'Nurturing the World of Tomorrow'

Dedicated to supporting the five core corporate social responsibility (CSR) pillars of environmental protection, education, music, arts and sports, culture of driving, and other charity and disaster relief programs, the Mercedes-Benz Star Fund is an integrated, systematic, long-term platform to manage the automaker's contributions to social causes in China. It is a partnership established in June 2010 by Mercedes-Benz (China) Ltd and the China Youth Development Foundation (CYDF).

The initial Star Fund, with 30 million yuan, was one of the largest start-up charity funds in the Chinese auto industry and the largest amount the automaker had ever used to start a charity fund worldwide outside of Germany. The fund operates under the slogan "Nurturing the World of Tomorrow" and represents Mercedes-Benz's integrated approach to China and its long-term commitment to social causes in China.

Environment

In September 2007, Mercedes-Benz (China) Ltd established its Green Legacy Program, a long-term cooperative plan with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and Chinese authorities to preserve World Natural Heritage Sites in China.

To date, it has put 29 million yuan into the professional protection of endangered species and World Heritage Sites in China. These involve the following:

The company donated 1 million yuan to protect the Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries, in September 2007, at the start of the Green Legacy Program.

It increased its involvement in conservation work by giving 5.5 million yuan for use in nature preservation, in April 2008. Out of that, 1.5 million yuan went to further improving the protection of the Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries in Ya'an.

Another 4 million yuan was given to protect the South China Karst, the second site to receive Green Legacy Program support. Key achievements included research and experiments were conducted at Libo to find a way to replace fuelwood with biofuel sources, and the country's first environment monitoring system in a limestone cave was established at Wulong's Furong Cave, to automatically monitor key environmental elements.

In response to the Sichuan earthquake in July 2008, a 3.5-million-yuan contribution was made to restore the Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries, as well as the damaged heritage sites at the Dujiangyan Irrigation System and Qingcheng Mountain.

In June 2009, Mercedes-Benz and its dealers in China together gave 1 million yuan to improving the living conditions of young pandas through the Mercedes-Benz Panda Kindergarten program. This was part of a three-year partnership agreement with the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda (CCRCGP).

In July 2009, Lushan Mountain was chosen as the third World Heritage Site to receive preservation support under the Green Legacy Program.

To mark the first anniversary of the Mercedes-Benz Panda Kindergarten program and celebrate the first birthday of pandas Xing Hui and Xing Rui, in July 2010, some Mercedes-Benz dealers, employees, and customers paid a visit to the Bifengxia Giant Panda Preservation Base in Ya'an, Sichuan. Students from the Shifang Mercedes-Benz School also went to bring their best wishes to the pandas.

In August 2010, the Star Fund announced a 15 million yuan donation to the Green Legacy Program over a three-year period to increase heritage site preservation work in cooperation with UNESCO and local authorities.

This year, the majestic Sanqing Mountain was named as the latest site to receive support from the program, through improving environmental monitoring, reducing tourism congestion and increasing heritage protection capacity and public awareness.

Education

Daimler and Mercedes-Benz have been working with some of China's top higher education institutions in developing scholarship programs and providing exchange and career opportunities for students with potential.

Additional attention has been paid to the developmental needs and education of underprivileged children in rural parts of China.

Daimler began this development work back in 1994, and some of the company's achievements are as follows:

In May 9, 2010, two years after the Sichuan earthquake, the very first school term started at the Shifang Mercedes-Benz Primary School, thanks to a 5.15 million yuan donation for reconstruction work.

In June 2010, the Mercedes-Benz Star Fund introduced the "Inspiring the Future" Happy Music Classroom Program to provide music education to more than 40,000 students at the 125 Hope Schools across the country. The Happy Music Classroom Program is a joint project between Mercedes-Benz and the China Youth Development Foundation (CYDF).

On hand for the opening ceremony of the first Mercedes-Benz Happy Music Classroom, at the Shifang Mercedes-Benz School in Sichuan, were the Project Hope music ambassador Yu Quan, the Li Biao Youth Percussion Group, a group of Mercedes-Benz volunteers, and media representatives, who also took part in some lively music lessons along with the children.

These music classroom programs will take place in 23 cities in the provinces of Hebei, Liaoning, Xinjiang, Anhui, Fujian, Sichuan, and Gansu. Mercedes-Benz has donated 4.3 million yuan towards this program.

Charity-disaster relief

Mercedes-Benz has supported relief and reconstruction efforts during disasters and in their aftermath, which is in line with the company's commitment to Chinese society.

The Mercedes-Benz Star Fund allows the company to respond immediately to crises in an efficient way, supplying prompt support to various groups when needed. The following is a brief summary of some of the causes that the company has helped, to date:

Daimler Northeast Asia joined Mercedes-Benz and its China joint venture in donating more than 10 million yuan in immediate relief funds for earthquake disaster sites in Sichuan in 2008, as well as for post-disaster construction work.

In April 14, 2010, following the Yushu earthquake in Qinghai province, Daimler Northeast Asia, Mercedes-Benz and its joint ventures gave another 5 million yuan contribution.

At a ceremony in Fuzhou for the new Fujian Daimler Plant, Mercedes-Benz donated its first group of locally produced light commercial vans to be used for Qinghai earthquake relief efforts.

Music, arts and sports

These three areas of education are full of possibilities and in need of inspiration and passion, and the following are what Mercedes-Benz considers to be milestones:

Music and the arts

In early 2008, the beginning of a strategic partnership with the National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) was announced. The two ushered in the New Year with their first grand concert sponsorship in Beijing. A year later, Mercedes-Benz once again sponsored the signature NCPA New Year Concert 2009.

The partnership celebration commenced the NCPA Weekend Concert Series, a project that gave the public an opportunity to enjoy the world of art through more affordable tickets. Over 1,500 music teachers were invited to the concerts so they can in turn, inspire others.

In honor of Teachers Day and the 60th National Day, 300 teachers from the Beijing School for the Visually-Impaired and the School for the Hearing-Impaired were invited to a special weekend concert on French and American Ballet Music.

On International Children's Day in 2009, more than 150 students from the School of the Visually-Impaired were given the opportunity to visit the NCPA for the first time and to enjoy a beautiful concert.

During the same occasion in 2010, some 100 children and teachers from Hope Schools and Schools for Children of Migrant Workers were invited to a special percussion performance at the NCPA, courtesy of Mercedes-Benz.

With its deep involvement in the arts, the Shanghai Expo Center was officially renamed the "Mercedes-Benz Arena" in November of 2010, making it China's first arena to have a naming rights partnership.

At the beginning of 2011, the Mercedes-Benz Arena hosted some major musical and cultural events, sports competitions, as well as lifestyle and family shows.

In recent years, some of the other world-class performances that Mercedes-Benz has sponsored include: the Germany Philharmonic Orchestra; Anne-Sophie Mutter and the Trondheim Soloists Asia Tour in 2008; a modern art exhibition with the theme "Tribute to Andy Warhol & Marilyn Monroe"; the Canadian Cirque du Soleil's China tour; the Li Biao & Friends China Tour; Yo-Yo Ma's Asian Tour; the exhibition "Shanghai: A History in Photographs, 1842 - Today", by HS Liu; a concert by pianist Li Yundi; Fang Lijun's Art Exhibition, and "lan - a Photographic Exhibition by Chen Man".

Sports

Mercedes-Benz, in partnership with the China Tennis Association (CTA) and provincial-level associations initiated the "Swing for the Stars" Junior Tennis Development Program in April 2008 to cultivate talented young tennis players under the age of 12 in China. By October 2010, the program had reached 23 cities and benefited nearly 5,000 youngsters.

In 2008, the three-month-long Mercedes-Benz "Swing for the Stars" Beijing Campus Tennis Development Program officially opened at 20 primary and middle schools to provide fundamental tennis technique training to more than 1,000 students.

The Mercedes-Benz "2009 University Tennis Challenge" was organized after, to promote tennis by providing a deeper awareness of the game. The program ran for more than nine months and reached more than 70 universities and colleges.

Also in 2009, the company started "Mercedes-Benz Tour 2016", an advanced training program to prepare young players for the 2016 Olympics.

It will run for the coming years, enabling young players and their coaches to work on their Olympic dreams and devote themselves to advancing tennis in China.

At a glance

Culture of driving

One thing that motivates Mercedes-Benz in championing the driving cause is its strong sense of responsibility towards road users.

In December 2010, Mercedes-Benz, partnered with leading German magazine Auto Bild to sponsor the Mercedes-Benz Cup 2011 China Best Driver Contest.

This was the first such competition ever to be held in China, which combines a comprehensive knowledge of safe driving skills and good road manners.

The event opened in Beijing in June and will be rolled out in Chengdu, Guangzhou and Shanghai through August, culminating with the final competition in Shanghai.

In conjunction with the China Best Driver Contest, Mercedes-Benz also launched the "This, I Promise" public awareness campaign this year, to increase awareness on road safety and to get the public to commit themselves to safe driving.

The company's road safety efforts can be traced back to as early as 2003 when it cooperated with China's Road Traffic Safety Association for the "Safety Starts with Me" public education campaign.

As the leading automobile brand and a leader in advanced safety technology, Mercedes-Benz continues to use its expertise to develop intelligent safety systems that ensure the safety of all road users. In doing so, it is able to greatly enhance the culture of driving.

Since its birth, the three-pointed star has been shining all over the world. After more than a hundred years, the star continues to shine brightly, representing a fascination without end.

China Daily

(China Daily 06/30/2011 page18)