Initiatives to Benefit Children

Teacher training by private enterprise

As part of a corporate training program for teachers, ORIX welcomed 24 public elementary school teachers from Tokyo’s Machida City in 2021. Organized by the Japan Institute for Social and Economic Affairs—an affiliate of the Keidanren (Japanese Business Federation)—this program functions as a private sector training program for public school teachers, aiming to deepen understanding of various corporate ideas and efforts which can potentially be applied to school management and educational initiatives for children. In 2021, the program was conducted online to prevent the spread of coronavirus, enabling participants to experience the company’s activities through classroom lectures and video tours of different ORIX Group locations and sites.

Lessons by visiting teachers

The Sumida Aquarium participates in the School Support Network Project organized by the Sumida Ward Board of Education Secretariat and holds lessons at elementary schools in Sumida Ward. In addition to learning about living creatures, students received an integrated study session which incorporated elements of environmental teachings and career education. Since 2020, as visiting classrooms in person has been difficult, the Sumida Aquarium engaged with the local public elementary school online in an effort to create opportunities for students to develop curiosity about living things.

Together with the Kyoto City Board of Education, the Kyoto Aquarium also offers lessons for elementary schools in Kyoto City. One of the themes of the lessons is the giant salamander – an animal that is symbolic of the rivers of Kyoto. We conduct lessons allowing children to learn about the giant salamander by fully experiencing it, using tools such as worksheets and images. Since 2020, Kyoto Aquarium has connected with elementary schools, with aquarium staff hosting seminars. Going forward, we plan to reach out to many children to help them learn about Kyoto's living things, environmental issues, and other topics.

Work experience programs

In 2010, ORIX Rentec began offering work experience programs for local junior high school students. We provide students experience with actual work such as cleaning rental item accessories and confirming pre-shipment operation tests as well as opportunities to learn how to use specialized measuring and IT equipment that they would not have an opportunity to interact with in everyday life. We accepted 5 students to this program in 2019.

We have postponed this initiative for the fiscal years ended March 2021, 2022 and 2023 due to the coronavirus.

Fostering the next generation through business collaboration

The Kyoto Aquarium participates in a comprehensive partnership agreement between four facilities: Kyoto Aquarium, Kyoto City Zoo, Kyoto Prefectural Botanical Garden, and Kyoto City Youth Science Center. This partnership comprises three main pillars: i) collaborating on initiatives relating to irreplaceable ecosystems; ii) passing down the legacy of Kyoto's natural environment to the next generation; and iii) sharing a wide range of information and promoting interaction between staff members. Various events including workshops are held throughout the year.

ORIX Environmental Resources Management: Children's Future Fund

ORIX Environmental Resources Management established the “ORIX Environmental Resources Management Child Future Fund” in 2016. This was in Yoriimachi where the Yorii Plant—a waste processing facility—is located and is made to help the next generation develop their physical and mental well-being.
In Yoriimachi, the aforementioned fund supports an international exchange project for junior high school students, held in collaboration with Yoriimachi’s sister city in the United States, Marysville City, Ohio.
In 2018, junior high school students from Yoriimachi visited Marysville City, and since then reciprocal visits were held each year. Although this initiative was postponed owing to the pandemic for three years (held online in FY2023.3), we resumed visits for the first time in four years in FY2024.3.

Baseball classes, team-sponsored tournaments, and career seminars

The ORIX Buffaloes baseball team holds family tee-ball classes for children who are just starting to learn and play baseball in addition to baseball classes for children who belong to a team, where alumni of the ORIX Buffaloes team visit to provide instruction and coaching. Additionally, the ORIX Buffaloes CUP—a tournament sponsored by the baseball team—is directed at students in elementary school and junior high school as well as adults and the general public and aims to increase the number of baseball enthusiasts across all generations by engaging in projects that promote baseball.
Furthermore, the team’s alumni staff members attend vocational classes for junior high school students to discuss the appeal of baseball and their real-life experiences in the sports industry to help raise individual awareness as contributive members of society and to provide an opportunity to learn about potential career paths.
Social contribution initiatives by the ORIX Buffaloes can be found here. (in Japanese)

The Orange Ribbon movement for child abuse prevention

Apartment maintenance businesses Daikyo Astage and Anabuki Community are involved in the Orange Ribbon movement with the goal of eliminating all forms of child abuse from the properties they operate. The Orange Ribbon movement is a civil movement to eradicate child abuse by spreading awareness leveraging an orange ribbon as a symbol. All employees and management staff sequentially participate in courses about the Orange Ribbon movement to obtain accurate information about child abuse prevention and on how to act appropriately if/when necessary. Information is shared regularly with occupants/residents as well.

Safari Ramadhan

As part of Corporate Social Responsibilities, SMS Finance contribute to public by giving donation to some orphanages. These activities held during Ramadhan period which recognized as Holy month for Moslem, within 23 March until 22 April 2023. We called this event as “Safari Ramadhan”. SMS Finance donate to 16 orphanages in 16 cities all over Indonesia. In donation, we provide food staples and school needs to more than 400 orphans. The Orphanages said that the donation can help them to fulfil their daily need and can support orphans to achieve their aim for the future. They pray that SMS Finance will have a bright future and always blessed.

Annual holiday giving targets children, hunger and homelessness

As part of their annual holiday giving, ORIX USA focuses donations on hunger and homelessness, particularly to support vulnerable and disadvantaged children’s needs. In 2022, the 16 worthy organizations who received funding were local organizations in Boston (Bridge Over Troubled Waters, Friends of Boston’s Homelessness, and Rosie’s Place), Chicago (Bernie’s Book Bank, Chicago Your Centers, and Sarah’s Circle), Columbus (Columbus Early Learning Centers, Community Shelter Board, and Mid-Ohio Food Collective), Dallas (North Texas Food Bank, Hope Supply Co., and Crossroads Community Services), and New York (Crossroads Community Services, Heart Share St. Vincent’s Services, and Monday Night Hospitality).

These organizations tackle a wide range of issues facing children, including childcare necessities, educational resources, early development, poverty, and hunger.

In addition, ORIX USA also contributes to the Ronald McDonald House Charities which supports programs that directly improve the health and well-being of children and their families.

Promoting education and sponsorship of the Dutch Mathematical Olympiad

Transtrend supports initiatives that promote education and as our roots are quant-oriented, we focus our efforts on quantitative education. We promote education among others by providing additional mathematics lessons to local secondary school students and offering and supporting school projects and internships. In this process we do take gender and the cultural and/or social background of the children and students into account. We aim to help girls in making a well-informed choice for a profile. And we prefer to spend more time on supporting children who receive little or no support from home than children who do.
Additionally, we are a main sponsor of the Dutch Mathematical Olympiad, which is an annual contest for secondary school students. From the winners of three national rounds, teams are selected and intensively trained in our offices to represent The Netherlands at three international mathematical contests, such as the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO). For young talented students, the road towards such a contest is a once in a lifetime experience. We support paving that road.
For further details, please refer to Transtrends’ Sustainability page.