Our Foundation Charter
Overview
Trane Technologies is committed to good corporate citizenship in all of the communities in which we are located. Through the actions of our business operations and the involvement of our dedicated employees, Trane Technologies seeks to have a positive impact on these communities.
To align our global businesses and employees with a common vision for corporate citizenship, Trane Technologies has established our Foundation Council.
Our Foundation Council Charter
As a Council, we will strive to make recommendations that focus resources on areas where we believe Trane Technologies can make a difference.
We will select philanthropic partners according to criteria that include employee involvement, affinity with our business mission, demonstrated need, shared values, and financial stewardship. We will direct our support in a manner that delivers consequential and sustained benefits to, and appreciably improves the lives of, people within our communities.
We will recommend and create programs and policies that encourage our employees to actively support the communities where we live and work, and that support their personal involvement in volunteer and philanthropic activities. We will encourage leadership connectedness within our communities by advocating memberships on philanthropic boards. We will establish, support, and promote volunteer programs that encourage the involvement of all employees and recognize outstanding employee volunteer efforts.
The Council is not specifically focused on coordinating the company’s response to catastrophic events; however, the Council will work with Trane Technologies’ Enterprise Leadership Team (ELT) to ensure that the company is prepared to appropriately and rapidly deploy its resources when these events occur.
Council Role
Our Foundation Council is established as an advisory board to the
ELT. The Council’s mission is to develop recommendations to guide our
strategic business units and all of our employees in the application
of company resources in support of global, regional, or local causes
of interest to our employee population or requiring special support
due to the significance of the issue and its potential impact on our
communities.
Council Composition
Our Council will be composed of selected members of the Strategic Business Unit Leadership Team (SBU-LT), representatives of SBU leadership teams, and other, selected Trane Technologies employees. The Director of External and Executive Communications will chair the Council.
Other designated SBU and functional members may be asked to serve on the Council to assist its efforts. Members from SBU leadership teams shall be recommended by each SBU president and/or segment executive vice president, and corporate officers shall serve as liaisons between the Council and Corporate Center. Other Council participants may be appointed at the recommendation of the Council Chair.
Council Service
All Council representatives shall serve for a two-year period to provide consistency in the long-term support of our global citizenship goals. Members may be re-appointed by the Council Chair to seek continuity of Council efforts. SBU presidents will nominate a replacement from their leadership team upon the end of a representative’s service.
The Council will meet quarterly or as dictated by the volume of requests to review programs, policies, and requests; to make recommendations as appropriate to the ELT; and to conduct any business that falls within the Council’s charter.
Business Unit and Function representatives shall be responsible for establishing and maintaining a reporting mechanism within their SBUs and Functions for the purpose of collecting data and sharing information across the company and with external audiences about Trane Technologies’ global citizenship activities.
Scope of the Council
Our Foundation Council will develop a framework that will guide the company’s business units and Corporate Center in:
- Selecting areas of long-term interest and developing examples
of successful support for those areas of interest.
- Focusing corporate resources on those activities, which will
bring sustained benefit to our communities.
- Coordinating with Corporate Communications to link with all
communities of employees to seek maximum leverage from the energy,
enthusiasm and commitment of our employees.
Selected areas of interest will be carefully evaluated and recommended by the Council based on demonstrated need and potential benefit to the communities in which we live and work.
Our Foundation Council will be called upon by the ELT to develop guidelines for sustainable support of core areas. These guidelines are to be submitted to the ELT for review and approval, and then communicated to the business units and Corporate Center locations. Selected guidelines are intended to be tools to assist each business unit in the thoughtful consideration of community support.
The Council will review all contribution requests above $10,000. Prospective contributions below $10,000 will be managed by our Foundation administrators or within the business units.
The Council shall review the annual activities of the business units
to evaluate the company’s performance against our corporate
citizenship goals and report our progress to the ELT. Additionally,
the Council will be responsible for recommending, coordinating and
leveraging the company’s global or regional citizenship programs, such
as the United Way campaign.
Our Foundation Council Guidelines
All employees are encouraged to support causes within the focus areas recommended by the Global Citizenship Council, as well as to recommend other areas to be considered and endorsed by the ELT in the future. In fact, the company’s support of a cause often is predicated on the involvement of Trane Technologies employees. To be selected, areas of focus should:
- Represent demonstrated need and potential benefit to the
communities in which we live and work.
- Offer
opportunities for the active involvement of Trane Technologies
employees in communities through-out the globe.
- Represent areas that will benefit from the long-term support and
commitment of Trane Technologies.
- Align with Trane Technologies’ values and our company’s business mission.
Individual causes or institutions within the recommended areas of focus also should:
- Demonstrate sound financial stewardship and high ethical
standards.
- Achieve high ratings from
organizations that evaluate philanthropic institutions.
- Have direct and active employee involvement, such as
membership on boards of directors or other volunteer capacity.
- Consider in-kind contributions of Trane Technologies products, services or obsolete capital equipment and supplies.
It will be the policy of Trane Technologies to focus corporate charitable contributions on those areas recommended by our Foundation Council and approved by the ELT. The company will not support contributions to, nor will it sponsor employee involvement with, political organizations, candidates, public office holders, fraternal or labor organizations, or any cause that is inconsistent with the letter and spirit of the company’s Code of Conduct and values.
Areas of Focus
Our Foundation Council has identified areas related to economic mobility, STEM and early education experiences and access to well-being services as the focus of the company’s giving and volunteer support. Other focus areas may emerge through the ongoing review of the company’s citizenship objectives. Segment, business unit, and employee contributions to areas of focus, and suggestions for additional areas of focus, are encouraged. Guidelines and examples of giving will be developed by our Foundation Council and communicated to all employees and business units as they are developed for each focus area.
Contribution Request Process
All employees are encouraged to work with the prospective organization to complete the entire grant application within the areas of focus identified by our Foundation Council, and which meet the company’s citizenship guidelines. The process to request a grant is as follows:
- Individual employees seeking contributions to an appropriate
institution or philanthropy above $2,500 should submit their
requests to our Foundation.
Any questions email, foundation@tranetechnologies.com. Individual
employees seeking contributions below $2,500 should submit their
requests to their local managers. Charitable contributions in this
case will come from local budgets.
- Each
facility or business unit will be empowered to approve contribution
requests up to a funding level determined by their segment/SBU
leadership, but in no instances above $10,000 per request. All
approved requests must be documented by the function/segment/SBU’s
Human Resources function. Each quarter, all approved requests shall
be reported to the foundation’s chair, coordinator and Corporate
Communications.
- All requests of $10,000 or
more must be submitted to our Foundation Council for review. The
Council subsequently will submit any recommendation to the ELT for
final approval. These approved requests shall be reported to
Corporate Communications.
- All contributions should be made in the name of our Foundation Council, either exclusively or in affiliation with the business unit.
Education
- Quality education for our employees and their children, as well as the members of the communities in which we live and work, is essential for the development of our future employees. Therefore, our Foundation Council has recommended education as a core area of focus.
- Employees are encouraged to actively support and become involved in education within their communities or through the school that they attended.
- Several universities have been
designated as institutions that positively benefit the future of
Trane Technologies. As such, we will develop and maintain a
corporate university relations department and a
scholarship/recruiting program with designated institutions.
- Based on the special nature of research and education
programs, regional universities may be of particular benefit to
selected Trane Technologies business units. Each function, segment,
and business unit may designate selected institutions in this
category. Charitable contributions at the function, segment, and
business unit level may be focused on the development efforts of
designated schools.
- Trane Technologies encourages
the support of the education of the children of our employees. Our
Foundation Council will recommend and develop guidelines to support
Trane Technologies programs to recognize merit scholarships on a
national and local (for selected business units) level. These
programs will be coordinated with the company’s human resources
organization and available to the children of employees who meet the
designated qualifications.
- All employees are
encouraged to financially support those institutions that have been
instrumental in preparing for their careers at Trane Technologies.
To encourage and recognize employee support, Trane Technologies will
match employee contributions for charitable contributions made to
eligible schools and universities dollar for dollar, subject to the
limits outlined by the Education Matching Gift Program. Details on
the Education Matching Gift Program are available on our company
intranet site located at About Us> Corporate Social
Responsibility> Education Matching Gifts.
- Each
business unit is encouraged to be supportive of special programs at
schools in the communities where employees and their children are
involved. These programs will vary greatly by locale and type of
activity. Specific levels of support for these programs may vary and
should be determined by business unit budget and level of employee
involvement.
- On occasion, community institutions
will engage in major capital campaigns and Trane Technologies may be
solicited for support. Depending on the size and scope, requests for
contributions may require business unit, segment, function or
corporate/Foundation Council approval or endorsement. Scope, scale,
and benefit to Trane Technologies, as well as the personal
involvement of Trane Technology employees, will be key factors in
the determination of the level of support. Requests for major
campaigns should be for capital projects, not for funds to offset
expenses that are operational in nature.
Community Relief
The council recognizes that many of our neighbors require relief due to unexpected events and hardships, or assistance to improve their living conditions. As a result, the Council has identified Community Relief as a focus area for the company’s philanthropic activities.
- The Council generally supports direct contributions to nonprofit organizations that address community relief. However, the Council believes that the company’s ongoing support of the United Way, Red Cross, and Helping Hand are the most effective vehicles for directing resources to the many and diverse organizations and causes related to community relief.
- The company will be judicious about contributions to hospitals, clinics, and medical organizations. The company already is expending significant funds on employee medical care, and these funds represent the company’s fair share of support for these organizations.
- The Council will conduct a periodic review of nonprofit organizations related to community relief and may establish strategic partnerships with selected organizations as appropriate. This approach ensures that our company’s finite resources will deliver consequential and sustained benefits for our communities.