Society

Never forget your humanity, and respect human dignity in your dealings with others.

Robert Bosch, 1920

Taking responsibility – beyond corporate boundaries

We see ourselves as a corporate citizen and take an active stance in society also beyond the scope of our own business activities. In our activities, we distinguish between corporate philanthropy, corporate citizenship, political lobbying, and dialogue with our stakeholders. Bosch realigned its corporate philanthropy and corporate citizenship activities at the start of the year 2022 to contribute even more effectively and purposefully to solving the most pressing challenges of our age. Accordingly, we have set the following priority areas for our donations:

Living sustainably:

citizen projects promoting climate action in everyday life

Education for the high-tech world:

projects to develop socially disadvantaged children and young people’s skills for technological change

Social cohesion:

projects strengthening democracy and tolerance, especially at Bosch locations

27.4 million euros

In the year 2022, the Bosch Group donated 27.4 million euros worldwide to charitable purposes.

Global commitment

In several countries, Bosch’s regional companies have established dedicated institutions tasked with distributing donations. These entities are organized as national public-benefit institutions. Specifically, the institutions are as follows:

Brazil

Instituto Robert Bosch

Instituto Robert Bosch has been active in Brazil for 50 years. The partnerships built over the past five decades – the institute was founded in 1971 – have already improved the quality of life for thousands of people to date. Founded as Associação Beneficente Robert Bosch, the foundation initially set itself the goal of promoting health and then in 2004 shifted its focus to promoting education as Instituto Robert Bosch. Since then, the foundation has pursued the goal of promoting the development of socially disadvantaged children and young people through education.

Find out more about its work

Picture with slogan “Charity for a better life.”

China

Bosch China Charity Center

Founded in 2011, the Bosch China Charity Center (BCCC) coordinates the social initiatives of our locations in China. True to its guiding principle “Charity for A Better Life,” the center focuses on projects to promote education, reduce poverty, promote social community, and pursue philanthropy.

Find out more about its work

India

Bosch India Foundation

Since 2008, the Bosch India Foundation has been using its education offers to help people lead independent lives, regardless of their background. Its offering spans training courses for unemployed young people from rural areas through to self-help groups for rural women, who can thus start their own microenterprises and earn additional income. Furthermore, the foundation finances medical care for sick children and pregnant women in cooperation with local organizations.

Find out more about its work

Girl taking a close look at an exhibition.

USA

Bosch Community Fund

Mexico

Fundación Robert Bosch México

Founded in 2016, Fundación Robert Bosch México supports the education of disadvantaged children and adolescents in the vicinity of our company sites in Mexico. The foundation provides infrastructure and equipment for schools, awards scholarships, and promotes the development of basic competencies and skills.

Find out more about its work

A boy doing handicrafts with a second person.

Romania

Fundatia Bosch Romania

Since its establishment in 2020, Fundatia Bosch Romania has pursued the goal of bringing about positive social change for the most disadvantaged, but also for society as a whole. In various initiatives and projects, the foundation addresses social challenges by joining forces with other relevant actors and sharing resources.

Find out more about its work

Robert Bosch Stiftung

Not-for-profit, independent, and impartial, Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH works on the major social challenges of our time in relation to health, education, and global issues. As a force for positive change in civil society, it pursues initiatives in these three support areas.

One of Europe’s major foundations associated with a private company, it has been fulfilling the mission imparted on it by its founder Robert Bosch for almost 60 years by continuing his commitment to social and societal causes in a contemporary form. To this end, the foundation maintains its own institutions, implements innovative projects, and works together with a wide range of partners, to which it provides support as needed.

The foundation runs the Bosch Health Campus in Stuttgart, which draws together all the foundation’s institutions and activities in the field of healthcare, including the Robert Bosch Hospital, Dr. Margarete Fischer-Bosch-Institute of Clinical Pharmacology, and Robert Bosch Center for Tumor Diseases. Robert Bosch Stiftung is also a shareholder of an international school in Freiburg im Breisgau, the Robert Bosch College UWC, and of the International Alumni Center (iac) in Berlin.

Robert Bosch Stiftung holds roughly 94 percent of the shares in Robert Bosch GmbH. It funds its work from the dividends it receives from this shareholding, and pursues its objectives independently from the company. Since its establishment in 1964, it has invested almost 2.2 billion euros in charitable work.

Bosch sustainability report 2022

Political lobbying and dialogue with stakeholders

Our aim is to advocate for technology and societal solutions in the fields of relevance to us with a focus on technical feasibility and impact on society. We also want to do justice in this regard to the complete spectrum of requirements of our stakeholders. We are committed to remaining politically neutral and seek to engage in dialogue with all relevant political parties.

Political lobbying activities

Our political lobbying activities aim to identify at an early stage debates and developments concerning policies and initiatives that can affect our products, our company sites, or our business operations in general. As a rule, the Bosch Group supports political framework conditions that are conducive to innovation and endeavors to find possible solutions for the challenges facing society.

Transparency is a central principle for the political lobbying of Bosch’s interests. Consistent with this understanding, the company is registered in the relevant transparency registers worldwide, including in the United States, in Germany, or at the level of the European Union. Depending on the respective legislation, the entries render the scope and content of political advocacy. Accordingly, Robert Bosch GmbH’s entry in the EU Transparency Register describes in detail the company’s position and its political interests, for instance. In addition, the entry details the consultations and working groups in which the company takes part.

Priority topics

The priorities of our political lobbying activities are set each year by the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH. Climate policy, data and digital policy, as well as legislation in the area of sustainability, are particular focal points.

Active stakeholder dialogue

By means of topic-specific events, we seek to engage in dialogue with policymakers, NGOs, and interested members of the general public. Back in 2019, we launched a new stakeholder dialogue series for this purpose, which has since become an established format for exchange, transparency, and the joint search for solutions.