Community Engagement

SUBARU has established the Social Contribution Committee to advance community engagement activities with the aim of making these activities an integral part of the SUBARU Group’s corporate culture and becoming a company that is trusted by stakeholders. With participation of business site directors, the committee works to advance community engagement initiatives. Under the committee, the cross-organizational Planning Subcommittee has been created to discuss issues related to company-wide activities, ranging from planning and preparation to implementation, evaluation, and review. The committee meets every six months to compile reported activity results and issues for the SUBARU Group, and discuss improvement plans to invigorate efforts. In addition, the contents of discussions held by the Social Contribution Committee are reported to the Sustainability Committee, and important issues are discussed and reported at the Executive Management Board Meeting and the Board of Directors.

Since FYE March 2023, the Gunma Plant has been dispatching instructors to neighboring elementary, junior high, and high schools. At lessons, students listened attentively as lecturers presented on SUBARU’s businesses, how it works to be a company “delivering happiness to all,” and how they came to be in their current jobs. Since FYE March 2022, the Utsunomiya Plant has been supporting the Instructor Dispatch Project sponsored by the Tochigi Association of Corporate Executives. In FYE March 2024, the Chief General Manager of the Utsunomiya Plant was dispatched as an instructor to a local junior high school. He introduced the plant’s business activities to students, and also discussed important points for the work they do there. In addition, nine employees were dispatched as interview committee members for the selection examination for newly hired public school teachers in Tochigi Prefecture.

As part of its community engagement initiatives, SUBARU carries out cleanup activities on a regular basis in districts where its offices and plants are located.
In addition to the twice-monthly cleanup activities outside the Gunma Main Plant, the Yajima Plant and Oizumi Plant also conduct simultaneous large-scale clean-up activities outside the buildings before long holidays and similar occasions.
Every June, the Utsunomiya Plant holds a volunteer cleanup activity called the "Cleanup Campaign." The campaign was suspended in FYE March 2021 as a measure against the COVID-19 outbreak, but then resumed in FYE March 2024. A total of 267 employees participated in picking up trash scattered around the vicinity of the facility. In addition, 25 employees, including new employees hired for FYE March 2024, participated in a local cleanup activity hosted by another company, and carried out cleanup activities centered on the busy shopping district east of JR Utsunomiya Station.

For the comprehensive earthquake fire drill, which is held at all fire stations in the jurisdiction of the Tokyo Fire Department, we provided some facilities and locations in our Tokyo Office as a training site for the Mitaka and Musashino district fire stations.

In FYE March 2024, the Oizumi Plant within our Gunma Plant held its Friendship Festival for the first time in four years. Although the event was held for a shorter period of time than in previous years, over 200 visitors attended.

In cooperation with Subaru Techno Corporation, SUBARU held Subaru Mono-zukuri Classes for elementary school students in Mitaka City, where SUBARU has an office. These classes teach students how SUBARU makes its vehicles, offering them the opportunity to model and run their own cars. Participants got hands-on experience, learning things like the differences between two-wheel drive (2WD) and four-wheel drive (4WD) vehicles, such as their design and handling.

In FYE March 2024, SUBARU, which gets its name from the Japanese word for the Pleiades star cluster, collaborated with Mitaka City and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), an association of star professionals, to host the SUBARU Stargazing Party in Mitaka City, under the theme of “Let's see Subaru (Pleiades) from SUBARU.” After a lecture on the night sky by the Director of the NAOJ's Public Relations Center, participants used special binoculars provided by NAOJ to observe the stars from the parking lot of the Tokyo Office. Even though the event was held within the Tokyo metropolitan area, it was possible to clearly see Saturn, Jupiter, and of course Subaru, the Pleiades six-star cluster, to the delight of the participants.

The SUBARU Summer Bon Odori Festival was held at Utsunomiya City's Yonan 2nd Park. The FYE March 2023 event was held with anti-COVID-19 restrictions in place, but the FYE March 2024 event was held normally for the first time in four years. Approximately 3,000 people attended the event, including local residents, employees' families, and SUBARU alumni.

We participated in the local science festival as a way of contributing to the local community and revitalizing the local area through industry-academia collaboration. Our science show exhibit explained the mechanism of airplane flight to children. The children experienced the fun of aviation science by building model airplanes and learning about their aerodynamic characteristics.

We sponsored the Yokogawa Festival held at an elementary school event near the Handa Plant. The participating children built model airplanes under the theme of "making a paper airplane for the Guinness Book of World Records." The children learned about "lift," the force necessary for an airplane to fly, and then applied their knowledge by making small adjustments to the wings during several test flights.

We have been exhibiting at the Ebisu Cultural Festival starting in 2019. Our teams work hard to come up with fun programs each year, including crafting musical instruments from thinned wood harvested in SUBARU’s forest conservation campaigns, workshops to experience the difference in driving style between 2WD and 4WD vehicles, and stargazing themed on environmental conservation activities and featuring SUBARU’s star-studded brand logo. As a member of the local community, we will continue our efforts to revitalize the Ebisu area.

In a partnership between Subaru of America, Inc. and the NPO AdoptAClassroom.org, SUBARU dealerships work to provide supplies to schools in need and students in difficult circumstances. In FYE March 2024, SOA provided support to four public high schools in its head office’s city of Camden, New Jersey through AdoptAClassroom.org for the purchase of writing materials and other school supplies. SOA also held an event to assist in classroom maintenance for the new school year, sending 170 employee volunteers to 15 public schools.
2023 Corporate Impact Report “Subaru Loves Learning”
Subaru Loves Learning – Subaru

Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. sponsored the Pinewood Derby races, a children’s event organized by the Boys Scouts of America Sagamore Council. In this event, children built and raced model cars from kits containing wooden blocks and plastic wheels.

In FYE March 2024, Subaru Research & Development, Inc. hosted a camping event for SUBARU vehicle owners. During the day, the event featured rough road driving experiences and consultation sessions on problems related to everyday driving. In the evening, the participants gathered around a bonfire for conversation and customers shared their thoughts on SUBARU. Customers who attended expressed their gratitude for the event and said they looked forward to the next one.

Since FYE March 2018, SUBARU has been working on the SUBARU Forest Project, an initiative that is directly linked to biodiversity conservation and embodies the idea of coexistence with nature included in the SUBARU Environmental Policies.
SUBARU is working with Bifuka Town in Hokkaido, Gunma Prefecture, and Utsunomiya City in Tochigi Prefecture, where SUBARU has close ties with local communities. We promote forest protection activities, such as for supporting forest management, tree planting and use of thinned wood obtained from forest management work. In our efforts with Bifuka Town, we have purchased J-Credits every year since FYE March 2022. In addition, SUBARU has been utilizing the corporate version of a hometown tax donation program—the government’s tax incentive scheme to encourage companies to support regional revitalization—to donate six million yen to the Hokkaido government’s Matsuyama Marsh^* Forest Project over two donations of three million yen and over three years starting from FYE March 2020. The donations are used for boardwalk improvements in Matsuyama Marsh among other improvements. In August 2023, the Governor of Hokkaido Prefecture presented SUBARU with a letter of appreciation in recognition of its many years of support for efforts to preserve the environment and improve the attractiveness of the Matsuyama Marsh, and for its significant contribution to regional development in Hokkaido.

At the Gunma Plant, we sponsor the Hachioji Hill Fun Trail in Ota running event. Event participants were asked to donate shoes that were still wearable but no longer worn, resulting in the collection of 131 pairs of shoes in FYE March 2024. The collected shoes were recycled and donated to an overseas NPO that supports children in need.

In recognition of its annual green fundraising activities, the Utsunomiya Plant received a letter of appreciation from the Tochigi Environment and Green Promotion Organization, signed by the chairman of the National Land Afforestation Promotion Organization.

Since 2020, SOA has operated a partnership with Philadelphia Union, a team participating in Major League Soccer (MLS) in the U.S. The team’s stadium, named Subaru Park, has become the first zero-landfill-waste MLS stadium. As part of our sustainability efforts, we have created the Subaru Park Garden for Good, an organic farm inside the stadium. In 2023, SOA also dispatched employee volunteers to this program, where they donated approximately 1,799 pounds of fruit and vegetables, equivalent to 7,116 servings, to local foodbanks. It also keeps 592,920 pounds of trash out of landfills, half of which is recycled thanks to the help of fans.

To celebrate Earth Day, Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. partners with Tree Lafayette, a local nonprofit, to sponsor tree plantings in the community. In 2023, SIA employees participated as volunteers in the planting of 15 trees.

To support children orphaned by traffic accidents, SUBARU donates unused household items, books in good condition, and other items to a charity bazaar run by the Association to Support Children Orphaned in Traffic Accidents, a nonprofit organization. In FYE March 2024, 405 items were donated across all our sites.

The Gunma Plant-based SUBARU baseball team, together with a professional basketball team based in Ota City and in conjunction with National Road Traffic Safety Week, conducts traffic safety awareness activities at Ota Station and Niragawa Station in Ota City with the cooperation of Tobu Railway and the Ota Police Station. Under the theme that walking while using a smartphone is dangerous, they greet commuters at Station, distributing custom packs of tissues. In FYE March 2019, we also started an initiative to install traffic safety signs on utility poles on Ota City’s school roads. As of April 2022, a total of 29 signboards have been installed in an effort to prevent traffic accidents for local residents.

At the Utsunomiya Plant, SUBARU serves as the president of the southern Utsunomiya branch of the Tochigi Prefecture Association of Driving Safety Supervisors. We work with community associations located around the plant and the Utsunomiya Minami Police Department to promote local road traffic safety activities in order to raise awareness in the southern Utsunomiya district.

As part of Japan’s nationwide autumn traffic safety campaign, we conducted traffic safety awareness activities at the intersection near the Main Plant. Approximately 20 employees reminded drivers to be safe on the roads.

We implement traffic control measures at the intersection near our head office before the start of work every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. In FYE March 2024, this amounted to 129 days of traffic control, contributing to road safety for local residents.

The “How to Run Faster” Class was held by the Oizumi Town Sports Culture Promotion Foundation at the Subaru Sports Park in Oizumi Town, coached by seven of SUBARU’s track and field team members and one of its staff. Around 40 local elementary school children learned basic movements in running and studied practical training methods.
In addition, the Gunma Prefectural High School Baseball Skills Training Course was held by the Gunma Prefecture High School Baseball Federation at the Shikishima Baseball Stadium, with players from SUBARU’s baseball team serving as instructors. Instructors provided practical guidance on pitching, batting, and fielding to high school baseball club players in Gunma Prefecture, who showed sincere dedication to the course.

The Takofes Christmas Concert was held by the Higashi Ebisu Store Association at the EBiS303 (Ebisu Subaru Building). This concert, celebrating its eighth year since launching in 2016, was held free of charge with the joint support of local residents and companies, including SUBARU as a local corporate sponsor. In FYE March 2024, the 429 attendees enjoyed a thrilling and captivating performance from the professional orchestra.

The Northern Heart Kitamachi Development Association^*, of which Subaru Kohsan Co., Ltd. serves as the secretariat, sponsored an art event organized by the Arts Saitama Kitamachi Festival Executive Committee. Contemporary art works were exhibited at various locations in Stellar Town, a large shopping mall, under the theme of “Kikaijikake (mechanical gimmick) Art Town.” The event was well received, with around 1,000 visitors including both children to adults.

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A voluntary organization that works to improve and revitalize the attractiveness of the town.

Subaru Canada, Inc. held a drive-in movie viewing for SUBARU owners. In FYE March 2023, viewers in approximately 230 cars enjoyed a drive-in cinematic experience. The event has been well received by participants as an opportunity to deepen exchanges among SUBARU drivers.

SUBARU is involved in the Cherishing Every Life Project together with SUBARU dealerships as an activity to expand the circle of Resonance and Coexistence through contributions to society. In this project, with its DNA as an aircraft manufacturer, SUBARU continues to practice a human-oriented approach to Mono-zukuri, where it places top priority on safety. Based on its longstanding core value of the protection of life, we are expanding our initiatives alongside customers and local communities.

Under the two project themes of human life, which is irreplaceable, and natural life, which is rich forests and plant and animal life, SUBARU is working to support people who have a strong belief in the protection of life and are working day by day to protect and connect life to a future full of happiness.

As part of our initiatives for natural life, SUBARU is working to protect the nature of Shiretoko, a World Heritage Site, with a focus on Shiretoko National Park, and has partnered with the Shiretoko Nature Foundation, whose mission is to pass on the nature of the site in a better form to future generations, and the Natural Parks Foundation, which manages 15 of the 34 national parks in Japan, to support those who protect natural life. We have provided the Shiretoko Nature Foundation with two patrol cars to be used for park management, monitoring to ensure an appropriate distance between wildlife and people, as well as for reforestation activities to restore the rich and diverse forest that once existed on the former Shiretoko settlement site. SUBARU is also involved in activities that go beyond providing vehicles, such as participating in reforestation efforts to restore the rich forests of Shiretoko. SUBARU has entered into a partnership with the Natural Parks Foundation to support the operation and management of each park by providing vehicles that meet the objectives of their activities. We are currently collaborating with the Nasu Heisei-no-mori Forest in Nikko National Park and the Kamikochi area of the Chubusangaku National Park. At Nasu Heisei-no-mori Forest, we are holding events for customers to enjoy nature at national parks. We provide activities that allow participants to learn about the depths of nature that cannot be seen with the naked eye and learn what it means to protect natural life.

SUBARU donated 10 million yen to the Japanese Red Cross Society to support the areas affected by the Noto Peninsula earthquake that occurred in January 2024. In addition, in order to provide a wider range of support, we have established the SUBARU Group Employee Web Donation Box for employees of domestic Group companies and dealerships to make donations to the Central Community Chest of Japan, a social welfare corporation, in addition to offering the company welfare program as a donation method. Furthermore, SUBARU matched all employee donations to the Japanese Red Cross Society, and provided additional donations as well. In June 2024, we donated supplies (200 eco-cups and 100 pairs of work gloves) through the Keidanren (Japan Business Federation).
SUBARU also supported local hospitals by dispatching nurses through Ota Memorial Hospital, which is run by the Subaru Health Insurance Association.

Since FYE March 2015, SUBARU has been selling free samples received from business partners licensed to commercialize SUBARU minicars and similar products at local events and charity bazaars at various company sites. Proceeds from sale are donated to organizations supporting children orphaned by traffic accidents. In FYE March 2024, the Utsunomiya Plant carried out two in-house charity bazaars, while the Tokyo Office carried out three. Additionally, starting in FYE March 2024, we began donating some free minicar samples to organizations supporting children orphaned by traffic accidents.

At the request of a university in Tochigi Prefecture, the Utsunomiya Plant hosted a lecture on occupational health as part of the university’s public health science occupational health practicum, one of its corporate training programs. The goal is to broaden students' knowledge by providing a venue where they can learn about worker health management and public health nursing. In June 2023, we welcomed students from the Dokkyo Medical University School of Nursing, and in January 2024, students from the Jichi Medical University School of Nursing.

Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. (SIA) has been running a blood drive twice a year since 1991. In FYE March 2024, SIA donated 614 units of blood, helping to save approximately 1,800 lives. In the span of over three decades, SIA has provided approximately 17,000 units of blood to more than 80 hospitals in Indiana.