Corporate Citizenship, in Good Times and Bad

Posted by Pamela Passman 
Corporate Vice President, Global Corporate Affairs

Corporate Citizenship means different things to different people.  At Microsoft, it means doing business in a way that both creates business value and benefits society.  In the same way that we push ourselves to create new technologies and breakthrough products and services, we also strive to find innovative means to fulfill our citizenship goals.  Our 2009 Corporate Citizenship Report details many of the creative ways we are working, both alone and with others, to address societal needs in communities around the world.

For starters, we are strengthening our Unlimited Potential programs, which bring the benefits of technology to individuals around the world who might not otherwise have access.  In just 5 years, for example, ourPartners in Learning program has worked with schools and teachers to reach over 100 million students in more than 100 countries. 

We are investing in innovative certification and training programs to help more US workers qualify for technology jobs.  Elevate America, a U.S. program we unveiled last week, will provide skills training to workers – and potential workers – across the U.S. and give state and local governments new tools to help their citizens.

Since 1983, Microsoft and our employees have donated $3.4 billion to non-profit and educational organizations.  In today’s harsh economic climate we continue to support our local communities with programs and donations.  In 2008, we provided more than $498 million in financial support and software to a wide range of organizations around the world.

We are also working to promote environmental sustainability by supporting the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, a business-environmental partnership to promote energy efficient computing and reduce our industry’s carbon footprint.  We offer an evolving software toolkit to help our customers reduce their environmental footprint, and Microsoft Research is enabling breakthroughs by environmental scientists around the world.

Especially during these challenging times, we see a tremendous opportunity and responsibility to make a difference.  Led by our employees and inspired by our partners in public, private and community organizations, we are constantly working to fulfill this responsibility.  I invite you to read the report to learn more about these critical initiatives.

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