Engagement Partnerships
Engagement Partnerships
Together we can achieve more. In line with this insight, we cooperate with non-profit organisations that espouse causes such as education, medical care in crisis situations and war zones, and other human rights.
We maintain strategic support partnerships with selected organisations in order to create added social value, both regionally and in international projects.
International engagement partners
| We have been supporting Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) as a collaborative initiative by all CMS locations since 2020. MSF provides emergency medical aid in areas affected by crises, war or natural disasters. The international organisation delivers quick, effective and unbureaucratic help to people, regardless of origin, religion or political orientation. We promote MSF’s work through donations and internal fundraising appeals, and also through local initiatives in close dialogue with MSF in the individual countries. |
Strategic partnerships
We maintain strategic support partnerships with selected partners to drive forward our pro bono activities and our social development across locations.
| CMS Germany has been actively involved as a shareholder and partner since Joblinge was founded in 2007. We have also been a premium partner across Germany since 2016 and are committed in this context to the long-term success of the initiative throughout the country. Joblinge works with companies, policymakers, foundations and private sponsors to combat youth unemployment by supporting young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. Joblinge’s broad-based commitment not only enables real educational advances and boosts equality of opportunity, it also makes a valuable contribution to ensuring a supply of skilled workers. In addition to extensive pro bono legal advice, CMS also contributes to new programme components and strategic projects. CMS employees can volunteer as mentors, e.g. providing guidance on job applications or giving language tuition. The young mentees benefit from the professional and life experience of their tandem partners, as well as receiving feedback. For their part, the mentors are able to broaden their outlook and skills in dealing with people from different backgrounds. Alongside providing professional and human resources, CMS also supports Joblinge financially. |
| ProjectTogether is a non-profit organisation that drives social transformation. To do this, the young team at ProjectTogether organises collective actions and coordinates hundreds of participants to jointly develop solutions to pressing challenges such as climate change, the Covid-19 pandemic, refugees and social cohesion. Partners from the social sphere, politics and business use it to test tools and methods for a new social cooperation model, such as open social innovation, public participation, real-life laboratories and collective funding. Since it was formed in 2015, ProjectTogether has engaged in more than 2,000 social initiatives and impact start-ups. It has also involved tens of thousands of citizens, several German federal ministries, 11 state governments and 60 local authorities in 10 innovation programmes and participation processes such as #WirVsVirus and UpdateDeutschland. On several occasions, the German government has taken over the sponsorship of ProjectTogether’s activities, such as the Alliance4Ukraine in 2022, an alliance of 450 organisations from civil society, the state and business providing support for refugees. CMS provides needs-based pro bono advice on social initiatives to support ProjectTogether’s processes. |
| The programme offered by UPJ Pro Bono Rechtsberatung brings together different formats for committed pro bono law firms. The core of the service is the clearing house, a referral centre for non-profit organisations seeking advice. It identifies their needs and finds an exact match for pro bono legal advice. UPJ also works with lawyers to provide legal information to specific target groups, e.g. in online seminars for employees of non-profit organisations. UPJ’s pro bono programme is part of a larger service provided by the UPJ Citizenship and CSR Network to strengthen civil society, and by cross-sector partnerships to address the challenges currently facing society. UPJ’s provision of access to pro bono legal services helps to advance the development of non-profit organisations. UPJ is supported in this work by its cooperation partner Pro Bono Deutschland e.V. and a network of pro bono law firms. The CMS Foundation is also a major sponsor. It has supported the programme financially since the beginning and contributes to the stability of the service by providing pro bono legal advice. A number of CMS lawyers donate their expertise by providing pro bono legal advice and free online seminars on specific legal issues affecting non-profit organisations. |
| As a member of Pro Bono Deutschland e.V., CMS Germany aims to help create a culture of free legal advice for non-profit organisations in Germany. This association of leading commercial law firms in Germany seeks to establish and use a pro bono infrastructure that also introduces young lawyers to this important form of community engagement. |
Commitment in the regions
Many CMS employees are involved in voluntary work in their region. Our CMS offices also support the local community in various ways: financially, with professional expertise, and by volunteering their time. This commitment further strengthens our local connections.
Social involvement
| Support for the Diakonie-Stiftung MitMenschlichkeit (in German only) by the Hamburg office |
| Sponsorship of the Dieter Müller School (in German only) of Football via a patron scheme for children from disadvantaged backgrounds |
| Support for “Die Arche” Kinderstiftung, a Christian organisation working with children and young people in the Griesheim and Nordweststadt districts of Frankfurt (link in German only) |
| Taking part in the B2Run – German Corporate Running Championship to raise funds for the German Bone Marrow Donor Center (DKMS (in German only)) |
| Support for the Hesse regional association of the German Multiple Sclerosis Society (in German only) – a self-help organisation representing the interests of MS sufferers in Hesse |
| The annual wish-list campaign at the Berlin office involves making donations in kind that benefit the Elisabethstift (in German only) children's and youth welfare centre in the form of gifts |
| Support for non-profit association Hanseatic Help e.V. by the Hamburg office |
| Support for children’s palliative care service KinderPalliativTeam (in German only) Südhessen |
| Commitment to the PIK AS (in German only) association in Hamburg, which works to improve the social and health situation of homeless people while supporting their social integration |
| Support for food bank organisation Kölner Tafel e.V. (in German only) |
| Support for food bank organisation Hamburger Tafel e.V. (in German only) |
| Support for food bank organisation Frankfurter Tafel e.V. (in German only) |
| Financial support for non-profit association MenscHHamburg e.V. (in German only) |
Education and the academic world
| Advising the Bildungsstätte Anne Frank (in German only) education centre in Frankfurt, which aims to raise awareness of anti-semitism and racism among young people in particular |
| Financial support for the EBS Law School |
| Support for the European Law Students’ Association, a non-profit, academically oriented international association of law students that holds workshops with the aim of promoting academic training and facilitating an international exchange of ideas |
| Financial support for the MUT academy, which assists and advises young people in their final school year on the transition from school to vocational training |
| Pro bono advice for Swiss research foundation Orphanbiotec, a non-profit humanitarian foundation for people with rare diseases |
| Start-ups from SpinLab – The HHL Accelerator have been advised pro bono since 2015 to save them money |
| Financial support for Teach First Deutschland (in German only), which works with disadvantaged children and young people in schools in problem areas |
Arts and culture
| Support for the European Film Festival of the Generations via the Leipzig office until 2022 |
| Financial support for the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, a concert hall that attracts almost half a million visitors a year |
| Pro bono advice and financial support for the International Bachakademie Stuttgart |
| Financial support for the Jewish Museum in Frankfurt |
| Pro bono advice for Initiative Konzerthaus Stuttgart (in German only), an action group set up to plan and design a new concert hall in Stuttgart |
| Membership of the Cultural Committee of German Business for supporting artists in the fields of architecture, the visual arts, the performing arts, literature and music |
| Support for the University of Music and Dance Cologne (in German only) (HfMT), including the opportunity to perform in the special setting of the Kranhaus building in Cologne, where CMS has its local office |
| Financial support for Städelscher Museums-Verein e.V. (in German only) |
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