Occasionally our company may provide sponsorships, donations, or contributions to support healthcare education, charitable and general philanthropic initiatives.

Participation in funding for any sponsorships, donations or contributions is governed by strict anticorruption/anti-bribery laws and ethics and are subject to signed contractual agreements with our international partners.

Our applicable policy is as follows:

• No direct or indirect payment or benefit may be made, offered, authorized or promised to anyone including private individuals, government officials, employees of state-owned enterprise, their families or friends, or institutions or organizations for the purpose of influencing, inducing or rewarding any act, omission or decision to secure an improper advantage to obtain, secure or retain any business or to influence someone to do or not to do something that will benefit Comfort Healthcare, its employees or principals.
• Payment is considered anything of value and includes, but is not limited to cash or cash equivalents, gifts, gift certificates, free products, services, employment offers, loans, meals, travel expenses, side trips, lodging, grants, consulting fees, advertising, entertainment, political contributions, charitable donations, subsidies, sponsorships, honoraria or provisions of any other asset, even if nominal in value.

In essence, all “quid pro quo” payments whereby the payment is made with the expectation of receiving an improper benefit or advantage in return is prohibited either by actual deed or by perception. The acid test in this is that in no way can a grant/donation/contribution have any perception or minimum suspicion of any form of payment.

For a sponsorship, donations or contributions to be considered it needs to comply with the following criteria:

1. Request has to be submitted in writing at least 4 weeks prior to the event or project.
2. Funds are only available for legal foundations, organizations and schools with established certifications and registrations.
3. Funds will not be considered for:

• Applications from individuals, including those seeking support for activities such as academic studies, competition in a sporting event, travel or fundraising for another organization, unless they are deemed strategically relevant to our objectives.
• Political parties, political organizations, politicians or candidates for public office.
• Organizations or initiatives which discriminate against origin, age, race, religion, gender or ability.
• Organizations or initiatives that are environmentally negligent.
• Religious organizations which only provide benefits to a single faith community.
• Organizations or activities that may be deemed likely to promote controversial issues that could damage our corporate reputation (e.g. gaming, tobacco, alcohol or drug-related sponsorships.)

Once the request is received it will be evaluated on several points:

• Relativity to our company vision/mission;
• Contribution to the community in general;
• Exposure for our company.

In order to be considered, the following form should be completed and submitted:

1. Fill in the Sponsorship request form
2. Request has to be submitted at least 4 week prior to the event.
3. General description of your organization. Include details on its history, role, credentials, vision, values and long-term goals.
4. Information on the specific initiative your organization is seeking a sponsorship, donation or contribution for. Include objectives, frequency and duration, the proposed level of sponsorship, exposure for our company and media activities.
5. Investment amount requested, or material (including the amount of cash and in-kind support) and purpose for the funds.

In return of our support, Nature’s Discount would like to receive the following:

• Mentioning of Nature’s Discount in media & social media, including the official Nature’s Discount’s logo on print advertisements, with our approval.
• We would like to inform you beforehand that Nature’s Discount will not support both monetary contribution to an event and products for the same event (it is one or the other). If products are needed for organizers/volunteers/participants we can deduct this or settle with the final event support sum or you can purchase the products on your own terms.
• We would like for you to consider the following: if Nature’s Discount were to become a potential/possible (main) sponsor, a similar Health Store cannot be part of the support community for the event. It would collide and clash with the purpose of getting the maximum exposure out of the event support. If exclusivity cannot be guaranteed, please discuss this with partners.