The Colgate-Palmolive Company is an American worldwide consumer products company focused on the production, distribution and provision of household, health care and personal care products. Under its "Hill's Pet Nutrition" brand, it is also a manufacturer of veterinary products. The company's corporate offices are on Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.

1. 1
AN OVERVIEW ON THE CORPORATE SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY INITIATIVES COLGATE PALMOLATIVE
COMPANY
Varun Kesavan, Research Scholar, E – Mail Id –
varunkesavan@yahoo.com
The Colgate-Palmolive Company is an American worldwide consumer products
company focused on the production, distribution and provision of household,
health care and personal care products. Under its "Hill's Pet Nutrition" brand, it is
also a manufacturer of veterinary products. The company's corporate offices are
on Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.
HISTORY
In 1806 devout Baptist English immigrant soap and candle maker William
Colgate established a starch, soap, and candle factory on Dutch Street in New
York City under the name "William Colgate & Company". In 1833 he suffered a
severe heart attack, stopping his business' sales; after a convalescence he
continued with his business. In the 1840s the firm began selling individual cakes
of soap in uniform weights. In 1857 Colgate died and the company was
reorganized as "Colgate & Company" under the management of his devout
Baptist son Samuel Colgate, who did not want to continue the business but

2. 2
thought it would be the right thing to do. In 1872 he introduced Cashmere
Bouquet, a perfumed soap. In 1873 the firm introduced its first Colgate
Toothpaste, an aromatic toothpaste sold in jars.[3]
In 1896, the company sold the first toothpaste in a tube, Colgate Ribbon Dental
Cream (invented by dentist Washington Sheffield). Also in 1896, Colgate
hired Martin Ittner and under his direction founded one of the first applied
research labs.[4] By 1908 they initiated mass sales of toothpaste in tubes.
William's other son, James Boorman Colgate, was a primary trustee of Colgate
University(formerly Madison University).
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the B.J. Johnson Company was making a soap entirely
of palm oil and olive oil, the formula of which was developed by B.J. Johnson in
1898. The soap was popular enough to rename their company after it —
"Palmolive".[5] Around the start of the 20th century Palmolive, which contained
both palm and olive oils, was the world's best-selling soap. Extensive advertising
included the radio programs The Palmolive Hour (1927-1931) and Palmolive
Beauty Box Theater (1934-1937). A Missouri-based soap manufacturer known as
Peet Brothers merged with Palmolive to become Palmolive-Peet. In 1928,
Palmolive-Peet bought the Colgate Company to create the Colgate-Palmolive-
Peet Company. In 1953 "Peet" was dropped from the title, leaving only "Colgate-
Palmolive Company", the current name.

3. 3
Colgate-Palmolive has long been in competition with Procter & Gamble, the
world's largest soap and detergent maker. P&G introduced its Tide laundry
detergent shortly after World War II, and thousands of consumers turned from
Colgate's soaps to the new product.
Colgate lost its number one place in the toothpaste market when P&G
added fluoride to its toothpaste.(Colgate has since re-claimed the #1 sales
position). [6] In the beginning of TV, Colgate-Palmolive wished to compete with
P&G as a sponsor of soap operas and sponsored many soaps in full or in part
including The Doctors.
George Henry Lesch, president, CEO, and chairman of the board of Colgate-
Palmolive in the 1960s and 1970s, during that time transformed it into a modern
company with major restructuring.
In 2005, Colgate sold the under-performing brands Fab, Dynamo, Arctic Power,
ABC, Cold Power and Fresh Start, as well as the license of the Ajax brand for
laundry detergents in the US, Canada and Puerto Rico, to Phoenix Brands, LLC
as part of their plan to focus on their higher margin oral, personal, and pet care
products.[7][8]
In 2006, Colgate-Palmolive announced the intended acquisition of Tom's of
Maine, a leading maker of natural toothpaste, for US $100 million.[9] Tom's of
Maine was founded by Tom Chappell in 1970.

4. 4
Today, Colgate has numerous subsidiary organizations spanning 200 countries,
but it is publicly listed in only two, the United States and India.
On October 25, 2012, the company announced it would cut 2,310 workers, or 6%
of its workforce, by the end of 2016 in a push to make the consumer products
company more efficient.[10][11]
Educational and community involvement
In 1890, Madison University in New York State was renamed Colgate
University in honor of the Colgate family following decades of financial support
and involvement.[12]
The Colgate-Palmolive Company has sponsored a non-profit track meet open to
women of all ages called the Colgate Women's Games.[13] The Colgate Women's
Games is the nation's largest amateur track series open to all girls from
elementary school through college. Held at Brooklyn's Pratt Institute, competitors
participate in preliminary meets and semi-finals over five weekends throughout
January. Finalists compete for trophies and educational grants-in-aid from
Colgate-Palmolive Company at New York City's Madison Square Garden in
February. For more than 20 years, the company supports the Starlight Children
Foundation which is a non profit organization dedicated to help seriously ill
children and their families. The mission is to help children to cope with pain, fear
and isolation through entertainment, family activities and education.(2012)

5. 5
KEY SOCIAL INITIATIVES BY COLGATE INDIA
Bright Smiles, Bright Futures®
Giving the World Reasons to Smile
Colgate's Bright Smiles, Bright Futures® Education and Mobile Van Reaches
Millions of Children Every Year
Colgate Bright Smiles, Bright Futures® is among the most far-reaching,
successful children's oral health initiatives in the world. With long-standing
partnerships with governments, schools and communities, Colgate’s “ Bright
Smiles, Bright Futures® “ oral health education program celebrated 25 years of
educating children and improving oral health. “Colgate’s Bright Smiles, Bright
Futures® reached over 50 million children in 2016, for a total of over 900 million
children in 80 countries since its inception in 1991.

6. 6
Global Program
As the world leader in oral care, Colgate is committed to improving children’s oral
health around the world. So far, we've reached over 900 million children in 80
countries with Colgate's Bright Smiles, Bright Futures® program. Children
in need receive free dental screenings as well as education to help build healthy
habits, self-esteem and a foundation for success.
INDIA PROGRAM
One of the most impactful oral health initiatives around the Colgate World is
the Colgate’s Bright Smiles, Bright Futures® (BSBF), a program committed
to educating children about oral healthcare.
A flagship initiative by the company, BSBF started with an aim to spread
awareness among children about the right oral health habits, basic hygiene and
diet, by using engaging aids to ensure they retain the learning. The objective is to
empower children to practice good oral care hygiene, by making them aware of
good oral care practices, to reduce prevalence of dental caries and to promote
preventive health care habits.
Since the inception of the program in 1976, the company has been delivering oral
health education to children, in partnership with the Indian Dental Association
(IDA).

7. 7
Colgate’s community outreach efforts have, so far, touched the lives of 142
million school children between the age of 6-14 years across millions of schools
in urban and rural India.
In 2016 we reached out to 8.4 million children and until Mar 2017 we reached out
to 5.73 million children.
Jeevika
Colgate-Palmolive (India) Ltd., is working with Jeevika, a socio economic
empowerment program for rural poor through sustainable community partnership
in Bihar. It is a women Self-Help Group ( SHG) run by Bihar Rural Livelihood
Promotion Society, which is a joint project with World Bank. The Jeevika network
reaches over 2 million households in Bihar, through various village organizations.
Through this partnership, Colgate has the ability to leverage women's roles as
change agents to improve oral care habits.

8. 8
"MaukhikSwasthyaMitras" in the Jeevika village organizations receive oral care
certification and act as ambassadors to teach village organizations about proper
oral care and drive behavior change in the community
ORAL HEALTH MONTH
India’s first National Oral Health Survey conducted by Dental Council of India and
Ministry of Health & Family Welfare in the year 2002-2003, threw light on the
falling standards of oral health care in India. Realizing the gap, Colgate India
along with Indian Dental Association (IDA), in 2004, rolled out Oral Health
Month (OHM), an awareness campaign to establish and promote the importance
of good oral hygiene and regular dental check-ups. Spanning two months –
November and December- OHM is focused on educating consumers and offers
dental check-ups across the country.

9. 9
OHM was initiated in 2004 as a 6-city programme with 70 participating dentists.
The Oral Care awareness drive now covers in-clinic free dental check-ups,
school contact programs, free dental check-ups in mobile dental vans, retailers
outreach program, Canteen Stores Departments (CSD ) outreach initiative and
many more activities. In the past 13 years, Oral Health Month has grown
phenomenally, emerging as a leading campaign for promoting oral health
awareness in India.
Oral Health Month 2016 brought alive the theme of ‘Keep India Smiling’ through
a wide spectrum of awareness-related initiatives highlighting the importance of
oral health. Delivered in partnership with IDA, the campaign in 2016 benefitted
more than 6 million people across geographies, contributing towards improving
the Oral Health condition in India.
Employability Linked Skill Building Initiative
Realizing the need for making the future generation more employable, Colgate
India launched ‘Saksham’, a pragmatic initiative for Social and Economic
Empowerment of the underprivileged and marginalized youth through an
Employability Linked Skill Development program. Colgate has partnered with
SEEDs and its implementation partner, IL&FS Skills , to roll out this program.
The trades and curriculum are as per the guidelines of the National Skill

10. 10
Development Council. Under the Saksham program, training for 45 days is
imparted through an effective and comprehensive multi-media content.
During the training period, candidates are also groomed on social skills and
behaviours and they also get a platform to interact with the Colgate’s local
customer development teams and Colgate’s business partners, who share their
experiences and life lessons. The youth enrolled in the program are from
economically weaker families, both from urban slum locations, as well as from
rural areas. The focus is on enrolling youth, who have the potential and the
willingness to learn, but are devoid of financial resources and guidance, to
become employable. The program was started in March 2016 with an enrolment
of 55 students at Luknow. In just a year, a total of 202 youth have been trained
and certified, out of which 151 candidates are already employed in various
industries and establishments, and the rest are in the process of being
interviewed, facilitated by IL&FS Skills. The program that was started at Luknow
was further expanded to include Moradabad, UP and Muzzafarpur in Bihar in the
Financial Year 2016-17. Encouraged by the initial success, the aim now is to
expand ‘Saksham’ to more locations and further empower more young people by
enhancing their employability capabilities.

11. 11
A Positive Step program for HIV Infected/Affected Children
Colgate India recognizes the seriousness of HIV/AIDS and its impact on the
society. Colgate-Palmolive remains committed to helping employees and those
in our communities to combat HIV/AIDS. Colgate’s commitment in the fight
against HIV/AIDS is based on the core value of ‘Caring’ and our 2015
Sustainability commitments to Promote Healthier Lives and Contribute to the
Communities Where We Live and Work. To this end, it also focuses on
partnerships with third parties, and provides proactive organizational support.
Colgate works towards limiting the impact of HIV/AIDS and maintaining a
conducive environment through openness and acceptance of HIV/AIDS affected
people.
Colgate-Palmolive (India) Limited initiated, ‘A Positive Step’ , a program in
collaboration with 'Network In Thane Of People Living With HIV',(NTP+), a Non-
Governmental Organization addressing inequalities and promoting education for
HIV infected and affected children. This is a payroll sponsorship program, where
the Company matches the amount of sponsorship given by its employees
towards the cause. The Company also supports other grooming initiatives for the
HIV/AIDS affected children and contributes towards the administrative costs of
running the program. Besides, every year, Colgate also encourages its
employees to participate in a Marathon to support the cause. The proceeds from
the Marathon go to the NGO, NTP + to strengthen the Positive Step program.

12. 12
This program had started with a handful of children and now it supports a total of
89 children. Employees have come forward to volunteer, to not just support the
cause, but to also volunteer their time in engaging with these kids to teach and
help them sharpen their skills. These children are encouraged to face challenges
bravely and positively. Colgate India also organizes a special event on ‘World
AIDS Day’ every year in December, wherein the kids get to spend a day at the
Colgate office and interact with the sponsors, volunteers and the entire Colgate
family.
The program is impacting children positively in education, health, and helping to
create in them the confidence to face challenges that may come their way. It is
encouraging to note that some of the youth are now pursuing graduation and
post-graduation.
During the year 2016 a new initiative - a creative library, ‘Knowledge Garden’,
was launched for the children enrolled under the Positive Step program. The
objective of this initiative was to encourage children to be creative and develop a
desire to learn by using the Knowledge Garden Creative Library. Computer
workshops have also been introduced as part of this Initiative.
Ever since the launch of the Knowledge Garden, it has been found that most of
the children have formed a habit to visit the library and enjoy reading the books,
browsing the CDs and working on the computers.

13. 13
Colgate SevaMandir Education Scholarship Program and
Supporting SevaMandir
SevaMandir is a non-profit organization, working in, and around Udaipur in
Rajasthan in the field of education, health, empowerment of women and youth,
village institutions and natural resource development.
With an aim to create sustainable livelihoods and bring in a positive change in
the lives of individuals and communities, Colgate partnered with SevaMandir in
2013, to support its unique programs through an annual grant.
The association with SevaMandir has supported programs in various domains of
education, women empowerment, and environment in the under privileged rural
and tribal communities. Colgate, in the year 2016, launched the ‘Colgate
SevaMandir Education Scholarship Program’ for the disadvantaged children from
tribal and rural areas of Udaipur, Rajasthan. 38 children, who enrolled in this
residential program for five years, were primarily girls from standard VIII
onwards. These children study in VidyaMandir School which focuses on an all-
round development of children through both, studies and sports, as well as builds
a strong value system through various engaging activities and initiatives. Under
this program, Colgate sponsors their school fee, hostel fee, study materials,
uniforms, travel costs, special coaching and other support costs. In the fifth year
of the program, a joint review will be conducted by Colgate and SevaMandir to

14. 14
understand the career choices of these children and support them to build their
future.
Colgate is also facilitating SevaMandir and VidyaMandir, to help build better
infrastructure and facilities for the children which include well-lit, ventilated
classrooms, uniforms, providing safe drinking water, availability of computers and
learning facilities, and the renovation of toilets and washing facilities in hostel
campuses. Through this education scholarship program, Colgate aims to provide
quality education and an enriching experience to these children to help realize
their dreams.
Supporting Pratham for 'Read India' Program
Colgate has been associated with Pratham, and has been working towards
providing quality education to the underprivileged children of India. ‘Every child
in school and learning well’ has been Pratham’s endeavor since its modest
beginnings in Mumbai in 1994. Education is one of the foremost priorities for
India’s developing economy. It is the only lasting solution towards eradicating
poverty in the long-term and can be achieved by empowering children through
education. Pratham has come a long way both, in scope and geographical
coverage since, and has established itself as a credible implementer of education
solutions for the under-privileged children.

15. 15
Colgate partnered with Pratham in supporting their endeavor of working to
provide education to the underprivileged children under their Initiative ‘Read
India’.
This program brings together children from disadvantaged communities with an
aim to enable them to develop basic mathematics and language skills in English,
Hindi, Marathi and Urdu through learning camps.
Pratham in a joint effort with ACER (Annual Status of Education Report) Centre,
launched a call-to-action campaign, ‘Lakhonmeinek’, targeting 1000,000
communities across India. This program specifically aimed to help the basic
reading and mathematical skills in children. Colgate India supported with
education material and recognition certificates for the volunteers in Mumbai and
13 other cities of Maharashtra.
In the year 2016, Colgate initiated employee volunteering, during weekends in
the ‘Read India’ program that primarily aimed to improve basic reading, writing
and arithmetic skills of the children in the age group 6-14 years. Learning camps
were conducted in 10 communities of Sangarsh Nagar in Powai, Mumbai. At the
end of the first phase, the enthusiasm of the children and their regular
attendance to the weekend classes were an encouraging sign and Colgate will
continue this endeavor.

16. 16
Making Every Drop of Water Count
Water Scarcity and availability of clean drinking water is one of the biggest
crises. Growing use of fresh water and depletion of usable freshwater resources
are contributing to water scarcity much more than ever. Every small effort to save
water is the crying need of the day.
In line with this priority, Colgate announced ‘Water’ as a key pillar of its
sustainability initiatives under which water stewardship and commitment to
partnering with local and global organizations to bring clean water to underserved
communities are the focus areas.
Further, at Colgate India, we have a long-standing commitment to reduce water
intensity and there is a robust program across our manufacturing plants that help
not only in recycling, reusing, and zero discharge of water, but also in
conservation.
Colgate India through its parent company, partnered with the NGO, 'Water for
People’, that has a comprehensive water management approach, in regions that
have high water stress. Since 2012, the company has been supporting ‘
Shehora District’ in Bihar and ‘24 Parganas’ in West Bengal, as these areas were
adversely affected, either due to lack of water or a degraded quality of water.
Availability of clean drinking water and its accessibility, household community
hygiene, community water pumps, sanitation facilities in schools were the key
focus areas of this program.

17. 17
Over 3.9 lakh people benefitted through community water system, around 1.20
lakh through sanitation and more than 4.4 lakh children benefitted through
schools’ WASH (Water And Sanitation Hygiene) Services.
To strengthen the commitment and focus on conservation of water, Colgate India
in partnership with the NGO, Water for People - India Trust, launched a new
initiative in Maharashtra, one of the areas highly in need of water. The main
focus of the program will be to support communities with quality drinking water,
improve accessibility to water and make water available for sanitation through
rain water harvesting system. In addition, emphasis will be on creating
awareness and educating the community as well as sensitizing the children in the
schools through various mechanisms to ‘Save Water’. Water for People - India
Trust will work with local communities and governance to implement the
program. The work has started with a feasibility study to identify locations at the
Block and Panchayat levels.
Colgate celebrated India’s Water Heroes on World Water Day
Colgate celebrated World Water Day on March 22, 2017 by honoring India’s
Water Heroes who work hard to save millions of litres of water each day. The
company paid tribute to:

18. 18
 Kartavya Health Foundation's Navin Chandra, who helps by saving millions
of litres of water every day, through rainwater harvesting
 Drop Dead Foundation's AabidSurti, who works towards repairing leaking
taps in Mumbai suburbs.