IMD_SustainabilityReport_Digital

IMD’s culture & operations

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Contributing to the community Community engagement and volunteerism is an important part of IMD’s sustainability efforts in the surrounding region. It connects IMD’s employees to its community, builds relationships, enhances employee engagement and raises awareness of IMD’s impact on the local environment.

Several individuals at IMD also showed a personal initiative to help those in need, either by sewing masks during shortages or volunteering with local or international organizations. IMD supports these efforts by allowing employees to allocate some of their working hours to philanthropic service. In 2020, IMD staff organized a toy drive in support of Fondation Mere Sophia, a local organization that helps people in need. The toy drive supported 50 children. In addition, author royalties during the month of December for the new Family Philanthropy Navigator book written by Peter Vogel, Etienne Eichenberger and Malgorzata Kurak were also donated to the organization. A humanitarian mission to help refugees Sophie Corset, a faculty assistant at IMD, heeded the call to help the ongoing migrant crisis on the Greek island of Lesbos. Corset is enrolled in the Rapid Response team of Swiss Humanitarian Aid (SHA), part of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. The corps is a group of 700 people who are on call in time of need after periods of crisis or conflict. She was called to support the Swiss Rapid Response team in Lesbos, Greece, following the fire that burnt down the Moria camp on the island, a temporary home to 13,000 people. The main mission of the SHA team was to provide drinking water to the migrants in the new camp as the infrastructure was non-existent.

Faculty and staff also volunteered at supermarkets to collect food donations during Samedi du Partage, which benefits charities across the Lac Leman region.

“Having the opportunity to play a part in making a difference, even small, in the life of all these children, men and women who have been fleeing an even worse situation at home, provoked in me the urge and energy to act,” Corset said. “I love that this humanitarian work goes hand in hand with IMD’s vision of developing leaders and contributing to society.”