QBE.COM

QBE in the community

Throughout its long history, QBE has played an active role in the communities in which it operates. In 2011, we launched our major global corporate responsibility initiative, the QBE Foundation.

The QBE Foundation supports charities that help people overcome disadvantage, strengthen their abilities, and live more independently, successfully and productively.

Our corporate responsibility mirrors our insurance role in the community, where we assist people when they find themselves in need through accident or misadventure.

At QBE, we believe it is important to give back to the communities in which we operate. The QBE Foundation gives us a platform from which to do this with a co-ordinated approach to grants, employee matching and volunteer opportunities.

The QBE Foundation is guided by the QBE Foundation Committee which is responsible for reviewing all submissions and will make it’s funding decisions for the benefit of the community and in alignment with the philosophy of the Foundation.

Contact the QBE Foundation: qbefoundation@qbe.com

Below are just some of the initiatives that QBE staff contributed to in 2012.

Australian and New Zealand Operations Changing lives
	Mel* is one of the many young people helped through the Youth Off The Streets (YOTS) Street Walk program, which is supported by QBE Foundation workplace giving. Convinced that no one believed in her, Mel was sleeping on the streets and using drugs. A YOTS Street Walk team met Mel and supported her through an intensive drug rehabilitation program, reunited her with her family and she is now attending TAFE.^ Over the past 12 months, 65 QBE employees have volunteered with YOTS. One YOTS volunteer, Nicki Proberts, Senior Partnership Manager in QBE LMI, said: "I'm in awe of how much YOTS does to help kids at that crucial stage – they turn their lives around."
Latin American Operations Fostering work-readiness
	Junior Achievement Argentina (JA) is an organisation that fosters entrepreneurship in young people. JA runs programs that improve the work-readiness and financial literacy skills of young people across Argentina. A QBE Foundation grant funded the implementation of educational programs, educational events and development of new programs. QBE employees volunteered more than 1,000 hours for JA including QBE Argentina CEO, Gonzalo Delger, who sits on the JA board. Pictured here, students from the Nuestra Señora del Buen Consejo college in Buenos Aires eagerly await customers for the bath relaxation sets they developed, produced and marketed themselves.
North American Operations Sponsoring career advice
	15 QBE senior leaders took part in a volunteer opportunity in Harlem, New York, as part of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s (BGCA) CareerLaunch program. The QBE Foundation supports the BGCA on a national level, while also directly impacting the CareerLaunch program at 10 local clubs across the country. Devin Cobb, lead learning and development partner (left), listens to the specific interests of the program participants and offers career advice.
European Operations Assisting skills development
	The QBE Foundation used its association with rugby to help disadvantaged young people engage in sport while getting skills and qualifications to find employment through a grant spread across the Rugby Football Foundation, Wooden Spoon and The Prince’s Trust.
Asia Pacific Operations Providing quality education
	16 year old Sera* (left) missed out on several years of appropriate teaching. With the QBE Foundation paying her school and boarding fees at the Gospel School for the Deaf in Suva in Fiji, she is now excelling in some subjects. Nine year old Jone* (right) has improved dramatically in his four years at the school, especially with his language skills. QBE Foundation funding enables him to continue at the school.