Merck employees around the world are actively engaged in their communities.

This engagement benefits employees, their communities and Merck. For this reason, we've created a number of programs through which employees can contribute and participate in the communities in which they work and live.

To strengthen our culture of volunteerism, we have established a Global Employee Volunteerism Policy through which eligible Merck employees may receive up to 20 paid work hours per calendar year to volunteer. Since the policy's implementation in 2009, more than 18,000 employees completed more than 200,000 hours of volunteer work.

365 Merck Days Volunteer Program

Merck employees around the world are involved in volunteer efforts that improve their communities and enhance their neighbors' well-being. In February 2010, we introduced 365 Merck Days to foster that giving spirit. This global volunteer program celebrates the fortitude of our employees, granting volunteer release time and a website that provides information on how employees can become involved in volunteer activities. The site also provides the opportunity to share experiences through videos and photos with colleagues around the world. Merck has numerous volunteer programs in place around the world that address a variety of societal challenges. Here is a sample of those programs:

Love in Action (Korea): This program is MSD Korea's monthly employee volunteering program. Every third Saturday of the month, groups of employees volunteer for a variety of different charitable organizations, including cultural and community centers, senior nursing centers and orphanages. In 2010, the program won a Merck Diversity and Inclusion Award for its success in enhancing Merck's external image through community service.

Roll Up Your Sleeves (The Netherlands): Since 2004, MSD Netherlands has implemented an annual volunteers program called "Handen uit de mouwen" (Roll up your sleeves). The program was started to celebrate the site's 50th anniversary and has grown each year to include all employees and a variety of activities, ranging from organizing a day out for elderly people or underprivileged kids to cleaning up the garden at a nursery home or cooking meals for homeless people.

ARTZ (Artists for Alzheimer's) Initiative: In partnership with the community organization ARTZ, MSD France has created a volunteer program that is truly making a difference for Alzheimer's patients and their families. Ten volunteers from the Chibret site, who receive training, regularly accompany Alzheimer's patients to the Louvre Museum—an art therapy program that helps patients recover their communication skills.

Street Law (United States): Merck's Making Positive Choices Initiative brings together Merck employees with youth in schools and community-based agencies in Union County, New Jersey. The volunteers teach law, health, community safety and advocacy, to keep children from entering the juvenile justice system and to see that kids leaving the system are accepted back into their communities. During the 2010-2011 school year, over 50 Merck employees contributed more than 1,000 hours, reaching over 400 young people. Dollars for Doers—The 365 Merck Days Volunteer Program also has a "Dollars for Doers" component through which U.S.-based employees who log at least 40 volunteer hours during the calendar year at an eligible nonprofit organization can apply for a $500 "Dollars for Doers" cash contribution from The Merck Company Foundation. (Maximum of 80 hours and $1,000 per year, per employee; maximum of $5,000 per organization per year.)

Nontraditional Pro Bono Program: In 2010, Merck developed a formal pro bono program that leverages the professional skills of our employees to address some of the most important capacity-building needs of nonprofit organizations. By assessing the needs of nonprofit organizations and matching those needs with relevant and available employee skills, we provide high-impact pro bono support in many professional areas. Six projects this year included a human resources mentorship at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture (a nonprofit farm in New York State that creates healthy and sustainable food systems), and an IT security project with the American National Red Cross.

Merck Pro Bono Legal Program: This nationally recognized program, which began modestly in 1994, includes more than 100 attorneys, paralegals and administrative associates who provide pro bono legal services to residents of New Jersey and Pennsylvania who cannot otherwise afford legal representation. Merck is currently handling pro bono cases with legal service partners throughout New Jersey and in southeast Pennsylvania in the areas of guardianship, landlord/tenant, bankruptcy, family law, domestic violence, military veteran benefits, social security disability benefits and special education law. Since the program began, Merck legal professionals have devoted thousands of hours and handled hundreds of cases to provide equal justice to those in need.

Join My Village: is an innovative, online social change initiative that seeks to empower women and girls in the developing world. It is facilitated by the humanitarian organization CARE with financial support from Merck and General Mills. Join My Village leverages the collective power of individuals to click, text or view content about the lives of people in some of the poorest communities in the world, subsequently triggering charitable donations from corporate foundations. The goal is to inspire people to click, become more aware, and be a part of the solution to help end poverty around the world. In the first year, Merck and General Mills donated approximately $1 million to Join My Village, touching the lives of more than 2,000 families in Malawi, Africa.

Partnership for Giving: The Merck Partnership for Giving (P4G) is our year-round matching funds program that gives active U.S. and Puerto Rico-based employees and retirees the opportunity to support health and human services agencies, accredited educational institutions, arts and culture, animal welfare and environmental organizations of their choice. The Merck Company Foundation will match employee and retiree contributions of up to $30,000 a year.

Touched by an Agency: To recognize and thank the many people and organizations that have made a difference in our own lives and the lives of our families, U.S.-based employees are invited each year to nominate nonprofit agencies to receive a $1,000 "Thank You Grant" through the Merck P4G program. Employees share their personal experiences with these agencies on the Merck P4G website.

Merck Blood Drive: Merck runs blood drives at many of its sites around the world. In Pennsylvania, for example, blood drives are held five times each year with the help of our partner, the American Red Cross.