SAP Announces €3 Million COVID-19 Emergency Fund

Large or small, each contribution matters in the fight against COVID-19.

Fearless doctors, nurses, and healthcare professionals are taking care of those who have fallen ill while many parents have taken on the dual role of parent-teacher. Each of us is sheltering in place to protect loved ones and strangers alike.

The reality is that systems need support just like individuals do. Communities are struggling to provide for citizens in need. The workforce has changed practically overnight. Businesses long for continuity and a healthy supply chain. With so many challenges in our surroundings, there is a world of opportunity that belongs to all of us.

This is no time for business as usual. The most important thing we can all do — besides washing our hands — is play to our strengths. SAP’s strength lies in its people, products, and partnerships that include more than 440,000 businesses located in 180 countries across the world.

We Are All in This Together

On March 20, more than 43,000 German citizens, including SAP product owner Kevin Drieschner, answered a call to help through “Wir vs. Virus, der Hackathon der Bundesregierung” (We vs. Virus, the hackathon of the German government).

“I wanted to use my IT skills to help and I wasn’t alone,” Drieschner shared. “People from different industries and backgrounds came together on this challenge because we wanted to contribute; in our case, supporting the caregivers and hospital administrators during this crisis.”

Currently, there is no uniform system for recording and displaying bed capacity across Germany. Throughout the weekend, Drieschner worked virtually alongside 30 people prototyping ideas, which resulted in TrackYourBed, a responsive, Web-based solution that indicates hospital bed availability in real time. “Everyone is highly motivated to find solutions to COVID-19, but I’ve never experienced anything like this before.”

SAP is currently exploring further investment in this venture, as well as many other ideas that have emerged through COVID-19 sprint in the SAP One Billion Lives initiative, the company’s social intrapreneurship program.

Now more than ever, employees are looking to use their skills to contribute what they can. SAP has activated a COVID-19 response plan to help. The SAP Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) team is providing infrastructure and accelerating new ways to engage through virtual volunteering and pro-bono consulting, offering more than 50 projects to date. For example, some volunteer leaders are facilitating webinars for nonprofits on remote work while others are offering mentorship and coaching to support business continuity for social enterprises.

SAP has also established a €3 million COVID-19 Emergency Fund to support the urgent needs of the World Health Organization (WHO), the CDC Foundation, and smaller nonprofits and social enterprises that work on the front lines serving local communities in crisis.

“SAP stands with the WHO and supports its leadership in coordinating the global effort to mobilise the fight against COVID-19,” said Alexandra van der Ploeg, Head of SAP CSR. “Specifically, SAP is donating €1 million to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for the WHO hosted by Swiss Philanthropy Foundation and the United Nations Foundation for virus prevention and detection.”

SAP CSR partners with more than 1,200 nonprofits and social enterprises that are mostly small to midsize organisations. Collectively, they serve more than 4.5 million youth across 105 countries, primarily in the areas of quality education, decent work, and youth entrepreneurship.

“With 1 billion children currently out of school due to COVID-19, their services are needed now more than ever. Yet the global issues they are solving are complicated further because of the pandemic,” van der Ploeg shared. “SAP is making resources and expertise available to help our nonprofit and social enterprise partners effectively shift to remote operations. We want to help ensure they can maintain their much-needed services to their communities and not lay off staff.”

One of SAP’s strategic partnerships includes We Are Family Foundation’s Three Dot Dash global teen leader initiative, co-founded by legendary musician/producer Nile Rodgers.

For more than 10 years, We Are Family Foundation has welcomed global teen leaders from more than 52 countries across six continents. SAP is proud to support them and their life-changing solutions reaching millions globally.

While financial donations are an immediate way to give back, the power of sustainable community support lies within SAP’s focus for year-round skilled volunteering. With thousands of volunteers like Kevin Drieschner, SAP employees transfer their expertise and professional services to organisations in need.

SAP’s response plan, including the COVID-19 Emergency Fund, is part of a global response by the company highlighted in an open letter from SAP Co-CEOs Christian Klein and Jennifer Morgan: Together We Will Persevere and shared by Morgan on CNBC’s Mad Money” with Jim Cramer.