Hello Team – SAP is proud to be a major sponsor and driver of the second annual Els for Autism Golf Challenge. Rob Enslin has graciously agreed to serve as the honorary chairman again this year. Bob Courteau, Mark White, Chris Burton and I will serve again this year as executive sponsors. Each of you will play a material role in this important event.

The E4A Golf Challenge will be officially announced to the public at the Northern Trust Tournament on Tuesday, February 14th, but I wanted to be sure to provide you with venue schedule and designated SAP chairman list for each location now. Look for further emails announcing the Challenge and FAQs including chairman “kits” of information/tools in the next few days.

We are also pleased this year also to be teamed with the SAP “ Pars for Charity” golf program, now in its 7th year, and led by Stephen Birdsall and Terry Laudal. More to follow in the coming days on how the two events will seamlessly operate together with all of the Pars for Charity proceeds earmarked for Els for Autism.

Our goal is simple – to partner with our good friend and golf ambassador, Ernie Els and his family, to help improve the lives of those touched by Autism. Last year, the E4A Challenge raised $1.8m. This year, our goal will be to exceed $3m. We need each of you to be proactively engaged, leverage the experience gained from last year’s event and drive your individual events so that we can make the most out of each venue. You and your teams will be the key to success.

Together, we can win big for Ernie, his family and all of the families touched by Autism. And in doing so, each of us will get back much more than we give. I know Rob, Mark and I can count on each of you.

All my best
Steve Peck

You play golf any number of times, on your own schedule, on your own courses and with whomever you want between now and September 30, 2012 with all your scores counting towards raising money for the Els for Autism Center of Excellence. By participating, you can qualify to play in a Las Vegas shootout for Autism with Ernie Els and win fabulous prizes and trophies. Additionally, you can win a slot to play in one of the 32 scheduled Els for Autism golf qualifiers at prestigious course in North America.

As a player, you will pledge a few cents for each par-or-better that you score during the golfathon. You also set a maximum that you plan to donate at the end of the golfathon. You will only be considered responsible for that maximum regardless of how many par-or-better points you earn during the golfathon. The GolfChamp databank tracks your pledges and notifies you 24/7 on the status of your total pledges. At the end of the golfathon, your total pledge as well as any match from your employer will be donated to the Els for Autism Center of Excellence. The Foundation returns a receipt to you for tax purposes.Your family, colleagues, suppliers, etc., can also sponsor you by pledging on your behalf. The GolfChamp Databank (GDB) will alo donate $10 from your registration to your 2012 Els for Autism account on your behalf.

SAP is once again kick-starting the 2012 Giving-back program by donating a few cents for each point earned by you and all other players, up to a total of $25,000. Just by joining other SAP employees and their immediate family members, partners, and clients, you can donate to our selected charity simply by entering your golf scores into the 2012 SAP Golfathon databank. It is as if SAP is paying you to play golf for charity!