Corporate Social Responsibility

• Swire and the Community
• Scholarships

Swire's philanthropy committee, chaired by a Board Director, meets regularly during the year to review and administer our charitable activities and the community programmes that receive financial support as well as donations in kind to all the countries where we operate. These include recurrent scholarships, long-term sponsorship commitments, as well as environmental and arts and cultural initiatives. The committee maintains a close association with its major sponsorship projects to ensure they gain the maximum long-term benefit from Swire's assistance.

Swire has a long history of educational sponsorship, underlining our belief that giving children the chance to build a better future for themselves is one of the best ways to give something back to the communities that have helped our businesses to grow and prosper. Our support for education in Asia dates back to the early 1900s, when Swire became one of very few foreign firms to contribute to the foundation of the Hong Kong University - donating the sum of £40,000 (in today's terms, around £2 million), and endowing the Taikoo Chair of Engineering at the University. At the same time, Swire was granted the privilege of nominating four Taikoo Donor Scholars each year.

Down the years, Swire has awarded substantial funding for a number of HKU facilities, including, in the 1960s, the postgraduate Robert Black College. In the 1970s, Swire contributed to the construction of a new undergraduate hall of residence, the Swire Hall, and in the 1990s, supplied major funding for the establishment of the Swire Institute of Marine Science (SWIMS) at Cape D'Aguilar. In 2003, the Swire group pledged a further HK$4 million to upgrade the SWIMS facilities.

Swire has drawn many talented executives from amongst the ranks of Hong Kong University's graduates and the provision of graduate and post-graduate scholarships to the current generation of HKU students is our way of saying 'thank you' for some of the benefits we have enjoyed. The Swire Doctoral Scholarships scheme currently offers sponsorship for two Mainland postgraduate students annually to take up a three-year PhD course at HKU. In 2003, the Swire Postgraduate Scholarship - Master of Common Law and Swire Postgraduate Scholarship - Master of Economics were established to provide annual funding for two Mainland students to study one-year Masters degree courses at HKU. The Swire Graduate Studentship meanwhile funds a representative from the Hong Kong & Macao Affairs Office in Beijing as a visiting student at HKU.

The Chinese University of Hong Kong has also benefited from contributions towards the construction of lecture theatres in its social sciences building; the Swire Chair of the Faculty of Design at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University was named in recognition of group funding, and from 2006, HAESL has started sponsorship of three undergraduate engineering scholarships at the university. Swire currently funds 27 undergraduate scholarships at Hong Kong's six local universities; Cathay Pacific has meanwhile provided travel scholarships for over 190 students from around the world to study at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and also sponsors exchange programmes at the Chinese, and City Universities of Hong Kong.

In the 1980s, we established the Swire Education Trust to sponsor graduate and postgraduate places in the UK for scholars from around the world - placing special emphasis on students from countries where we do business. Swire has long-standing links with Oxford University and the Trust currently funds scholarships for postgraduate students from Asia to study at St. Antony's and at Nuffield College, as well as an annual postgraduate scholarship to University College for a student from Taiwan. A number of undergraduate places at University College are also provided for first-year HKU students, and three Swire Educational Trust scholars from Mainland China are currently studying at Oxford. The Swire Educational Trust also funds three places at UK universities for children of Swire staff in Hong Kong.

An important new initiative in 2005 was the establishment of the Swire International Young Fellows Programme, in conjunction with Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). Swire feels that if Hong Kong is to maintain its edge as one of the world's leading business and financial centres, it needs to stay at the forefront of the move towards greater internationalisation. The fellowship programme enables HKUST to admit six overseas students annually as full-time undergraduates on a variety of degree courses in different faculties, with scholarships to cover tuition, accommodation and living expenses in Hong Kong. At the same time, 20 selected local undergraduates have the opportunity to participate in HKUST's annual overseas exchange programmes, and receive Swire scholarships to attend leading universities in the US and Europe, for periods ranging from one semester to one year.

Swire has also been active in the support of primary and secondary education. In Mainland China, Swire Coca-Cola has provided funding for Project Hope, a Government-endorsed programme that seeks to improve standards of education in poorer, rural areas, and in 2005, Swire initiated the sponsorship of 20 teenagers from financially strained families to attend senior high school at Ruyuen, in Xiaokwan. Since 1994, the Swire Group Charitable Trust has been providing major financial assistance to the Taipei European Schools Foundation, which serves Taiwan's international community. Most recently, the Trust contributed NT$20 million towards construction of the new Swire European Primary Campus. Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, group companies support a scholarship scheme providing funding for 125 children of their employees from secondary up to university level.

The Taikoo Primary School in Hong Kong was established by Swire in 1923, as a free school for the children of its workforce at the Taikoo Sugar Refinery and Taikoo Dockyard; it became a Government-subsidised public school in 1947. In 2003, the school moved into a new 30-classroom campus financed and developed by Swire Properties. Today, the Swire Education Trust provides a number of scholarships for children at the school, and has allocated additional annual funding to employ two qualified Putonghua teachers and two native English-speaking teachers, with the aim of enhancing pupils' linguistic abilities.

Fluency in English - the global language of commerce - is a skill today's students must acquire at an early age if they are to ensure Hong Kong continues to prosper in its role as an international finance and services centre and a trading hub for the region. Swire supports a number of initiatives in this direction, including the Community English Language Laboratory (CELL), a free facility for adults wishing to improve their spoken English.

With the aim of ensuring Hong Kong's growing multi-racial population is fully integrated into the community, Swire Properties initiated 'We Are Hong Kong' in 2005. This programme offers the children of emigrants from South Asia familiarisation with Hong Kong society and culture and Cantonese language tuition, as well as involving them in local community work.

In Australia, the Swire Group Churchill Fellowships fund agricultural research, with a specific emphasis on the cotton growing industry, and Cathay Pacific and Swire Travel jointly sponsor a sports scholarship. In 2002, John Swire & Sons Pty and Clyde Agriculture contributed A$400,000 to the Back O'Bourke Exhibition Centre, an interpretative centre designed to teach young Australians about their outback heritage.

In the aviation field, Cathay Pacific's Cadet Pilot Programme has provided career opportunities for more than 300 cadets since 1988. Aircraft engineering associate HAECO has been training Hong Kong school-leavers to become certified engineers for over 50 years, and provides more than 800 different courses a year. As part of its long-term commitment to developing Hong Kong's aviation industry, Cathay Pacific supports the Hong Kong Air Cadet Corps' Advanced Aerospace Education Programme, which offers ground theory training to young people who aspire to join the industry. Launched in 2003, Cathay Pacific's 'I Can Fly' programme teaches aviation know-how and involves youngsters in community service projects, under the guidance of the airline's pilots.

In the UK, the Swire Charitable Trust has for many years made an annual award of ten Flying Scholarships to candidates selected by the Air League. The awards give enthusiastic young would-be pilots free access to a considerable amount of basic pilot training.

Encouraging staff to participate in its charitable and community programmes has become an integral part of Swire's CSR philosophy. For example, Swire Properties' Community Ambassadors programme offers Swire staff and their families the chance to become involved in community work, often with the elderly, with the aim of building a better and more integrated society. The company is also planning to implement a 'Green Ambassadors' programme, to tackle environmental issues.

Swire companies have been prominent in sponsoring the arts in Hong Kong. In 2005, Swire was the sole sponsor for classical pianist Rachel Cheung Wai-ching, who made her debut at the Hong Kong Arts Festival in that year. At 13 years old, she was the youngest performer ever to appear at the Festival.

In 2006, the Swire Group Charitable Trust committed to a three-year sponsorship deal of HK$36 million for the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and Swire is currently the orchestra's Principal Patron. The sponsorship is assisting the orchestra to bring an increasing variety of programmes, including free events, before the Hong Kong public, to host world-renowned international performers, and introduce outstanding young Chinese musicians. Meanwhile Cathay Pacific is the official carrier for the Asian Youth Orchestra.

Swire also provides funding for Hong Kong's Arts with the Disabled Association, an organisation that seeks to break down barriers and make art available to all members of society.

Swire Properties has made a particular commitment to promoting culture and the arts. The company has a variety of international artworks on permanent public display at its managed properties, and its free, guided Artwalks programme at Island East enables school groups and members of the public to engage more fully with some of these pieces. Live music is a regular feature at Swire Properties' shopping malls, and the company also provides free exhibition space to local galleries and young artists, while 'Friday Fest' at TaiKoo Place is a popular weekly event at which artists, performers and groups of musicians can showcase their talent. The company is the founding sponsor of Shakespeare4all (Hong Kong) where local primary school children partake in drama classes working alongside theatre professionals with adapted Shakespearean scripts. The aim is to provide an opportunity for native Cantonese speakers to gain confidence and English language fluency.

Recognising the vital importance of health education in schools, Swire Pacific and Cathay Pacific are major sponsors in Hong Kong of the Life Education Activity Programme (LEAP), a project which has had proven success in teaching primary, secondary and special needs students of the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse and smoking, through the medium of mobile classrooms.

Established in 1996, the Cathay Pacific Wheelchair Bank helps provide special chairs for Hong Kong children with neuromuscular diseases. Cathay Pacific's Change for Good annual inflight donation scheme, in association with the United Nation's Children's Fund, supports UNICEF programmes in over 150 countries. Dragonair operates a similar scheme in support of the work around the region of the flying eye hospital Project Orbis, while HAECO and its Xiamen subsidiary TAECO provide free aircraft maintenance services to the project. Swire is currently funding an Orbis student from Kunming at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Cathay Pacific also funds air travel for the underprivileged, and for those who need to travel abroad for life-saving surgery.

In the UK, John Swire & Sons provides support for a variety of charities, particularly those in the medical and educational fields. In Hong Kong, the Community Chest, The Hong Chi Association, the Outward Bound Trust, the Red Cross, the Society for the Promotion of Hospice Care, and the Sunnyside Club are amongst the many charities that have benefited from Swire sponsorship.

Swire has always responded generously to the needs of communities - and the aid organisations seeking to help them - following natural disasters, such as the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami of 26th December 2004, and the Pakistan earthquake of 8th October 2005. In Hong Kong alone, Swire raised over HK$10 million for tsunami victims through corporate and staff donations, and both Cathay Pacific and Dragonair flew relief flights to the affected areas. James Finlay has been heavily involved in tsunami relief efforts in Sri Lanka, where the company operated a refugee camp and has subsequently assisted with reconstruction projects. In Pakistan, Finlay's distributed medical aid, provisions, clothing and tents to refugees.