Look closely on each of the Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 and you will notice the Racing for Charity logo.

Sitting on the inside of the right hand-side of each car bonnet, it represents a crucial initiative by Porsche to help three charities which support seriously ill children and their families.

Having successfully launched in 2023, Porsche is continuing its charitable initiative Racing for Charity” at this year’s French endurance classic.

Porsche will donate 500 euros for each lap driven by the Porsche Penske Motorsport works cars, and the funds will be split between Kinderherzen retten e.V. and Interplast Germany e.V.

The initiative earned Porsche first place in the ‘Sustainable Endurance Award’ of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO).

Overall, a total of €1,822,000 has been donated since the start of Racing for Charity.

Porsche hopes to make another substantial donation to both charities following the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans. The race runs from 4pm on June 14 until 4pm on June 15.

Kinderherzen retten e.V.

Kinderherzen retten e.V. helps children from developing countries who have congenital heart defects. Professor Friedhelm Beyersdorf, founder of the association joined the University of Freiburg Medical Centre in Germany in 1994, helping to develop its paediatric cardiac department before establishing the charity in 2002.

Since then, it has saved the hearts of hundreds of children, and with last year’s funds, the charity has been able to provide 12 additional children with successful and life-saving heart operations. The charity treats children who can be cured in just one surgery, without needing additional treatment or medication once they return to their home countries.

The process involves a huge team of specialists, and children are flown to Germany to undergo their surgery, which also requires networks of host families, for visas to be processed and transport organised. Professor Beyersdorf says the charity is “giving as a gift a new life” to children who may otherwise die within five to eight years, despite their heart defects being easily curable.

He told of the case of five-year-old Manar, who suffered from a hole in the heart and lives with her grandmother in Syria as her mother passed away and her father is in the army. Kinderherzen retten flew her to Freiburg for successful surgery and she was able to return to her host family just five days after her surgery, before returning to Syria a few days later without requiring further treatment.

The funds the charity receives from this year’s race will enable it to help even more children like Manar from Syria, saving lives which may have otherwise been lost.

“We’re equal parts thrilled and grateful that Kinderherzen retten e.V. is part of ‘Racing for Charity’ for a third consecutive year,” says a delighted Professor Friedhelm Beyersdorf, founder of the association.

“The donations we’ve received from Porsche since 2023 alone have enabled us to give 28 children with heart disease from less developed countries a chance at a normal life. Among them is Sayed, a seven-year-old boy from Afghanistan, whose cardiac abnormality was discovered because he was constantly tired and weak. His heart surgery went as planned and Sayed made a quick recovery in the ward.”

Interplast Germany e.V.

Founded in 1980, Interplast Germany is dedicated to humanitarian plastic reconstructive surgery operating young patients in developing countries suffering from soft tissue defects caused by accidents, burns, tumors and congenital malformations. Interplast works globally, and has an international network operating in Asia, Africa and South America among other places in developing countries. Having also been a part of last year’s Racing for Charity initiative, the charity used the donation for medical missions in Tanzania and Mozambique, among other places, to provide aid.

The funds meant Interplast was able to operate on 125 additional children in those two countries, providing vital help to those who would have otherwise been unable to receive it. Professor Jürgen Dolderer explains that not only does the charity perform those surgeries, it also provides education to local surgeons in the field of reconstructive surgery to allow them to perform that work in the future.

“We would like to sincerely thank Porsche for selecting us for the third time as a recipient for ‘Racing for Charity’. Thanks to their generous support, we have been able to help many children across Africa, Asia and South America over the past two years,” says Professor Jürgen Dolderer, member of the Executive Board of Interplast Germany e.V.

“I’m particularly moved that our work enables those affected to return to a normal life – like four-year-old Rhonda from Tanzania, who had to withdraw from kindergarten due to a rapidly growing tumour. We successfully removed the tumour, and now she’s eagerly awaiting her first day of school.”

Speaking of the impact of the charity’s work, he spoke of six-year-old girl Zita, from Tanzania, who suffered severe scarring to her hand due to burns.

Professor Dolderer said: “She could not even grasp anything or write, but her biggest wish was going to school. After the successful operation, she was able to grab things and also then to write and have the possibility to go to school."