The challenge
The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the biggest challenges the world has seen in decades. In a very short time, it has fundamentally changed the lives of billions of people: in their private life as well as in their professional environment. Uncertainty about how things will continue is causing many worries and fears.Siemens COVID-19 Relief Fund achieved global reach
As it became clear that the COVID-19 pandemic would fundamentally change the lives of billions of people, Siemens called on its employees to help and donate to the Covid-19 relief fund that was set up under the auspices of Siemens Caring Hands e.V. This relief fund is to provide support, without red tape, to relief organizations and medical facilities as well as to individuals impacted by the COVID-19 crisis worldwide.
The participation rate has been incredible! The Siemens employees’ willingness to donate has clearly exceeded expectations. A total of 15.2 million euros (including corporate donations and matchings) is available for aid projects. These donations provide help all over the world.
This includes local initiatives with NGOs in the individual countries as well as global initiatives directly managed by Siemens Caring Hands e.V. The following examples show selected initiatives from different countries.
Protective equipment and tests
Siemens Caring Hands e.V. supports Helfende Hände, association for the care of children and adults with multiple disabilities. The donation enables the purchase of protective equipment and tests for the 270 employees and the 160 accompanied children and adults.
Oxygen concentrators for hospitals
To help combat the Covid-19 crisis, Siemens Caring Hands makes 100 oxygen concentrators available with the help of Caritas Germany. These will be delivered to hospitals in Bengaluru, Goa and Chennai by mid-June 2021 and will facilitate the treatment of COVID-19 patients.
Hygienic use of face masks
In India, Siemens Caring Hands e.V. is working with the startup BoxMeo to offer simple solutions for the hygienic use of face masks. For this purpose, 10,000 boxes were donated to people in need, to enable them to clean masks from possible Covid-19 viruses by means of solar heat.
Ultrasound machines for hospitals
In Argentina, cash donations are used to provide three ultrasound machines to hospitals in the City and Province of Buenos Aires for the support of the National Ministry of Health. An estimated 11,200 patients can be treated by each equipment in one year.
Mental health support
In Australia, we are collaborating with Beyond Blue.
Food distribution
The monetary donations in Bangladesh are used to provide food for the needy through the organization Bidyanondo. This benefits thousands of needy families.
SOS Children's Villages
The monetary donations in Bolivia go to Aldeas Infantiles SOS to help provide food, cleaning and digitization supplies for approximately 15,000 children in need.
Support of local health system
Siemens Caring Hands e.V. supports the local initiative Salvando Vidas to improve the health system of 16 Amazonian communities and 3 cities in the southeast. In total 19 hospitals received protection material for medical staff, benefiting more than 1.3m people in the region.
©André Talles
Canadian Red Cross
In Canada, the donations are used to support the Canadian Red Cross in providing assistance to medical facilities, setting up emergency hospitals and giving access to relief supplies and food as well as further projects.
Handwashing stations and distribution of food and protective masks
In Colombia, the donations will be used to provide food packages for more than 1,300 families in need in order to enable them to stay at home. Furthermore, the money was used for 120 public handwashing stations. The distribution of 5,000 protective masks is in progress, so that people in Colombia can protect themselves from infection.
Water Sanitation Systems for schools
In Chile, we support the Alfredo Zolezzi Foundation in providing access to clean water to approx. 1,600 people in Puchuncavi by installing Plasma Water Sanitation Systems in schools.
PPEs for healthcare workers
The Centro de Innovación of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile receives donations that will be used to produce around 5,000 optimized face shields.
Projects with Diakonie
Diakonie received donations that are used to run dozens of charity programmes for elderly, disabled, ill, socially disadvantaged people all across the country.
Infrastructure for sanitation and hand washing
Siemens Caring Hands e.V. works together with the organization Techo Ecuador to support poor families without access to basic sanitation. The donations will be used to build five composting toilets and create a suitable infrastructure for hand washing.
Covid-19 tests for homeless shelters
Siemens Caring Hands e.V. supports the Berliner Stadtmission by providing Covid-19 tests that ensure the safe care of people without a home in emergency shelters.
Mobile food distribution
Tafel Erlangen distributes 7 tons of food to about 1,700 people in need every week. The TafelMobil, which is supported by Siemens Caring Hands, delivers food to people at home who are no longer able to come to the food bank themselves due to Covid-19.
IT-System to provide safer care for patients
The donation to Sozialstation Neufahrn will be used to implement a new IT system. The system will enable better and safer care for more than 200 patients and elderly people and thus support the nurses in their demanding work during the pandemic.
Media literacy for children
Modern digital media have become an indispensable part of children's lives, especially since the Covid-19 crisis. Siemens Caring Hands e.V. therefore supports the "Medienlöwen" project of the German Child Protection League. The media skills training is aimed at children in grades 3 to 7 and teaches them how to use smartphones, tablets and other digital gadgets.
Support for the Nuremberg metropolitan region
Siemens and Siemens Caring Hands e.V. are donating to the cities of Erlangen, Fürth and Nuremberg to help those affected by the pandemic with various educational and social measures. A large part of the donation will be used to purchase digital equipment and terminals such as PCs, laptops, printers and necessary accessories. Another portion will be used to provide financial support to social institutions and families in need.
Digital assets to fight the pandemic
Siemens Caring Hands e.V. colaborates with the THW foundation to assist the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) with their digital transformation, thus supporting the work of the essential organization in times of crisis. The donation consists of 668 tablets and the provision of apps that can help with order management as well as respiratory protection monitoring.
Supply of food and masks
In Hong Kong (China), donations are made to St. James' Settlement in order to provide more than 1,600 food packs and 2,000 surgical masks for people affected by the Corona pandemic.
Support for healthcare infrastructure and humanitarian aid
In collaboration with the Indian government Siemens supports a combined program tackling healthcare and humanity aspects of the pandemic. Overall, Siemens and its employees in India collected donations totaling 283,000 Euros.
Support of the Italian Health Institute
In Italy, donations amounting to 200,000 euros were given to the Istituto Superiore di Sanitá. Thanks to the substantial donations from Siemens Caring Hands e.V., a multimedia crisis room will be set up at the Italian Health Institute in Rome. The aim is to optimize the coordination and control of emergency operations. For this purpose, a corresponding technological infrastructure can now be set up, which will provide Italy with sustainable help in similar crises in the future.
Support for healthcare institutions
In Mexico, donations are used for the development and performance of the Hospital Conversion Platform in order to support healthcare institutions.
PPEs for medical institutions
In Pakistan, donations were used for the procurement and distribution of more than 1,000 PPEs to medical institutions in most need in Balochistan and Sindh.
Covid-19 Tests
Siemens Caring Hands e.V. provides 3.840 antigen tests to detect infected inhabitants of Amadora Municipality in Portugal. The tests are used to detect Covid infections in 17 elderly homes, 52 schools and 13 health centers to prevent the virus from spreading.
Support for poor and disabled children
In Peru, monetary donations go to Colegio La Alegría en el Señor. Poor and disabled children will benefit from these donations and receive the necessary treatment and education.
Remote learning for children in need
In Peru, the monetary donations will also help poor children to access STEM education from home. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many schools have closed in the country; with this support, children will be able to finish high school with a good level of education.
Medical equipment for hospitals
In Russia, donations are used to support Covid-19 hospitals by providing 44 irradiators-recirculators. The initiative is carried out together with the organizations Izgolek and CAF Russia.
STEM Education for Innovation
In Latin America, Siemens Caring Hands e.V. supports the Siemens Stiftung in developing digital educational content for teachers and students thus fostering STEM education.
Modular hospital solution
The monetary donations are used to provide a separate modular hospital solution with a 100 bed capacity to the Cecilia Makiwane Hospital in East London. This will help to ease the burden on the hospital and ensure quality healthcare.
Scholarships for children in need
In Turkey, Siemens Caring Hands e.V. works with TEV to provide scholarships to 47 children who have lost their parents due to corona, thus ensuring their continued education.
Safe reopening of HBCUs
In the US, we have teamed up with Testing for America (TFA) to supply funding and COVID-19 testing technologies to support the safe reopening of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) across the country. The support included direct investments in COVID-19 testing and the supports/protocols to administer the program on campus at Delaware State University as well as 7 additional campuses.
Support of community health centers
Siemens and Siemens Foundation support community health centers in several cities (e.g. Chicago, Detroit, New York, Los Angeles) in providing primary care for the medically underserved and helping the most vulnerable communities.
Provision of food to families in need
Siemens Caring Hands e.V works together with the Trussell Trust which supports a network of over 1,200 food bank centres in the UK provide emergency food and support to people and families locked in poverty, and campaigns for change to end the need for food banks in the UK.
Water and sanitation services for health facilities
The Siemens Caring Hands donation for Yemen went to UNICEF, which provides health facilities with water and sanitation services in order to protect children and families, affected by pandemic and years of conflict within the country.
© UNICEF/UNI324884
Siemens Caring Hands e.V. supports Helfende Hände, association for the care of children and adults with multiple disabilities. The donation enables the purchase of protective equipment and tests for the 270 employees and the 160 accompanied children and adults.
To help combat the Covid-19 crisis, Siemens Caring Hands makes 100 oxygen concentrators available with the help of Caritas Germany. These will be delivered to hospitals in Bengaluru, Goa and Chennai by mid-June 2021 and will facilitate the treatment of COVID-19 patients.
In India, Siemens Caring Hands e.V. is working with the startup BoxMeo to offer simple solutions for the hygienic use of face masks. For this purpose, 10,000 boxes were donated to people in need, to enable them to clean masks from possible Covid-19 viruses by means of solar heat.
In Argentina, cash donations are used to provide three ultrasound machines to hospitals in the City and Province of Buenos Aires for the support of the National Ministry of Health. An estimated 11,200 patients can be treated by each equipment in one year.
The monetary donations in Bangladesh are used to provide food for the needy through the organization Bidyanondo. This benefits thousands of needy families.
The monetary donations in Bolivia go to Aldeas Infantiles SOS to help provide food, cleaning and digitization supplies for approximately 15,000 children in need.
Siemens Caring Hands e.V. supports the local initiative Salvando Vidas to improve the health system of 16 Amazonian communities and 3 cities in the southeast. In total 19 hospitals received protection material for medical staff, benefiting more than 1.3m people in the region.
©André Talles
In Canada, the donations are used to support the Canadian Red Cross in providing assistance to medical facilities, setting up emergency hospitals and giving access to relief supplies and food as well as further projects.
In Colombia, the donations will be used to provide food packages for more than 1,300 families in need in order to enable them to stay at home. Furthermore, the money was used for 120 public handwashing stations. The distribution of 5,000 protective masks is in progress, so that people in Colombia can protect themselves from infection.
In Chile, we support the Alfredo Zolezzi Foundation in providing access to clean water to approx. 1,600 people in Puchuncavi by installing Plasma Water Sanitation Systems in schools.
The Centro de Innovación of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile receives donations that will be used to produce around 5,000 optimized face shields.
Diakonie received donations that are used to run dozens of charity programmes for elderly, disabled, ill, socially disadvantaged people all across the country.
Siemens Caring Hands e.V. works together with the organization Techo Ecuador to support poor families without access to basic sanitation. The donations will be used to build five composting toilets and create a suitable infrastructure for hand washing.
Siemens Caring Hands e.V. supports the Berliner Stadtmission by providing Covid-19 tests that ensure the safe care of people without a home in emergency shelters.
Tafel Erlangen distributes 7 tons of food to about 1,700 people in need every week. The TafelMobil, which is supported by Siemens Caring Hands, delivers food to people at home who are no longer able to come to the food bank themselves due to Covid-19.
The donation to Sozialstation Neufahrn will be used to implement a new IT system. The system will enable better and safer care for more than 200 patients and elderly people and thus support the nurses in their demanding work during the pandemic.
Modern digital media have become an indispensable part of children's lives, especially since the Covid-19 crisis. Siemens Caring Hands e.V. therefore supports the "Medienlöwen" project of the German Child Protection League. The media skills training is aimed at children in grades 3 to 7 and teaches them how to use smartphones, tablets and other digital gadgets.
Siemens and Siemens Caring Hands e.V. are donating to the cities of Erlangen, Fürth and Nuremberg to help those affected by the pandemic with various educational and social measures. A large part of the donation will be used to purchase digital equipment and terminals such as PCs, laptops, printers and necessary accessories. Another portion will be used to provide financial support to social institutions and families in need.
Siemens Caring Hands e.V. colaborates with the THW foundation to assist the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) with their digital transformation, thus supporting the work of the essential organization in times of crisis. The donation consists of 668 tablets and the provision of apps that can help with order management as well as respiratory protection monitoring.
In Hong Kong (China), donations are made to St. James' Settlement in order to provide more than 1,600 food packs and 2,000 surgical masks for people affected by the Corona pandemic.
In collaboration with the Indian government Siemens supports a combined program tackling healthcare and humanity aspects of the pandemic. Overall, Siemens and its employees in India collected donations totaling 283,000 Euros.
In Italy, donations amounting to 200,000 euros were given to the Istituto Superiore di Sanitá. Thanks to the substantial donations from Siemens Caring Hands e.V., a multimedia crisis room will be set up at the Italian Health Institute in Rome. The aim is to optimize the coordination and control of emergency operations. For this purpose, a corresponding technological infrastructure can now be set up, which will provide Italy with sustainable help in similar crises in the future.
In Mexico, donations are used for the development and performance of the Hospital Conversion Platform in order to support healthcare institutions.
In Pakistan, donations were used for the procurement and distribution of more than 1,000 PPEs to medical institutions in most need in Balochistan and Sindh.
Siemens Caring Hands e.V. provides 3.840 antigen tests to detect infected inhabitants of Amadora Municipality in Portugal. The tests are used to detect Covid infections in 17 elderly homes, 52 schools and 13 health centers to prevent the virus from spreading.
In Peru, monetary donations go to Colegio La Alegría en el Señor. Poor and disabled children will benefit from these donations and receive the necessary treatment and education.
In Peru, the monetary donations will also help poor children to access STEM education from home. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many schools have closed in the country; with this support, children will be able to finish high school with a good level of education.
In Russia, donations are used to support Covid-19 hospitals by providing 44 irradiators-recirculators. The initiative is carried out together with the organizations Izgolek and CAF Russia.
In Latin America, Siemens Caring Hands e.V. supports the Siemens Stiftung in developing digital educational content for teachers and students thus fostering STEM education.
The monetary donations are used to provide a separate modular hospital solution with a 100 bed capacity to the Cecilia Makiwane Hospital in East London. This will help to ease the burden on the hospital and ensure quality healthcare.
In Turkey, Siemens Caring Hands e.V. works with TEV to provide scholarships to 47 children who have lost their parents due to corona, thus ensuring their continued education.
In the US, we have teamed up with Testing for America (TFA) to supply funding and COVID-19 testing technologies to support the safe reopening of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) across the country. The support included direct investments in COVID-19 testing and the supports/protocols to administer the program on campus at Delaware State University as well as 7 additional campuses.
Siemens and Siemens Foundation support community health centers in several cities (e.g. Chicago, Detroit, New York, Los Angeles) in providing primary care for the medically underserved and helping the most vulnerable communities.
Siemens Caring Hands e.V works together with the Trussell Trust which supports a network of over 1,200 food bank centres in the UK provide emergency food and support to people and families locked in poverty, and campaigns for change to end the need for food banks in the UK.
The Siemens Caring Hands donation for Yemen went to UNICEF, which provides health facilities with water and sanitation services in order to protect children and families, affected by pandemic and years of conflict within the country.
© UNICEF/UNI324884
Further Lighthouse projects are currently in progress, especially to provide the most targeted, effective support possible to the people in the countries and regions affected.
Project Updates
Who can donate?
Employees of Siemens Healthineers and Siemens Gamesa, as well as any other interested individuals are welcome to participate in the initiative (Siemens AG employees can find further information in the Siemens intranet – please find the link in the section below). Starting today, you can make monetary donations to Siemens Caring Hands e.V. by specifying “COVID-19” as the purpose of the gift.
How to donate
To donate, please use the following account:
IBAN: DE13 7007 0010 0033 3377 02
BIC: DEUTDEMMXXX
at Deutsche Bank.
Tax information for the tax deductibility of donations from individuals and companies
Siemens Caring Hands e.V. is recognized by the Munich Tax Office as serving charitable and non-profit purposes (including promotion of public health and public health care, promotion of the welfare system).
For donations from private individuals and companies taxable in Germany up to EUR 200, a simplified proof of your donation is sufficient in the context of your tax return (e.g. cash payment slip, bank account statement, printout from online banking). A donation receipt will therefore not be issued for individual donations up to EUR 200.
For donations over EUR 200 you will receive a donation receipt from Siemens Caring Hands e.V. For this purpose, we ask you to provide us with your complete private address or the company address for donations from companies (via payment reference).
For people who are not taxable in Germany, tax deductibility is generally problematic. In this case, please contact your tax advisor.
Donations by Siemens employees
Employees of Siemens AG and of Siemens affiliated companies can find further information about the course of action and the initiative here.
About Siemens Caring Hands
Siemens Caring Hands e.V. is a charitable association that was founded at the initiative of Siemens AG in 2001.
At the time, Siemens AG Management and employees wanted to provide direct, uncomplicated assistance to victims of the September 11 attacks.
Caring Hands also reacted in 2004 to the large-scale tsunami in Asia and in 2013 to the historic flood in Germany. The charity has also provided assistance in response to several other natural disasters.
The association is especially active in providing support in major emergencies and pursues charitable and non-profit purposes. These include the promotion of assistance for disaster victims, support for fire / disaster / civil protection and the promotion of the public health system.
The association is based in Munich. Members of the board are.:
- Prof. Dr. Christian Kaeser (Chairman),
- Peter Kastenmeier (1st deputy chairman)
- Prof. Dr. Stephan Frucht (2nd deputy chairman)