“Amway was founded on the belief that, by helping people improve their lives, they could make the world a better place.”

So begins the message from our Chairman Steve Van Andel and our President Doug DeVos in the Amway 2012 Global Corporate Social Responsibility Report released today.

The annual report highlights the many ways our company, its more than 21,000 employees and more than 3 million distributors make a difference in the lives of others.

That includes building homes in Latin America, providing water filters in Haiti, building libraries in China and adopting schools right here in the hometown of our World Headquarters.

Corporate Social Responsibility is built into everything we do: our people, our products and our performance.

 Steve and Doug credit their fathers for recognizing the potential in this business for making a difference.

“They made it their mission to be more, do more, give more. And more than a half-century later, we’re still emulating their powerful example. … We’re awed by how far we’ve come and inspired to keep becoming more, together.”

Read the full report here.

Wikipedia defines a guide as one who leads others through unknown or unmapped territory. And as the direct selling industry looks toward 2013 and beyond, two prominent Direct Selling Associations (DSAs) have elected Amway executives as guides at the helm.

Amway Hong Kong General Manager Louisa (Liu) Chan will lead the Hong Kong DSA and Amway UK/Republic of Ireland General Manager and Director Andy Smith will do the same for the DSA of the United Kingdom.

From financial planning, strategic thinking and operations to managing information technology, membership and marketing, it’s no small task to lead these groups that provide consumer education and protection, proactive and reactive communications, and ethics training and guidance on a daily basis.

It’s a commitment – one that more than 50 Amway company executives, including Andy and Louisa, have made to the industry and the associations that represent it around the world.

You can learn more than just soccer skills at the AC Milan Junior Camp No One Left Behind by Nutrilite.

Monica Milone, Amway Italy director of corporate affairs, said that Amway’s support of the camp is about preparing kids for life. “We really believe in sport as an element of aggregation, education and personal growth,” she told reporters recently. 

Amway Italy gave the Milan Foundation USD$20,000 to help 100 at-risk children from Naples attend the Junior Camp.  While at camp the kids worked on soccer basics and learned about sportsmanship, teamwork and respect  -  skills that will help them succeed on the field as well as in life.

At camp the kids scored goals to win matches, but Amway Italy hopes they left thinking about making goals for the  future.

Here’s a bright note that doesn’t often make reports on employment conditions in the UK: self-employment is at an all-time high of 4.16 million.

Direct selling is part of that growth, with nearly 400,000 people working in the industry – and contributing £390 million annually to the UK economy. Just this year, Amway UK has seen 26 percent more people signing up to start an Amway business.

Direct selling often is called recession-proof, offering an income opportunity even in tough economic times. It also appeals to budding entrepreneurs, and to those looking for a flexible second income option that works around other commitments.

New shopping concepts are attracting more people to direct selling as a convenient shopping solution, too. Amway UK is pioneering a new kind of sophisticated retail experience at its refurbished London Flagship Experience Centre, where consumers can try products before they buy.

Such innovations help Amway business owners grow their businesses…a bright note all its own.

Our guest blogger is Pam Hunt.

Earlier this summer, Amway Poland participated in the Federation of Consumers Conference along with representatives of Poland’s Parliament, the European Parliament, consumer advocates, employers’ organizations and several business associations.

The conference was held to discuss new regulations proposed by the European Commission that would change methods of settling consumer disputes with companies selling goods and services inside Poland and via online, cross-border transactions.

What made Amway an ideal panelist? Our Code of Conduct; existing consumer and distributor satisfaction guarantees; and commitment to our industry’s Codes of Ethics prove that sufficient protective measures can – and do – exist when companies commit to self regulation.

Our partnership with the Polish Direct Selling Association (PSSB) and its other member companies was also lauded as an example of how entrepreneurs, working together, can positively impact consumers’ rights when they actively set and follow standards for ethical behavior, resolve disputes in a timely fashion, and tackle potential ethical issues head on.

We’re serious about the work we do - and the policies we keep in place - to protect consumers from Poland to India, Thailand and the world over. Being invited on stage to discuss these efforts is just the icing on the cake.

This year Amway Russia granted a total of  $161,000 to the World Wildlife Fund to support 11 projects that protect endangered and water-dependent species such as muskrats.

Due to the loss of habitat and pollution, the muskrat population in Russia has declined rapidly.

Fewer than 100 muskrats live in the Khopyorskij Nature Center in the Voronezh region.

Amway distributors and employees recently volunteered to clean the wetlands surrounding the Khopyorskij Center,  providing muskrats with a cleaner and healthier environment. They removed two truckloads of plastic fishnets left by poachers, as well as other non-degradable waste.

Taking care of the environment has been a priority for Amway since 1959 and Amway Russia is continuing that commitment today.  In a few months, Amway Russia will coordinate volunteer clean-up events in several additional  nature centers to help create safer and healthier habitats for other endangered species.

We have great news.

Since 1996, Amway has offered quality consumer goods and our business opportunity to the people of Greece.  

Despite the country’s economic crisis, our business is steady.

And after a ceremonious ribbon cutting with Deputy Mayor Nikolaos Alepous, our employees and distributors are proud to announce that Amway Greece – now 16 years old – has opened a sparkling new headquarters. 

Located in the bustling Athens suburb of Maroussi, our new base of operations is designed with our distributors in mind – to help enthusiastic entrepreneurs build their businesses.

The brightly lit, colorful experience center and training facility provide distributors with an elegant space and contemporary tools to introduce different consumer segments to our nutrition, beauty and home products, and the Amway business opportunity. This exciting business site also serves to strengthen the brand of Amway – ranked as the #2 direct seller in Europe.

In the past two weeks, 15 training sessions have been conducted, and hundreds of distributors have invited their customers to show off the new space.

Congratulations to our friends in Maroussi! This is great news, indeed. 

In 2011, our sales numbers were impressive and we reached several milestones, including our first month with sales over $1 billion.

But years from now, we won’t have those numbers memorized. What we will remember are the people who made our success possible.

That sentiment was recently echoed by Amway President Doug DeVos.

“While it’s a business and we talk about sales numbers and growth, what we’re really excited about is the people in our business … our business owners from around the world who make Amway what it is,” he said during an interview with a dozen journalists from Turkey who visited Amway World Headquarters.

During their stay, the journalists toured our cosmetics plant as well as our research and development facilities. They also visited the Van Andel Institute and Gerald R. Ford Museum in nearby Grand Rapids.

“This is an exciting time to be part of the Amway business,” Doug told the journalists, adding the distributor force behind the company is what it makes it unique. “We’ve had great business performance in the past few years, especially last year, and we’re proud to be part of a vibrant and growing industry.”

Some of the best online videos are designed by people who might not be experts with a camera, but who have unlimited imagination and enthusiasm.

We’ll uncap some of that creative talent in Europe, where we’re celebrating the first anniversary of our Amway Home brand with a call for original video demonstrations.

Video entries are due today for this pilot program. The videos are made by and star our distributors, as well as Amway Home laundry, dish or surface products. To date, more than 160 videos are contenders. [Update: The final number of entries totals more than 220.]

It’s a simple idea, but one that could have far-reaching potential. Our research shows that a home care demonstration increases sales volume, and improves both distributor and customer engagement.

Our Research and Development team will help judge the winning entries, based on novelty, simplicity and relevance.

We can’t wait to meet the winners later this year. Not only do they each earn a trip for two to Amway World Headquarters, they’ll also perform in their own demos, which will be professionally produced.

Watch the Insider for a future sneak peak!

Jesseca Frost, Amway Public Relations Intern, co-authored this post.

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Did you know that Amway employees and distributors have volunteered more than 2.5 million hours to make the communities where they work and live a better place?

Read about our ongoing efforts around the world in the 2011 Amway Global Corporate Citizenship Report published today, or in the Amway One By One blog.  That blog, by the way, was recently honored as the “Best Corporate Social Responsibility” blog by PR News.