Nokia's main objective when making corporate donations is to invest in programs that are preventive, bringing together expertise from all sectors; private, public and civil society.

Nokia makes charitable contributions to many countries around the world, targeting issues which directly involve children. These include supporting schools and kindergartens, donating hospital equipment, and providing charity for children with disabilities.

We also support UNICEF through their annual Seasons Greetings Cards campaign. In the US and Canada, Nokia is a major contributor to the United Way, a coalition of charitable organizations which identifies and builds on community strengths and assets. In addition, Nokia employees have initiated an employee giving campaign which is held during the Fall each year. Nokia matches all employee contributions pledged during the campaign as well as employee charitable contributions made through the Employee Matching Gift program. Annually, more than US$ 500,000 is raised from these initiatives.

Disaster relief

When the need arises, Nokia makes charitable contributions in support of disaster relief efforts. Nokia cooperates with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to provide financial assistance when disasters occur around the world. We do not only focus on immediate disaster relief efforts, but also focus on long-term reconstruction efforts..

Our most recent contributions include:

Hurricane Katrina

In order to aid efforts to provide food and shelter to people affected by Hurricane Katrina's devastation in September 2005, Nokia made a donation of US $1,000,000 to the American Red Cross. During this crisis, the Red Cross placed priority on meeting the most urgent and critical needs, such as emergency shelter, food, and water.

The Nokia sponsored youth development program, Make a Connection Thru Art was adapted to give youth affected by Hurricane Katrina a voice to express their thoughts and concerns about the world through the use of digital media.

Watch some of the films created by children in order to express their personal reactions to Hurricane Katrina.

Southeast Asian tsunami

Our response to the tragic Southeast Asian tsunami disaster in December 2004 was to make an immediate cash donation from Nokia global, via the Finnish Red Cross. Approximately 1000 mobile phones were given to operators and rescue teams. Operator customer teams worked to restore and expand network capacity, as well as helping to monitor network stability and plan services.

Rapid and responsive employee volunteer efforts were organized through the Nokia volunteering program, either by working directly with aid organizations or participating in employee-giving campaigns. In numerous countries, Nokia matched employee collection campaigns by donating the same amount that was raised.

In addition, Nokia developed a longer-term recovery proposal for areas affected by the tsunami with a €2,500,000 Reconstruction Fund. The fund is managed by the International Youth Foundation (IYF), a global, non-governmental organization targeting youth. The programs will support a revival of traditional handicrafts, diversify the sources of income of the populations involved, provide access to capital and training to help affected people create their own small enterprises or gain new skills, and promote a larger scale of production.

Read how the Nokia-funded Tsunami Reconstruction Initiative opened its doors to train Mookda Noorak in boat building—the only female graduate of the course.

Earthquake in Pakistan

In response to the Pakistan earthquake of 2005, Nokia is funding rebuilding programs and projects over a three year period. These efforts consist of donations to the Edhi Foundation, the President's Earthquake Relief Fund and Red Cross Finland for a temporary hospital in Muzzafarabad. Nokia also made a handset donation directly to the affected region.

September 11, 2001

In close cooperation with the International Youth Foundation (IYF), we established a Nokia Education Fund for children who lost a parent or parents in the September 11, 2001 tragedies in the United States. The fund assists in covering college education expenses. Since July 2002, the Fund has disbursed 125 scholarships to 89 children whose parents were victims of the tragedy. The most popular degree programs are business, law, and education. About two-thirds of the recipients are undergraduate students. Over the past 12 months, 44 scholarships were awarded to 32 new recipients and 12 who were past recipients. The fund is available to affected children irrespective of their nationality or the location of their academic institution.