BMW fund opens hearts for the needy

Established in 2008 by German automaker BMW and the China Charity Foundation, the BMW Warm Heart Fund has played an important role in integrating the BMW family, including the employees at the company and the dealerships, as well as car owners, in various social responsible activities.

Since its establishment, the fund has received nearly 80 million yuan ($12.8 million) in donations. Programs sponsored by the fund cover areas including cultural promotion, educational support, environmental protection and social care.

The BMW Culture Journey is a star program among the company's corporate social responsibility activities. The initiative was started in 2007 to raise public awareness of China's precious cultural heritage.

In the past six years, teams have driven more than 14,000 kilometers and visited more than 150 cultural heritage sites. The fund has offered donations of more than 6 million yuan to heritage sites in urgent need of protection, and to several research projects.

The BMW Joy Home is a relatively new program under the fund. Since June 2011, BMW and its dealerships across the country have donated books, computers, stationery and sports goods to selected schools, and have built study and extracurricular activity centers.

A standard BMW Joy Home center is equipped with 10,000 books, six computers and one projector, as well as a variety of sports equipment and musical instruments.

By the end of July, a total of 52 BMW Joy Home centers had been set up in schools. The number is expected to rise to 60 by the end of the year, with the facilities covering 28 provinces and autonomous regions in China and benefiting more than 50,000 children.