focus on programs that are innovative, sustainable, and bring real benefits to those most in need.

Financial Investment

In 2008, our global community investment was £124 million ($229 million) compared with £109 ($219 million) in 2007, an increase of 13 per cent. Just over half of this comprises product donations.

In the United States, our community support is funded via two different paths: Corporate (national programs and those linked to our two operational headquarter sites in Philadelphia and North Carolina) and the North Carolina GSK Foundation.

Over the last decade, the pharmaceutical industry has helped to address healthcare challenges in the developing world by researching new medicines and making them more available and affordable. In the United States, GSK gives away more than $1.3 million dollars (wholesale acquisition cost) in medicine every day to reach those who need help.

In the United States, GlaxoSmithKline Corporate makes charitable contributions through its US Contributions Committee. The principal areas of focus are: health and human services, science education and literacy, and the arts (only in Philadelphia and the Research Triangle Park). In 2006, GSK supported US organizations from Corporate and the Foundation with grants totaling more than $15.3 million. A complete listing of these grants is available on this website.

The NC GSK Foundation, chartered in 1986, began awarding grants in 1987. To date the Foundation has paid out $37.4 million in grants with another $0.6 million to be paid in multi-year grants. The Foundation typically supports programs in North Carolina that help to meet the educational needs of today's society and of future generations. A full report on the Foundation’s work and funding can also be found on this website.

Volunteering

Employees are encouraged to give of their time and expertise as well. There are three programs of special note in the U.S.

• Orange Day: All GSK employees receive an annual paid day off, called Orange Day, to volunteer. The total volunteer time for the global company -- 106,000 employees for 1 day each – is the equivalent of 300 people volunteering full-time for an entire year.
  
  Employees may volunteer individually or through team-building opportunities. The hope is to create a culture of volunteerism at GSK and to inspire employees to form long-term volunteer relationships with nonprofits. Examples include a day when more than 600 manufacturing employees donated time to 30 charities in North Carolina. In another city, 300 employees collected backpacks and stuffed them with school supplies for children in need.
  
  
• PULSE Volunteer Partnership: Recently the company established the PULSE Volunteer Partnership program, which loans 100 high-performing employees to nonprofits full-time for three to six months to work on important projects at home or abroad. Transformational change can happen when employees use, share, and pass on their professional skills and knowledge during a 3 – 6 month immersion experience within a nonprofit organization. Volunteers address a clear need selected by the nonprofit.
  
  
• GIVE (GlaxoSmithKline’s Investment in Volunteer Excellence): This program provides $500 funding to qualifying nonprofits for which employees or their spouses/domestic partners work as volunteers for 50 or more hours. The organizations benefit twice: the GSK employee’s valuable time/talent and a financial contribution from GSK. Each family may apply for up to four GIVE grants per year.