Our commitment
At Sun Life, being a responsible corporate citizen is all about making life brighter for the communities where we live and work.
We’re proud that we are helping to make a difference around the world. Read our achievements to see the awards and recognition that Sun Life, our employees and our global partners have received.
Our first priority is to ensure that our product and service offerings fulfill our mission to help our customers achieve lifetime financial security. Beyond that, our commitment to good citizenship focuses on several main areas:
Ensuring strong corporate governance
Our business is based on trust. Trust in our products and services. Trust that we’ll guide the company in a way that upholds the confidence of our customers, shareholders and business partners around the world.
Building trust and maintaining our reputation depends on the decisions we make, the values we follow, our leadership strength and the personal integrity of each and every employee.
It depends on having a strong and independent Board of Directors, as well as disciplined processes to mitigate various kinds of risk – operational, market and others.
It’s all part of good corporate governance. And it’s at the heart of what we do every day.
Building healthier futures
Healthy communities have brighter futures. It’s that simple.
One way to have healthier communities is to promote the benefits of illness prevention.
Sun Life supports innovative organizations around the world that encourage people from all walks of life to take a proactive approach to caring for their own health and well-being. In 2008, our financial support for health-related programs totaled more than $3 million – and accounted for half of our total giving.
Supporting arts and culture
We believe that arts and culture make a tremendous contribution to our communities. We are proud to help support and celebrate cultural institutions around the world. It’s part of our commitment to excellence.
In Canada, for example, our Making the Arts More Accessible program brings the joy of the performing and visual arts to thousands of individuals, families and children who wouldn’t otherwise experience them.
Giving back to our communities
Sun Life contributes both time and money to help make life brighter for people around the world. Much of our giving is through the generosity of our employees, who donate thousands of hours of their own time to support worthy causes.
We support agencies such as the United Way / Centraide across Canada. For the sixth consecutive year, we’ve been recognized for generating more than $1 million for this organization. And we support blood donation drives in Mumbai, India, to help children suffering from Thalassemia; a chronic, sometimes fatal, blood disorder. In the U.S., MFS became the first major corporate sponsor of Horizons for Homeless Children – an independent, non-profit organization dedicated exclusively to serving homeless children and their families.
Empowering through education
We support forward-looking organizations and institutions whose innovative programs reach beyond the lecture hall – programs like our $100,000 permanent endowed bursary to Canada’s Seneca College Elder Planning Counselor Program. This influential program is taught by industry leaders and provides a comprehensive look at various health and financial services targeted to the elderly.
In Asia, we support numerous education programs. Through our Sun Bright program in Indonesia this year, we donated books, computers, tables, chairs and other furniture to 6 elementary schools. In China we provide enrolment scholarships for high school and university students in Tianjin – a program that has, over the past 3 years, contributed $84,000 in scholarships for 120 students.
Our Philippines Foundation “adopted” 8 public schools to assist in cleaning up and beautifying the schools as part of the Department of Education’s Brigada Eskwela (School Brigade) campaign.
Working toward a sustainable future
Life’s brighter when the future is sustainable. Our commitment to sustainability goes beyond reducing our own environmental footprint. In 2008, we formed an International Sustainability Council made up of senior representatives from across Sun Life. Their job is to identify opportunities and longer-term strategies so we can take sustainability to a new level.
Sun Life has been investing in clean and renewable energy for more than 25 years. In 2008, we invested $175 million in green and renewable energy projects. In addition, more than $85 million was invested in natural gas / co-generation projects. We were once again included in the Financial Times and London Stock Exchange’s FTSE4Good Index, which recognizes companies meeting globally recognized standards for environmental sustainability, social betterment, stakeholder relations and human rights protection. We were also selected as a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for North America (DJSI North America) for 2008-2009.
Read more about these priorities in our Public Accountability Statement.
In their own words
"Sun Life has been integral in bringing the lifesaving ACT High School CPR Program to students in 260 schools across Quebec. As a result of their continued support, more than 70,000 youth have been empowered to react in emergencies and many lives have been saved."
Sandra Clarke, Executive Director
ACT Foundation of Canada
