Mattel employees "play together" in communities around the world. Although it is the right thing to do, it also makes business sense for employees to make a meaningful difference in the lives of children around the world.

In 2005, the Mattel Children's Foundation made cash contributions totaling more than $500,000 to the funding of employee programs, including the Employee Matching Gifts and Scholarships for Employees' Children programs.

Employee Matching Gifts
In addition to encouraging their gifts of time and talent, the Mattel Children's Foundation also encourages U.S. employees to support nonprofit organizations monetarily by matching their contributions to educational institutions or nonprofits that serve children.

Global Scholarships for Employees' Children
With higher education increasingly essential to compete and succeed in our world today, the Mattel Children's Foundation assists the children of employees globally with college or university education costs through its scholarship program. The program is offered worldwide to include children of Mattel employees around the world. Renewable scholarships are offered for full-time study at a college, university or vocational school, in any country of the student's choice. Selection is based primarily on financial need, followed by merit.

Scholarships have been awarded to children of employees in the U.S., Brazil, Canada, China/Hong Kong, Germany, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Thailand and Venezuela.

At Mattel we incorporate volunteerism into our corporate culture. Playgrounds are built, under privileged kids are invited to Mattel for a "Day of Play," employees act as "Secret Santas" for sick children at Mattel Children's Hospital at UCLA. These are only a few of the wonderful activities our employees take part in to help make a meaningful difference in their local communities.

 In 2005, Mattel launched a partnership with Special Olympics, which included the launch of Team Mattel.  Since then, over 2,000 Mattel employees have joined in the fun to support participating athletes with intellectual disabilities.  In 12 locations around the world, Mattel employees dedicated their time and energy to ensuring local Special Olympic events such as basketball, track and field, and skating tournaments, were meaningful experiences for all the athletes involved.  This effort marks the first time that Mattel employees globally joined together to support a single cause in the community.  In 2007, Team Mattel will be expanding to 45 locations in 21 countries.