WEPA Foundation

Charitable action beyond the family business

With its products, the WEPA Group contributes to well-being and a safe feeling of hygiene for millions of people. The WEPA Foundation was established to make a long-term social and societal contribution in line with this aspiration, above and beyond the company. It is dedicated to promoting charitable initiatives in the fields of hygiene, environmental and social sustainability, lifelong learning and family entrepreneurship – and creates added value both in the locality and in a wider context.

Established

December 2020

Founder

Family holding of the Krengel entrepreneurial family

Type of foundation

Non-profit corporate
foundation

Fields of action

Hygiene, sustainability, lifelong learning and family entrepreneurship

In the form of the WEPA Foundation, we strengthen what characterises the Krengel entrepreneurial family and the WEPA family business and what also drives us in our daily activities: commonly accepting responsibility and shaping the future.

Our contribution to
society

Hygiene

At WEPA, we contribute to the well-being of millions of people each and every day with our hygiene products. With the WEPA Foundation, we endeavour to maintain, safeguard and improve hygiene standards in our society. We therefore drive forward projects that promote public health as well as research and science in the hygiene sector.

Sustainability

Sustainability is the basis for development aligned to the future. It means assuming ecological and social responsibility and facing up to the major challenges: climate change as well as scarcity of drinking water and resources. As a company we wish to fulfil this in a responsible and future-oriented way, and, with the Foundation, simultaneously support charitable projects from the science and research sectors that address these aspects.

Life-long learning

Globalisation and digitisation are accelerating developments and changes in all sectors, and technical progress can replace previous knowledge and render it unusable within a short space of time. Those who are not prepared to learn will miss the boat – and this makes education our most important resource. We therefore promote topics and projects from science and research, as well as scholarships and further education programmes dedicated to the topic of “lifelong learning”.

Family entrepreneurship

Family companies and entrepreneurship form a supporting pillar of our national economy. Without this entrepreneurial spirit and the establishment of the family business WEPA in 1948, the WEPA Foundation would not have been possible in the first place. In terms of “family entrepreneurship”, the WEPA Foundation is dedicated to research and science regarding family companies, entrepreneurial families and entrepreneurship.

Our kick-off study

A trend study by the Zukunftsinstitut on behalf of the WEPA Foundation on future theses relating to hygiene, lifelong learning, family entrepreneurship and sustainability. The study is dedicated to the future trends that will characterise the Foundation’s thematic areas, as well as the opportunities and challenges that arise from these.

A selection of our
projects and initiatives

Free access to hygiene products for women – together with the town of Hamm, this is precisely what WEPA supports. 150 dispensing units were stocked with tampons and sanitary towels at secondary schools and other public facilities.

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The WEPA Foundation supports the Startup Teens: the digital education platform with the widest reach in Germany teaches young people entrepreneurial thinking and behaviour as well as relevant future skills in a low-threshold and inclusive way.

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Private initiative for environmental protection: the WEPA Foundation makes a donation for every kilometre completed by a married couple in the Sauerland Swimrun, which draws attention to the climate crisis and the protection of forests. As a result, 4,200 trees will be planted in the region.

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The WEPA Foundation equips organisations that serve common welfare with modern hygiene equipment – for example fire brigades throughout the Arnsberg city area, which thus ensures the best possible protection for their members.

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The World Nature Conservation Day is the occasion for the WEPA Group’s clean-up campaign across locations: WEPA employees work together at 12 sites to remove rubbish from the surrounding forests and riverbanks.

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The “Rhine Octopus” rubbish trap has been floating on the Rhine since autumn 2022 and collects rubbish with the help of the current. The WEPA Foundation supports this project by e.g. monitoring waste volumes to gain a better understanding of their origin for then developing preventative measures.

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