Community giving
At Nestlé, we unlock the power of food to enhance the quality of life for everyone, today and for generations to come.
Our Community Giving activities bring this belief to life by actively supporting partners and communities around the world. These acts of giving fall into three pillars: disaster relief, food access, and community life.
CHF
177,471,000
100
projects
140
+ million
*This estimate is computed based on Nestlé data on the costs of the products donated and average weight, along with an estimated weight-per-meal of 0.55kg, provided by a range of in-country partners.
Why we care for communities
Our founder Henri Nestlé understood the power of giving to the community where he found success - the place he called home and loved. He believed that when your neighbor does well, you do well. We are determined to continue this legacy through Nestlé Cares for Communities, which helps amplify the impact of our partnersє work in the communities that made us who we are today. We put these communities at the heart of our giving strategy, focusing on the regions where our employees live and work.
How we care for communities
We strive to be a good neighbor and a trusted partner in the community by listening to the needs of the organizations we support. We respond to these needs with product donations, financial grants, sponsorships, in-kind donations, and employee giving initiatives. Nestlé Cares for Communities focuses on three pillars which link back to communities’ needs and our purpose and values. We aim to:
- Respond to communities in crisis through disaster relief efforts.
- Tackle food insecurity by providing access to healthier foods.
- Enhance the quality of life by fostering vibrant community life.
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Disaster relief We help our communities when disasters strike and support them in the recovery phase through dedicated front-line assistance. Our main partners include the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and World Central Kitchen.
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Food access We tackle food insecurity by helping people in need have access to healthier foods and work to integrate them into the community through shared meals and services. Our main partners include the Global FoodBanking Network alongside numerous regional and local food banks.
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Community life We foster a vibrant, joyful, and dynamic community life by supporting events and platforms that make our communities a good place to live. We focus on activities that nurture young talents in sports and culture.
Nestlé Cares for Communities in action
We put communities at the heart of our giving activities. Nestlé engages with numerous partners at an international and local level to contribute to the well-being of the community.
At a global level, we proactively support our global partners, The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and World Central Kitchen (WCK), and The Global FoodBanking Network (GFN) to facilitate help on the ground for people in need. By focusing on our combined strengths, we work together towards mutual giving aims.
In 2023, two thirds of Nestlé giving, valued at CHF 177.4 million, was made up of product donations mainly to foodbanks or disaster relief agencies. Our support of global partners through both financial and product donations includes:
- helping the IFRC to support 157 million people suffering from acute food insecurity across Africa with long-term resilience strategies through their dedicated Africa Hunger Crisis Appeal.
- contributing to the IFRC's Disaster Response Emergency Fund (DREF) targeting 14.6 million people in 2023 with CHF 74.2 million allocated to 160 disaster operations.
- aiding WCK's response to humanitarian, climate, and community crises with 100 million meals distributed in 2023 to individuals and families affected by disasters.
- backing GFN in their mission to alleviate hunger by addressing food logistics and waste issues, ensuring continuous access to food for more than 30 million people in over 50 countries. Nestlé's donations to GFN foodbanks worldwide average 5.2 million kilos of product every year.
Our employees care too
Our employees worldwide generously give their time to support people in need. Through dedicated employee volunteering, fundraising campaigns and donation drives, Nestlé employees strengthen the sense of community making a positive difference in the regions where employees live and work.
How to make a support request
Nestlé has many valued, longstanding, international and local partnerships that we prioritise to ensure maximum impact. In exceptional circumstances we may be able to support additional programs that align with our global framework.
Requests for support of a project that operates within one country (including Switzerland) should be directed to the local Nestlé entity. Please consult our global contact directory.
Requests for support of programs of global nature may be submitted to [email protected].
If you are seeking support for a project in our HQ community of Canton de Vaud which brings positive value to community life, you can learn more about our grant application criteria and process.
We work with partners to ensure the most effective support for our communities
We strive to be the neighbor of choice for our communities through purposeful giving, engaging with a number of partners at an international and local level.
