Laying a firm foundation for improving people’s lives

Jul 03, 2019

By the Philips Foundation team

The Philips Foundation, established by Royal Philips as the central platform for Philips’ CSR activities, today announced publication of its 2018 Annual Report. The report highlights the Foundation’s solid progress in delivering on its commitment to reduce health inequality through meaningful innovation.

Laying a firm foundation for improving people’s lives

This includes support for local NGO projects, collaboration with international organizations, and support for social entrepreneurs seeking to implement innovative healthcare solutions. Via the Foundation, Philips also focuses its workforce’s volunteering activities on a single global healthcare issue to achieve greater impact.

Building on its commitment to help solve some of the world’s most difficult healthcare challenges through innovation and collaboration, the Philips Foundation deliberately steered away from traditional donations in 2018. Instead, it teamed up with complementary partners, such as national Red Cross societies, UNICEF, ICRC, Save the Children and Amref, and with specific social entrepreneurs, resulting in the launch of 40 exciting new projects that explore new models of access to care to strengthen healthcare systems, improve outcomes, and reduce the cost of care.

“Standing shoulder to shoulder with our partners and of course Philips’ workforce, the Philips Foundation focuses on providing high-quality healthcare to communities lacking affordable and sustainable facilities,” said Margot Cooijmans, Director Philips Foundation. “In developing and deploying innovative solutions the Philips Foundation leverages the heads and hands, skills and technologies of Philips and its employees worldwide, to serve the health and well-being of disadvantaged people. To date, over 150 projects are running, improving the lives of more than 10 million people.”

Social entrepreneurship – accelerating access to care in collaboration with Ashoka

The Philips Foundation and Ashoka, the largest global network of leading social entrepreneurs, have completed the first year of a three-year collaboration to increase access to healthcare around the world. By connecting leaders in Philips with innovative social entrepreneurs, the aim is to optimally leverage business capabilities and achieve greater impact. In 2018, five new social entrepreneurs were selected, all committed to accelerating access to healthcare in underserved communities of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Combining the business strengths of Philips and the system-changing capabilities of social entrepreneurs will allow the co-creation of solutions and the establishment of win-win partnerships to reduce health inequality and build sustainable access to primary healthcare.

Employee volunteering – making an impact on a key global access-to-healthcare issue

Through its employee team-volunteering program, the Philips Foundation provides a platform for more than 75,000 Philips employees to volunteer and make an impact on a key global access-to-healthcare issue. The focused goal for 2018 and 2019 is to reduce childhood pneumonia – a respiratory disease that can be relatively easily prevented, diagnosed and treated. Working closely with its strong network of NGOs, including Amref, the UN Foundation, Save the Children and the Red Cross, the Philips Foundation has identified impactful challenges, such as brain challenges, hands-on challenges and fundraising opportunities, that support the fight against childhood pneumonia. In 2018, the Philips Foundation facilitated deployment of up to 4,800 hours of volunteer work.

To read the Philips Foundation’s full Annual Report, please click here.