Health & Fitness
Corporate Citizenship: Bridging the Opportunity Divide
It's crucial that local companies give back to the communities in which they do business by emphasizing and supporting programs that teach science, technology, engineering and math.
Tonight marks one of my favorite events – the Tech Awards. Hosted by the Tech Museum in San Jose, the Tech Awards honor individuals and organizations using technology in the most innovative ways to tackle global issues. For nine years, Microsoft has sponsored the education category, honoring laureates that improve quality of life and provide learning opportunities for millions of people. Past honorees like Donors Choose and the Khan Academy have changed the face of modern education.
Sponsoring the education category is a natural alignment for Microsoft. Commitment to innovative non-profits and educators, highlighted by the Microsoft YouthSpark initiative, is our primary philanthropic focus. In Silicon Valley, we believe that the next generation of entrepreneurs and innovators is growing up just down the street. We need to provide the resources necessary for local youth to harness that entrepreneurial spirit, and take it to its full potential.
Microsoft partners with dozens of local organizations that use new technologies to innovate, educate, and provide hands-on training. Last year our Silicon Valley campuses alone donated $17 million in cash and software grants, while our employees gave more than $100 million nationwide.
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It’s crucial that local companies give back to the communities in which they do business by emphasizing and supporting programs that teach science, technology, engineering and math. Silicon Valley is where concept becomes reality. Where start-ups blossom into Fortune 500 companies and innovation is the baseline requirement for success. We encourage dramatic change and nurture big ideas. We create jobs that didn’t exist 18 months ago, and we need to ensure that the students growing up in our back yards have the educational opportunity required to fill those jobs.
Through this series of articles on Patch, we’ll provide resources and insight into how we give back – how it affects positive change on the community, and how to get involved through employee giving, volunteerism, and corporate philanthropy. Our hope is that other companies will join us to more deeply invest in and partner with local non-profit organizations.
