The Henkel Friendship Initiative (HFI) provides immediate aid for people in need. In a crisis or disaster affecting people and their communities, HFI  provides financial or in-kind assistance directly where it is needed most. Besides helping people to help themselves, HFI also supports long-term reconstruction measures in collaboration with the Henkel companies in the affected countries.

May 2008: Over the next few weeks, Henkel will be making a total of 150,000 euros available to the people living in the areas affected by the Chinese earthquake. Immediate aid is to be provided in the next few days. Initially, the Red Cross in China will be given 50,000 euros. Emergency funding and resources are currently having to be distributed via the Red Cross in China, as ordinary civilians are being held back from the disaster area. Aside from financial assistance, Henkel will also be donating items such as hygiene products, cleaning agents and construction materials to the value of 50,000 euros. Discussions as to which products are most required in what quantities are conducted directly between Henkel’s employees in China and the local Red Cross authorities.

Beyond this direct and immediate aid totaling 100,000 euros, Henkel will also be providing a further 50,000 euros over the next two months in order to support specific projects aligned to permanent reconstruction in Sichuan province. In order to be sure that the donations arrive at their destination, Henkel is able to rely on its own employees in China who will be in direct contact with the Red Cross and will thus be able to ensure that the monies and materials are directed through the right channels.

In January 2007, the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, was struck by one of the worst floods of the past five years. After days of rainfall, some 70 percent of the city was under water. People needed immediate help. The financial support of HFI enabled food, water and medicine to be provided.

May 2006: Ten Henkel employees and their families were heavily hit by this catastrophe. In order to help the people in most need, Henkel provided them via the HFI with financial aid for a new start. In addition, an elementary school is currently being built with HFI help in Yogyakarta, the capital of the island.

October 2005: In the same month and on the other side of the world, around seven million people in India and Pakistan were hit by a serious earthquake in the Kashmir region. Henkel provided an immediate aid package amounting to 100,000 US dollars. Working together with our employees and the UN High Commissioner for Pakistan and India, the Managing Director at our Indian site - A. Satish Kumar - channeled valuable immediate aid to the victims in support of their efforts to reconstruct their destroyed towns and villages. Henkel employees are currently involved in preparations to initiate new aid projects for 2007.

October 2005: Two months later, Hurricane Stan laid waste to entire tracts of land in Guatemala. Here again, Henkel employees were able to identify and support useful aid projects in the areas affected. One such was the reconstruction of the 'San Juan Bautista' school in Amatitlán.

August 2005: Hurricane Katrina swept across the southern states of the USA, causing enormous damage. Henkel people everywhere responded immediately, collecting donations in support of the victims. Every cent donated privately was matched by the company.

December 2004: On Boxing Day, the tsunami in the Indian ocean claimed the lives of innumerable people and swept away the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands more. Henkel, its employees and its retirees, the Henkel family and third-party partners collected more than 600,000 euros in order to give the people in the region some hope for the future.

To support the victims of the 2003 flood desaster in Germany, the Henkel Friendship Initiative raised more than 565,000 euros donated by Henkel employees, retirees and the Company itself. Thanks to the granted time off work and the help of many retirees, Henkel employees were able to offer direct help without high administrative costs.

May 2003: Just a few days after it was established, the Henkel Friendship Initiative met its first test in the form of an earthquake in the north of Algeria. The immediate victims included many Henkel employees and their dependants.