Introduction – Community Outreach
Join the SolarEdge Conversation
Contact our sustainability / ESG team
Contact us
How can we help you?
Using Technology to Encourage Employee Donations
We initiated a program to enable Israeli employees to make donations through the JGive donation platform. Employees can donate to hundreds of confirmed non-profits and receive tax refunds directly to their pay slip. This makes it easier to donate when one is inclined and ensures that contributors will receive the tax credits to which they are entitled.
Go Baby Go
We support the “Go Baby Go” initiative which promotes equal opportunities for kids with physical disabilities and acts to improve their quality of life. Our initiative is centered on customizing motorized toy cars. Each car is tailored to the specific needs of a disabled child and is designed with the help of physiotherapists. The cars use propulsion technology and a seating system that allows each child to travel independently and safely. During 2023, our employees participated in four workshops, using their professional skills to build the motorized cars. During each such event, the employees also had the opportunity to meet the kids for shared activities.
Birkat Reut
Atidim
Enhancing Diverse Populations
In cooperation with the Birkat Reut association which promotes equal opportunities for populations with special needs, SolarEdge hosted groups of children with emotional disabilities for fun activities. Employees led bi-weekly activities including science workshops for children with emotional disabilities.
We support Atidim’s Step UP Program which identifies talented young women from Israel’s underserved periphery and provides support, enrichment and empowerment to create equal educational opportunities and social mobility. SolarEdge donated four full scholarships to allow four women from underserved backgrounds to major in engineering in order to pursue careers in high-tech. These scholarships also include private lessons to ensure that these women have opportune chances to excel in their careers.
Within this framework, we also organized two Meet-Ups throughout the year on tech trends in the energy sector and students from the program were invited to take part. These Meet-Ups were led by SolarEdge women managers.
Shavot
Ofanim
The Guy Sella Memorial Project
Tech Education / Innovation
In recent years, female SolarEdge employees from various departments in SolarEdge took part in the Shavot program, a nationwide initiative that encourages girls to develop positive self-esteem. Through meaningful experiences like the ones fostered by our female employees, young girls are able to minimize gender gaps, discover new strengths, and aspire to reach higher goals.
In early 2024, twenty of our female employees met with twenty-two groups of girls from the city of Hadera, Israel. As part of the program, our employees shared their career path and delivered an EDGEUcate lesson. In addition, the girls visited our HQ offices on International Women’s Day. They experienced a “day-in-the-life” of their SolarEdge female program participants and were exposed to the day-to-day activities of various departments at SolarEdge.
We are a member of Friends of Ofanim, an award-winning organization that drives STEM education for elementary school children in Israel’s underserved regions in the north and south. We have delivered our EDGEUcate workshops and conducted tours of Sella 1 for underprivileged youth in the periphery, creating educational opportunities for Israel’s most disadvantaged children.
This project was initiated in 2020 in memory of Guy Sella, SolarEdge’s Co-Founder, former Chairman and CEO who passed away in August 2019. As part of the project, the Company has pledged to invest $1,000,000 over ten years in a joint SolarEdge-Technion educational and technological initiative (with 2023 representing the fourth project year). The Technion, Israel’s leading technical research university, is committed to matching these funds. The Guy Sella Memorial Project combines teaching, research, and outreach activities for high school, undergraduate, and graduate students, including teaching labs and research fellowships.
In mid-2023, the Technion held an award ceremony for research grants and scholarships as part of the project. Scholarships were granted to 4 promising students and researchers by SolarEdge’s CEO. Also during 2023, several lectures regarding the SolarEdge story and technology were held in the Technion, as part of energy related courses and to mentors in a tech-hub program.
During the 2023 academic year, 40 students conducted projects in the Power Electronics and Renewable Energy Laboratory (PEARL), donated by SolarEdge and opened in 2022. PEARL is a first-of-its-kind lab integrating renewable energy and power electronics as part of the studies of the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The goals of the lab are to acquaint graduate students with the practicalities of climate tech and to expose them to the increasing efficiencies of photovoltaics, e-mobility and other renewable technologies.
EDGEUcate
Our flagship long-term educational program, EDGEUcate, aims to raise awareness and educate children from a young age on sustainability practices and teaching about solar energy. We developed age-appropriate learning kits in collaboration with educational consultants and content writers for use in the classroom by our employees. Educational kits were designed for students from kindergarten through 12th grade, based on materials from our “Edge Academy”.
The program was launched in Israel during 2022 and globally in 2023. By March 2024, over 160 employees taught EDGEUcate classes in 7 countries to over 8,500 pupils. We are continuing to expand this well-received, valuable program, and have set a goal to launch it at 10 target SolarEdge sites globally by the end of 2024. To date, the program has been launched at 70% of these sites. Among else, the program has been taught to children with disabilities, children from underserved communities, and from diverse populations.
VeNatata
Community Installation Project
Green Energy / Environment
We support one of Venatata’s “100,000 Trees” projects; their aim is to plant 100,000 trees throughout Israel in the next 5 years, with an emphasis on planting in urban centers and creating a “green lung”. SolarEdge participated in this project by creating a tree nursery at an urban agriculture youth village in Herzliya. Dozens of employees volunteered their time and were directly involved in developing this tree nursery during 2023. In 2024, once the trees are strong enough, our employees will also be part of moving the trees for planting at rehabilitation institutions around Israel.
Following last year’s successful installation at the Manof youth village for youth at risk in North Israel, the company aimed to continue meeting its target of adding one community PV installation project each year. This year, SolarEdge donated an entire solar energy management system to a No2Violence women’s shelter located in the center of Israel. No2Violence is an NGO supporting women and children jeopardized by domestic violence, enabling them to break away and start a new life. They provide shelter, professional help, vocational training, and legal aid. They also raise awareness of the scourge of domestic violence.
The 40kW SolarEdge PV system that we donated includes the Power Optimizers, inverters and other hardware that we manufacture, as well as providing the solar panels, racking and other ancillary products required for the installed system. A SolarEdge expert installation team carried out and oversaw the entire installation.
As part of our partnership with No2Violence, we are also establishing a community garden at the shelter. SolarEdge professionals are working with the organization to formulate the organization’s marketing and branding strategy, as well. The women and children in the shelters have also been hosted at our Sella 1 manufacturing hub for tours of the facility.
equivalent to 0.57% of net profits,[1]
$537,000
surpassing our target[2] to reach at least 0.5% of annual net profits by 2026.
In 2023, SolarEdge donated
This plan is composed of the following three pillars:
Advancing education on renewable energy, promoting sustainability and climate action
Promoting Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education and encouraging youth innovation
Enhancing diverse populations
We continue to grow our efforts and measure the impact on the communities in which we live and work. This year, we expanded upon the previous year’s activities, by continuing to grow a broad range of initiatives in line with the above-mentioned three-pillar employee engagement plan. We have also made ad-hoc donations to communities in need in areas where large sections of our employees reside. Two of our main initiatives were large-scale projects initiated within the Company itself (our Community Installation project and our expanded EDGEUcate project – both of which are detailed below). Other initiatives include partnering with NGOs specializing in their respective areas of expertise.
We encourage employee engagement in initiatives that reach a large number of beneficiaries and operate on a national scale. As a result, our employee volunteering rates increased significantly in 2023, reaching a total of over 2,300 volunteer hours in Israel alone.
The plan also defines the criteria for CSR initiatives in the communities where our operations are located, emphasizing employee engagement and potential impact.
In addition, we appointed community engagement outreach leads from different departments and regions and defined a new policy for company-organized volunteering initiatives, allowing employees to volunteer one day per year during paid working hours.
To this end, we have established our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Committee. This committee is comprised of employees from a range of functions within the company whose purpose is to progress community engagement programs while sharing different internal views. In addition, our Head of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is responsible for the oversight and effective promotion of our community engagement strategy and programs.
Our strategy and programs are based on an extensive community engagement multi-year plan.
As a global leader in smart energy, impact is at the core of everything we do. We are continuously looking for opportunities to positively impact the communities in which we live and work.
Enhancing Diverse Populations
Tech Education / Innovation
Green Energy / Environment
EDGEUcate
Sustainability Report 2023 /
Community
Outreach
[1]
[2]
Donation per profit ratio was calculated using the 2023 total donations, divided by the 2022 total net profits. We consider this ratio to be representative, since our donation budget is planned at the beginning of each year as a percentage of last year’s profits. If the 2023 total donations would be divided by the 2023 net profits, the result reflects a 1.57% ratio.
The target was surpassed ahead of time on a one-time basis due to ad-hoc donations to communities in need in Q4.
Join the SolarEdge Conversation
Contact our sustainability / ESG team
Contact us
How can we help you?
Using Technology to Encourage Employee Donations
We initiated a program to enable Israeli employees to make donations through the JGive donation platform. Employees can donate to hundreds of confirmed non-profits and receive tax refunds directly to their pay slip. This makes it easier to donate when one is inclined and ensures that contributors will receive the tax credits to which they are entitled.
Go Baby Go
We support the “Go Baby Go” initiative which promotes equal opportunities for kids with physical disabilities and acts to improve their quality of life. Our initiative is centered on customizing motorized toy cars. Each car is tailored to the specific needs of a disabled child and is designed with the help of physiotherapists. The cars use propulsion technology and a seating system that allows each child to travel independently and safely. During 2023, our employees participated in four workshops, using their professional skills to build the motorized cars. During each such event, the employees also had the opportunity to meet the kids for shared activities.
Birkat Reut
Atidim
Enhancing Diverse Populations
In cooperation with the Birkat Reut association which promotes equal opportunities for populations with special needs, SolarEdge hosted groups of children with emotional disabilities for fun activities. Employees led bi-weekly activities including science workshops for children with emotional disabilities.
We support Atidim’s Step UP Program which identifies talented young women from Israel’s underserved periphery and provides support, enrichment and empowerment to create equal educational opportunities and social mobility. SolarEdge donated four full scholarships to allow four women from underserved backgrounds to major in engineering in order to pursue careers in high-tech. These scholarships also include private lessons to ensure that these women have opportune chances to excel in their careers.
Within this framework, we also organized two Meet-Ups throughout the year on tech trends in the energy sector and students from the program were invited to take part. These Meet-Ups were led by SolarEdge women managers.
Shavot
Ofanim
The Guy Sella Memorial Project
Tech Education / Innovation
In recent years, female SolarEdge employees from various departments in SolarEdge took part in the Shavot program, a nationwide initiative that encourages girls to develop positive self-esteem. Through meaningful experiences like the ones fostered by our female employees, young girls are able to minimize gender gaps, discover new strengths, and aspire to reach higher goals.
In early 2024, twenty of our female employees met with twenty-two groups of girls from the city of Hadera, Israel. As part of the program, our employees shared their career path and delivered an EDGEUcate lesson. In addition, the girls visited our HQ offices on International Women’s Day. They experienced a “day-in-the-life” of their SolarEdge female program participants and were exposed to the day-to-day activities of various departments at SolarEdge.
We are a member of Friends of Ofanim, an award-winning organization that drives STEM education for elementary school children in Israel’s underserved regions in the north and south. We have delivered our EDGEUcate workshops and conducted tours of Sella 1 for underprivileged youth in the periphery, creating educational opportunities for Israel’s most disadvantaged children.
This project was initiated in 2020 in memory of Guy Sella, SolarEdge’s Co-Founder, former Chairman and CEO who passed away in August 2019. As part of the project, the Company has pledged to invest $1,000,000 over ten years in a joint SolarEdge-Technion educational and technological initiative (with 2023 representing the fourth project year). The Technion, Israel’s leading technical research university, is committed to matching these funds. The Guy Sella Memorial Project combines teaching, research, and outreach activities for high school, undergraduate, and graduate students, including teaching labs and research fellowships.
In mid-2023, the Technion held an award ceremony for research grants and scholarships as part of the project. Scholarships were granted to 4 promising students and researchers by SolarEdge’s CEO. Also during 2023, several lectures regarding the SolarEdge story and technology were held in the Technion, as part of energy related courses and to mentors in a tech-hub program.
During the 2023 academic year, 40 students conducted projects in the Power Electronics and Renewable Energy Laboratory (PEARL), donated by SolarEdge and opened in 2022. PEARL is a first-of-its-kind lab integrating renewable energy and power electronics as part of the studies of the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The goals of the lab are to acquaint graduate students with the practicalities of climate tech and to expose them to the increasing efficiencies of photovoltaics, e-mobility and other renewable technologies.
VeNatata
Community Installation Project
Green Energy / Environment
We support one of Venatata’s “100,000 Trees” projects; their aim is to plant 100,000 trees throughout Israel in the next 5 years, with an emphasis on planting in urban centers and creating a “green lung”. SolarEdge participated in this project by creating a tree nursery at an urban agriculture youth village in Herzliya. Dozens of employees volunteered their time and were directly involved in developing this tree nursery during 2023. In 2024, once the trees are strong enough, our employees will also be part of moving the trees for planting at rehabilitation institutions around Israel.
Following last year’s successful installation at the Manof youth village for youth at risk in North Israel, the company aimed to continue meeting its target of adding one community PV installation project each year. This year, SolarEdge donated an entire solar energy management system to a No2Violence women’s shelter located in the center of Israel. No2Violence is an NGO supporting women and children jeopardized by domestic violence, enabling them to break away and start a new life. They provide shelter, professional help, vocational training, and legal aid. They also raise awareness of the scourge of domestic violence.
The 40kW SolarEdge PV system that we donated includes the Power Optimizers, inverters and other hardware that we manufacture, as well as providing the solar panels, racking and other ancillary products required for the installed system. A SolarEdge expert installation team carried out and oversaw the entire installation.
As part of our partnership with No2Violence, we are also establishing a community garden at the shelter. SolarEdge professionals are working with the organization to formulate the organization’s marketing and branding strategy, as well. The women and children in the shelters have also been hosted at our Sella 1 manufacturing hub for tours of the facility.
EDGEUcate
Our flagship long-term educational program, EDGEUcate, aims to raise awareness and educate children from a young age on sustainability practices and teaching about solar energy. We developed age-appropriate learning kits in collaboration with educational consultants and content writers for use in the classroom by our employees. Educational kits were designed for students from kindergarten through 12th grade, based on materials from our “Edge Academy”.
The program was launched in Israel during 2022 and globally in 2023. By March 2024, over 160 employees taught EDGEUcate classes in 7 countries to over 8,500 pupils. We are continuing to expand this well-received, valuable program, and have set a goal to launch it at 10 target SolarEdge sites globally by the end of 2024. To date, the program has been launched at 70% of these sites. Among else, the program has been taught to children with disabilities, children from underserved communities, and from diverse populations.
equivalent to 0.57% of net profits,[1]
$537,000
surpassing our target[2] to reach at least 0.5% of annual net profits by 2026.
In 2023, SolarEdge donated
This plan is composed of the following three pillars:
Advancing education on renewable energy, promoting sustainability and climate action
Promoting Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education and encouraging youth innovation
Enhancing diverse populations
We continue to grow our efforts and measure the impact on the communities in which we live and work. This year, we expanded upon the previous year’s activities, by continuing to grow a broad range of initiatives in line with the above-mentioned three-pillar employee engagement plan. We have also made ad-hoc donations to communities in need in areas where large sections of our employees reside. Two of our main initiatives were large-scale projects initiated within the Company itself (our Community Installation project and our expanded EDGEUcate project – both of which are detailed below). Other initiatives include partnering with NGOs specializing in their respective areas of expertise.
We encourage employee engagement in initiatives that reach a large number of beneficiaries and operate on a national scale. As a result, our employee volunteering rates increased significantly in 2023, reaching a total of over 2,300 volunteer hours in Israel alone.
The plan also defines the criteria for CSR initiatives in the communities where our operations are located, emphasizing employee engagement and potential impact.
In addition, we appointed community engagement outreach leads from different departments and regions and defined a new policy for company-organized volunteering initiatives, allowing employees to volunteer one day per year during paid working hours.
To this end, we have established our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Committee. This committee is comprised of employees from a range of functions within the company whose purpose is to progress community engagement programs while sharing different internal views. In addition, our Head of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is responsible for the oversight and effective promotion of our community engagement strategy and programs.
Our strategy and programs are based on an extensive community engagement multi-year plan.
Introduction – Community Outreach
As a global leader in smart energy, impact is at the core of everything we do. We are continuously looking for opportunities to positively impact the communities in which we live and work.
Community
Outreach
Sustainability Report 2023 /