The Mitsubishi Electric SOCIO-ROOTS Fund was established in 1992 as a gift program in which the Company matches any donation made by an employee, thus doubling the goodwill of the gift. More than 1,000 employees participate in the Fund each year. As of March 2011, the Fund had provided a total of approximately ¥585 million to some 1,400 various social welfare facilities and programs.

In recent years, we have extended the scope of our donations to include social welfare activities related to environmental preservation and disaster relief. In fiscal 2008, we made contributions to the Children's Forest Program in Malaysia organized by OISCA (an international NGO engaged in agricultural development and environmental protection activities, mainly in Asia and the Pacific region) and participated in local tree-planting activities under a framework that brings together the Fund and our corporate achievement award system.

In fiscal 2010, we contributed part of the cost of introducing a photovoltaic power generation system to a children's home through the gift program. We matched the amount donated by a recipient of a Mitsubishi Electric Corporate Award and contributed the combined amount to the children's home, with hopes of nurturing children's awareness of environmental preservation, energy conservation, and ecological issues.

Looking ahead, Mitsubishi Electric will continue to value the goodwill of our employees and make steady efforts to develop activities rooted in local communities.

Afforestation activities in Malaysia

Presentation held for OISCA

Presentation to the Seikou Gakuen children's home

Photovoltaic panels installed on roof

On 10th September 2010 the children's charity 'Friedensdorf International' received a donation totalling €3000 from Mitsubishi Electric Europe B.V. The cheque, which was handed over by employees of the German Branch, was raised by the company's mountain bike team who worked very hard to complete the 24-hour mountain bike race that took place in Duisburg on the 7th and 8th August 2010.

This year the mountain bike team raced not only for fun, but also for a good cause. Each member of the team was sponsored an amount per lap to raise funds for the charity. Along with the donations of employees, divisions and the management of Mitsubishi Electric, the amount was collected and handed over to the charity, which uses its funds to aid children in areas of war and crisis.

Continuing their traditional program of corporate social responsibility, in 2011 the Russian Branch of Mitsubishi Electric Europe BV donated a number of specially designed medical beds to a children's home located in Mary El Republic, and organised trips for children at local foster homes to the Museum of Oriental Art in Moscow. During the visit the children viewed art from Japan and China and ate an authentic Japanese meal. After the event the children received presents of backpacks and stationery to benefit their future studies. Commenting on the impressions the children took from the day their teachers said "the boys were most strongly impressed by the Samurai weapons and the girls by a collection of kimono and ancient wooden shoes. Noritsugu Uemura, General Director of Mitsubishi Electric Europe's Russian branch commented "We are very pleased that the events have been so successful and the children enjoyed them. We wanted to offer the children new experiences and I think we succeeded in that. We hope that these few hours spent within the Museum of Oriental Art will be remembered by them for a long time to come and encourage them to learn about the culture and traditions of the land of the rising sun as much as possible."

On April 30, 2011, members of Mitsubishi Electric Automation Thailand helped repaint the buildings at a school in Huai Kasian in Prachinburi Province. More than 100 employees donning the same orange T-shirt worked together under the theme, "Let's spend the day doing a good deed" with hopes that the children will enjoy studying in their newly painted light-blue schoolhouse. After completing the task, the volunteers were rewarded with words of delight from the children and teachers that their school looks almost new again.

Mitsubishi Electric Asia Pte Ltd (MEAP) partners with the Asian Women's Welfare Association (AWWA) on various programmes for children with special needs, those who are physically challenged and the elderly.

In August 2010, 29 employees participated and guided the children with special needs in the AWWA's Children Art Event. Each MEAP employee looked after a group of children and helped them to complete the drawings. The children had fun interacting with their MEAP buddy and the session ended with a balloon sculpting performance.

Selected drawings by the children will be used in Mitsubishi Electric Asia Pte Ltd's 2011 calendar.

Every year, Mitsubishi Electric companies in Thailand jointly engage in volunteer activities under the support and coordination of the Mitsubishi Electric Thai Foundation. The foundation selected a school in Prachinburi Province as the beneficiary of the activities for fiscal 2011, and as many as 169 employees participated in planting trees and vegetables, repairing playground equipment, and painting the buildings at the school in January 2011. The school is affiliated with a temple, and consists of a preschool and primary school with a combined total of 53 students. The volunteers spent the day working alongside the students, and received heartfelt gratitude from the teachers and students once their work was done.

Mitsubishi Electric Taiwan Co., Ltd. placed a recycling box for used clothes in its Taipei office during the Chinese New Year 2011 to support the Taipei Hsinye Mental Rehabilitation United Families Association (Hsinye). Hsinye offers assistance to people with mental illnesses to support their return to society and recycling clothes is the one of their programs that promotes social independence. Mitsubishi Electric Taiwan employees donated used clothes to help support the independence of people with mental disabilities and benefit the environment.

Mitsubishi Electric Europe, B.V. (French Branch) provides financial and material support to organizations that exist to improve the lives of those in need. This includes E.L.A., a European association of parents and patients who unite against genetic muscular dystrophy, a disease that gradually paralyzes vital functions. Another is Fondation pour l'Enfance, which is dedicated to the improvement of child protection in France and other countries through specific training and actions, and whose president is Mrs. Giscard d' Estaing, wife of the former French president.

The Mitsubishi Electric Gunma Volunteer (MGV) Group provides an annual tree-pruning service to elderly people who live alone. In 2010, which marks the 13th year of activities by the group, 29 members divided into teams of four to twelve, and pruned trees and shrubs at four homes. After around two hours, the gardens took on a refreshing new look, and the volunteers were rewarded with words of appreciation from the homeowners. MGV intends to continue this volunteer service into the future as part of its community contribution activities.