Merck Millipore Donates $30,000 to charity: water in Recognition of World Water Week

September 10, 2013, Darmstadt, Germany — Merck Millipore, the Life Science division of Merck, today announced a $30,000 donation to charity: water in recognition of World Water Week. As a leading supplier of products, services and solutions including water purification to the Life Science industry, access to clean water is an important charitable initiative for Merck Millipore. charity: water is a non-profit organization focused on bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. World Water Week, held this year from September 1 to September 6, provides a forum for conversation and best practices between scientific, business and political stakeholders concerning the ongoing clean water crisis in our global community.

“Charity: water allows us to see the direct impact of our donation- the global communities where we have helped provide access to clean water”, says Klaus Bischoff, Head of Lab Solutions, including Lab Water, at Merck Millipore. “As a leading supplier of tools, technologies and water filtration to the Life Science industry- and a business committed to responsibility throughout its products, operations, and people- we recognize the importance of water conservation, water quality and access to clean water.”

This will be the fifth water program funded by Merck Millipore to charity: water for a total of $70,000 over the past five years. Merck Millipore has supported four communities in India and Cote D’Ivoire, providing 2,115 people with access to clean drinking water through rehabilitated wells in community centers and schools.  charity: water provides sustainable water solutions, supplementing water filtration systems with local water committees as well as education regarding clean water and hygiene.

“We’re incredibly grateful for Merck Millipore’s continued investment of our programs and joining us to help bring clean water to those in need. 100% of Merck Millipore’s donation will fund community water projects in Ethiopia, where we are dedicated to bringing full coverage to the Northern region of Tigray,” says charity: water founder and CEO, Scott Harrison. “Merck Millipore’s support of our water programs will move us closer towards our goal of ending the water crisis in our lifetime.”

Merck Millipore’s charitable giving and community relations efforts focus on science, health care education and the environment, which are issues that are most connected to the company’s mission as a life science organization. Through multi-year partnerships with major charities and individual grants to smaller non-profits, Merck Millipore targets its funding to achieve the following objectives: support critical research aimed at mitigating and eradicating major diseases; expand access to health care services; strengthen STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) curricula in elementary and secondary education; increase access to higher education through scholarships, and encourage practices that support long-term environmental sustainability.  As a supplier of water purification products, Merck Millipore recognizes the need for clean drinking water in developing countries.

A video message featuring Merck Millipore’s water project: http://vimeo.com/73890139

About Merck Millipore
Merck Millipore is the Life Science division of Merck KGaA of Germany and offers a broad range of innovative, performance products, services and business relationships that enable our customers’ success in research, development and production of biotech and pharmaceutical drug therapies. Through dedicated collaboration on new scientific and engineering insights, and as one of the top three R&D investors in the Life Science Tools industry, Merck Millipore serves as a strategic partner to customers and helps advance the promise of life science.

Headquartered in Billerica, Massachusetts, the division has around 10,000 employees, operations in 66 countries and 2012 revenues of €2.6 billion Merck Millipore operates as EMD Millipore in the U.S. and Canada.

Note: Merck KGaA or Merck shall mean Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany

About Merck  
Merck is a leading pharmaceutical, chemical and life science company with total revenues of € 11.2 billion in 2012, a history that began in 1668, and a future shaped by approx. 39,000 employees in 66 countries. Its success is characterized by innovations from entrepreneurial employees. Merck's operating activities come under the umbrella of Merck KGaA, in which the Merck family holds an approximately 70% interest and free shareholders own the remaining approximately 30%. In 1917 the U.S. subsidiary Merck & Co. was expropriated and has been an independent company ever since.

About charity: water
charity: water is a non-profit organization bringing clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations. We use 100% of public donations to directly fund sustainable water solutions in areas of greatest need.

Right now, 800 million people on the planet don’t have access clean and safe drinking water. That’s one in nine of us. Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of diseases and kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. Children are especially vulnerable, as their bodies aren’t strong enough to fight diarrhea, dysentery and other illnesses.