Social Contribution Activities on a Global Scale

The Brother Group Global Charter stipulates that the Brother Group must always be a good corporate citizen, sharing our social, economic and cultural resources in all the communities where the Brother Group operates, and that the Brother Group help society achieve sustainable development by positively and continuously considering the environmental impact of all aspects of our business operations.
Based on this idea, the Brother Group has been globally promoting social contribution activities that further enhance a sense of unity within the entire group, especially focusing on the following activities:

1. Activities that meet the following conditions and lead to business growth^*
   • Utilizing Brother's resources
   • Not only responding to requests and expectations from stakeholders but also taking them as opportunities and proactively getting involved
   • Employees can sympathize with and take pride in them.
2. Eco-conscious activities
3. Activities involving communities and personal development
4. Support activities for incidents with major impacts on society

• Factors that lead to business growth includes:
  Brand image enhancement, Learning and growth of employees, Smooth business implementation in each area, Securing of excellent human resources, and Understanding of social needs and future customers

The Brother Group's eco-conscious activities, which are promoted under the slogan of "Brother Earth," include creating eco-conscious products, reducing environmental impact in business facilities, supporting environmental organizations which work on biodiversity conservation in collaboration with the Eco Point Program [PDF/301KB] participated by employees, and conducting environmental conservation activities with employees.
As its activities for communities and personal development, the Brother Group, for example, has been cosponsoring the Tokai Young Entrepreneur Seminar in Japan since 2008 to assist young entrepreneurs who address local challenges. Regarding this seminar as one of the activities that utilize its resources, the group has been promoting employees' participation in it and involving three or four employees as pro bono workers every year.
In addition, many activities to improve children's education and healthcare have been implemented at various group facilities. The Brother Group also has been increasing opportunities to enhance employees' awareness of volunteer activities. For example, employees at various group facilities have been participating in worldwide charity activities to support cancer patients.
As its support activities for incidents with major impacts on society, the Brother Group, for example, has been supporting areas devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake through the Kizuna Fund, a fund to collect donations from employees, in Japan.
Furthermore, Brother Industries, Ltd. has been continuously donating to registered not-for-profit organizations addressing social challenges.

Social contribution activities in different countries and regions

The Brother Group has been promoting participation in charity events to support cancer patients, aiming to conduct social contribution activities with its employees and with a sense of unity on a global scale. In 2011, the group named such activities the "Golden Ring Project," imagining a ring of support on a world map drawn by connecting the support activities conducted by respective group facilities with a line. In FY2019, employees and their families at 23 group facilities all over the world participated in this project.
Many of the facilities working on the "Golden Ring Project" have taken part in the charity event "Relay For Life (RFL)." In this event, participants make donations and walk for 24 hours with their team members to increase their awareness and knowledge about cancer and encourage cancer patients. Donations raised are used for new cancer treatment/medication development, scholarships for young doctors, and so forth.
Teams of employees in many of the Brother Group’s facilities are currently participating in RFL on a voluntary basis to expand this ring of support, with continuous participation by the U.S. subsidiary from 1999 and by the New Zealand subsidiary from 2006. In Japan as well, employees and related individuals of the Brother Group, predominantly from Brother Industries, have been participating voluntarily every year since 2010 as “Brother Team Japan.” Including independently organized talks by cancer survivors at RFL venues, a range of activities have been conducted to raise awareness of cancer. In recognition of this long-running cancer awareness activity, the Brother Group received the 2020 Japan Cancer Society award (Organization Category)^*.

• Awarded to individuals and groups who have made outstanding achievements in anti-cancer activities. Established in 1968 by the Japan Cancer Society, the award aims to encourage the fight against cancer.

Golden Ring Project video

• Click image to view video (three-minute English video)
• This video is from YouTube.

The Brother Group has been working with its employees to provide support to the areas affected by large-scale disasters around the world.

Brother's main support includes the following two ways:

1. Monetary donations from the Brother Group
2. Donations and volunteer activities by employees

Monetary donations from the Brother Group companies are sent mainly to the Red Cross or NPOs as emergency assistance while donations and volunteer activities by employees are provided in a way that meets the needs of each devastated area.