Community engagement is an important part of the identity of STILL as a business. As a global company, STILL strives to be a good neighbor to the local communities at its sites around the world, by lending its support to social and humanitarian projects. The headquarters of STILL in Hamburg, for instance, have a long history of supporting community organizations in the city where the company was first founded and where, decades later, it maintains a strong sense of affinity. In doing so, STILL puts its corporate values into practice: taking responsibility, creating equal opportunities, and shaping the future.
To ensure all actions by the company and its staff are transparent and within the law, STILL follows the KION policy on donations and sponsorship, which governs all aspects of the Group’s community engagement activities, including areas of responsibility and decision-making processes. It covers both financial donations and volunteer work, and is designed to facilitate fast and pragmatic decision-making at local level and enable a rapid response in case of emergencies, such as natural disasters.
The KION Code of Compliance also contains relevant information on community engagement and gives confidence to managers on the ground that they are acting in line with the law. All donations and sponsorship arrangements must be verified and approved in advance by the compliance department. Donations must always be transparent, follow a strict set of standards, uphold the values and policies of KION, and conform with any applicable legislation.
In all its community engagement activities, STILL makes a clear distinction between donations and sponsorship. Donations are voluntary gifts of money or items that are given to charities without any expectation that this action will be reciprocated. In contrast, sponsorship is awarded in return for a service such as advertising or marketing. For this reason, it is vital that recipients’ intentions in accepting donations or sponsorship are compatible with the values and principles upheld by KION.
Supported Projects in the Headquarters Region
Since 2010, STILL has been supporting three local projects in Hamburg that promote equal access to education, culture, and community for children and young people across the city. In 2025, STILL presented checks worth 5,000 euros each to the Mittagskinder foundation, the Kultur Palast Hamburg foundation, and the Produktionsschule Wilhelmsburg school. The Mittagskinder foundation provides a regular healthy lunch for around 200 children in Hamburg. The foundation’s team also spends time with the children, offering care, a sense of community, and qualified homework support. The Kultur Palast Hamburg foundation, meanwhile, has been promoting cultural understanding through interactive music and dance projects for more than 40 years. The Produktionsschule Wilhelmsburg is particularly committed to equal access to education. The school helps young people from disadvantaged backgrounds enter the jobs market by providing relevant training, particularly in technical professions, carpentry, catering, retail, and hairdressing.
The commitment of STILL goes beyond financial support. In November 2025, trainees in machine and plant operation from Produktionsschule Wilhelmsburg were invited to the company. In an open exchange with STILL trainees and training representatives, personal contacts were established and joint discussions held on career guidance, qualification, and starting a career.
Even outside of structured programs, STILL takes its social responsibility seriously. The headquarters in Hamburg, for example, provides support to aid organization Hanseatic Help e. V. In 2025, 18 fully depreciated engines in as-new condition, which were not needed internally for training purposes or for spare parts, were donated to the organization. In addition, following several trade fairs and events, approximately 7 kg of bottle caps were handed over to Hanseatic Help. The association recycles them separately by material type and uses part of the proceeds to finance its projects.
Supported Charity Projects in Grassroots Sports
Sport unites – and STILL uses this power to take on community responsibility. In 2025, the company therefore supported a number of grassroots sporting events and charity projects across EMEA. In Hamburg, 51 athletes took part in the annual Suzuki World Triathlon, supported by 40 helpers at the STILL Energy refreshment station and other supporters along the route. As the official logistics partner, STILL provided eleven forklifts for assembly, disassembly, and route security. STILL also competed as the second largest company team at the annual MOPO team relay race in Hamburg’s city park, with 200 runners.
STILL is also active in sports and social activities in other countries. In Poland, for example, STILL has been participating in the “Poland Business Run” for four years now – the country’s largest charity business relay race. The proceeds from the starter packages go directly to Fundacja Poland Business Run and support people with physical disabilities in purchasing prostheses and in undergoing rehabilitation. In France, as part of Octobre Rose – an awareness campaign for breast cancer screening – more than 300 employees took part in a charity sports event and, with more than 51 million steps, helped generate a donation for Institut Curie. STILL Sweden covered the entry fees for 20 employees at the annual Blodomloppet 2025 – a Swedish running event that raises awareness of the importance of blood donations and promotes physical activity.
Promoting Talent for Future Prospects
STILL once again took part in Future Day in 2025. 160 school students gladly took this opportunity and spent a varied and undoubtedly unforgettable day at the STILL plant in Hamburg. The apprentices and students in dual-study programs of STILL in Hamburg took the lead in looking after the school students and gave our young guests an authentic insight into the training program of STILL. At a total of eleven stations, they shared basic technical principles, let the participants look over their shoulders as they worked, and patiently answered the many questions from the attendees. But as there’s nothing like trying it for yourself, we also gave the students the chance to get actively involved at the work benches in the apprenticeship workshop, where they fabricated the STILL logo and a puzzle made of metal, soldered an LED light in the mechatronics lab, and operated the AR (augmented reality) welding machine used by the construction mechanics of STILL. The highlights of the day were working with a forklift simulator in the high-bay warehouse and using a pair of VR (Virtual Reality) goggles, which gave the students a glimpse of what the future holds at STILL. Apprentices from mechatronics, industrial mechanics, construction mechanics, and cutting machine mechanics as well as trainee industrial executives and warehouse logistics specialists were there to support the young visitors at all of the hands-on stations.