Microsoft Employees Raise Record-Breaking $100 Million for Nonprofits in 2011

Published on Wednesday, 08 February 2012 03:11 Written by TradersHuddle Staff

Microsoft announces the largest year of employee giving in the company's history.

REDMOND, Wash., Feb. 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Microsoft Corp. is delighted to announce the results of its 2011 employee giving campaign: our U.S. Microsoft employees raised $100.5 million (inclusive of the company match) for more than 18,000 U.S.-based community organizations doing work in the U.S. and around the world last year. With this milestone, Microsoft employees have now raised more than $946 million for nonprofits and community organizations since the company's giving program started in 1983.

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Each year, every full-time employee at Microsoft in the U.S. receives a $12,000 corporate matching gift that matches volunteer time ($17 per hour) or dollar-for-dollar charitable contributions to eligible nonprofits. Microsoft's Employee Giving Program is designed to honor the diversity of our workforce by supporting a broad spectrum of organizations and institutions doing work domestically and internationally. Microsoft matches employee gifts to all eligible organizations with a 501(c)(3) public charity status and educational institutions. In 2011, Microsoft employees in the United States committed 426,671 volunteer hours to nonprofit organizations in the United States; this is 73,000 more hours than in 2010, which brings the total number of volunteering time to 1.7 million hours since tracking started in 2006. The matched volunteer hours committed by employees in 2011 raised $7.2 million for nonprofits.

"Last year, Microsoft U.S. employees broke their annual giving record, raising more than $100 million for community organizations," said Brad Smith, executive vice president, Legal and Corporate Affairs, Microsoft Corp. "The money and time donated by our employees is one way we aim to play our part in creating opportunities for people in the U.S. and around the world. This new fundraising record is a great start to the 30th year of our Employee Giving Program."

Entering the 30th year of the Employee Giving Program, Microsoft employees have had an unprecedented impact in their communities. Below is a snapshot and tribute to some of the Microsoft employees who have made a significant impact in their communities.

Creating Opportunities for Youth

Twenty-four-year-old James Liao started his career at Microsoft in July 2011 as an associate consultant in the Sales, Marketing and Services Group in Charlotte, N.C. Within his first six months at Microsoft, Liao earned his entire corporate match and raised $12,000 for Dream Corps, a youth education nonprofit, through dedicating more than 700 volunteer hours. Dream Corps recruits volunteers around the world to promote reading among children in rural China by opening libraries and developing reading programs.

"My passion is to use technology to improve children's lives," Liao said. "I joined Microsoft because it shares the same passion I do to make a positive difference in the world through the magic of software and IT services."

For the past six years, Liao has been using his technology skills to help Dream Corps achieve its mission. He has developed a virtual collaboration site for internal staff, supports the organization's external website and oversees social media activities to help Dream Corps engage a virtual community of supporters.

Creating a Passion for STEM

In 2011, over a dozen of Microsoft employees volunteered for TEALS (Technology Education and Literacy in Schools), a Puget Sound nonprofit that places technology professionals in elementary and high school classes to teach science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects. The volunteers work as part-time teachers to support school districts that are unable to meet STEM teaching needs because of budget cuts or a lack of qualified teachers.

Twenty-eight-year-old Michael Hawker, program manager, Servers and Tools Business, has been with the company for just over three years. "I've really enjoyed working in the classroom and helping kids see how technology can make a difference in their lives," Hawker said. "In the end, the program is helping students be more well-rounded technical graduates who can use these skills as they enter college."

With support of Microsoft employees, TEALS has tripled in size since its inception in 2010. During the 2011–2012 school year, TEALS was in place at 13 schools, reaching more than 800 students.

A Long-Standing Helping Hand

The United Way of King County has long been a top beneficiary of Microsoft employee giving. In 2011, employees contributed more than $2 million to the United Way, which helps a number of nonprofit organizations.

"We are fortunate to have such an innovative and dedicated corporate citizen like Microsoft in our region," said Jon Fine, president and CEO of United Way of King County. "For 30 years now, Microsoft employees have partnered with United Way to focus their passion and talents on building a healthy community. Together, we are working on critical issues such as ending homelessness, preparing kids to succeed in school and making sure families have nourishing food to put on the table."

A Global Effort

Microsoft employees also focus on global projects. Employees contributed more than $80,000 in donations and volunteer time to Jolkona, a microgiving nonprofit started by Adnan Mahmud, a Microsoft program manager. A snapshot of the impact Microsoft employees have made through the Jolkona platform can be found below:

• Covered the cost of 11 children's education in India for one semester
• Provided 24 months psychology support to orphans in Bolivia
• Provided life-saving diarrhea treatments to 27 children in India
• Fed 15 orphaned children for one week each in Uganda
• Fed a family of six facing Somali famine crisis for 21 weeks
• Trained four women in bio-intensive farming in Kenya

Boys and Girls Club

In 2011, Microsoft employees contributed 2,183 volunteer hours and more than $472,000 to 80 Boys & Girls Clubs of America nationwide. Since 2005, Ross Heise, a senior content publisher in Windows, has volunteered for more than 1,220 hours for the Boys & Girls Clubs in the Puget Sound region. Specifically, he applied his technology skills to help build a website for the club's football league.

Healing Hearts With Art

This year, Art with Heart received more than $16,000 from Microsoft employees. Joe Michaels, senior director of Business Development with MSN/Bing, has raised more than $4,000 of the total to support 327 teens facing crisis through art-therapy books. The organization's mission is to improve the lives of high-risk youth with therapeutic tools and programs that promote mental health and well-being. According to the organization, 17 million children in the U.S. require special healthcare or are suffering from mental health disorders, but only 20 percent receive the services they need.

Microsoft Employees Give Back

Microsoft's U.S. employees raised more money for nonprofits in 2011 than any year in the company's history.

2011 Giving Campaign by the Numbers

• U.S. employees raised $100.5 million, including corporate matching, for more than 18,000 charitable organizations in 2011.
• U.S. employees volunteered 426,671 hours in 2011, an increase of more than 20 percent from 2010.
• Microsoft saw 64 percent employee participation through the Employee Giving Program (more than 35,500 employees). Participation is defined as an employee donation of more than $25 or volunteering at least 10 hours with an organization.
• In October, when the company has its annual employee Giving Campaign, Microsoft employees raised $55 million of the $100.5 million raised in 2011, which is equivalent to $31.85 for every second of every minute of every hour of every working day of the campaign.
• The online auction (an internal tool developed specifically for the Giving Campaign by Microsoft volunteer employees) raised more than $670,000 this year, compared with $465,000 in 2010. There were over 1,000 items bid on over the course of the auction. Items included reserved parking spots, a cookbook autographed by Bill Gates and the chance to box against an executive.

 Microsoft Total Giving by the Numbers

• Microsoft employees have donated more than $946 million with corporate match since 1983.
• Microsoft employees in the U.S. have volunteered more than 1.7 million hours of their time to causes they care about since the company began a volunteer match program in 2006.

Since 1983, Microsoft and its employees have provided more than $5.55 billion in cash, services and software to nonprofits around the world through localized, company-sponsored giving and volunteer campaigns. This includes in-kind donations.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

SOURCE Microsoft Corp.