Jon Fine – CEO United Way of King County

Bill Gates once said “It takes more than great products to make a great company.” It’s clear to pretty much everybody by now that Microsoft has that ”more” that Bill was talking about. Having been a partner with Microsoft for 30 years, United Way of King County has seen it first-hand. Our communities have benefited from Microsoft’s great vision, great passion, great generosity and most importantly, Microsoft’s great employees. After all, it is you who make it all happen.

The fact that Microsoft employees raised $100 million for non-profits in 2011 is striking to me – not only because you broke your own record of giving over the past 30 years, more because of what I know it will accomplish in our communities.

The tough economy has brought with it tough times, and we’ve all heard our fair share of stories about how people are struggling or how great the needs are. While the needs are great, I don’t think we’ve heard enough about the incredible accomplishments that our local business community and nonprofit partners have achieved during that time, or the innovative solutions we’ve launched together.

Gifts from Microsoft employees provided 1,183,512 food bank visits in King County during 2011. That’s more than one million times in the last year that a person or a family avoided going hungry because of you. That’s something that I think needs to be heard. Here’s another one. Last year at this time we had 160 families in our Parent-Child Home Program, but thanks to donations from you, and a $1 million donation from Microsoft, we’ve expanded the program to 500 families this year and will hit 1,000 families next. That’s future proof. That’s innovative. That’s Microsoft.

Volunteering. That’s Microsoft too. Of the 11,000 people that participated in United Way of King County’s Day of Caring, guess how many were from Microsoft? 6,000 volunteers. That’s not all though. Many of you are volunteering year-round, like Jill. Jill is a Free Tax Preparation Volunteer who helps low-income families find their way through the tax filing maze so they can save more money. She believed so strongly in the value of the program that she worked to establish another tax site on the Eastside of King County so more Microsoft employees could take part in volunteering. Our United Way staffer Kate has this to say about Jill and the other Microsoft volunteers:

“Those guys are crazy and they have a lot of fun, even hanging out together outside of tax prep. The clients can tell from the moment they walk in that they are in a safe and friendly place and they are going to get taken care of.” Let’s not forget either that our Free Tax Prep program brought back $19.1 million to the community and low income families last year.

So Bill had it right, it does take more than a great product to make a great company, and Microsoft has it. It has you, and you make the company and the community great. Let’s all try to focus on the positive this year and keep the innovative and great work rolling.

A number of you have already made the commitment to stand with us for Hunger Action Week in March, and I look forward to seeing the great things we will accomplish together in coming years.

Thank you all.

Jon

We share one the best part-time jobs in the world. As co-chairs of the annual Microsoft Giving Campaign, we get the opportunity to see firsthand how our colleagues bring passion, creativity and generosity to raise much needed funds for community organizations around the globe. In 2010, we raised an outstanding $96 million. We wondered if we could go higher in 2011 and we did, knowing our employees would rise to the challenge.

In 2011 Microsoft employees across the United States raised $100.5 million, which includes corporate matching. This marks our biggest year yet, and brings the total amount of money raised by employees to $946 million since our giving program started in 1983.

Each full-time, U.S. based Microsoft employee receives an annual $12,000 benefit that matches donations, dollar-for-dollar, to eligible nonprofits. In 2011, 35,500 employees donated to support more than 18,000 community organizations across the globe. If an employee wishes to volunteer their personal time, we honor that donation, too. Employee volunteer time is matched $17/hour to their chosen organization. In 2011, employees committed 426,671 hours which raised $7.2 million for nonprofits. That brings the total number of volunteering hours to 1.7 million hours since we started tracking in 2006.

While employee giving takes place throughout the year, October is a special month for our offices across the U.S. Over 50 percent of the fundraising takes place during that time. Every year we are amazed by the creativity demonstrated by Microsoft employees. From flocking a colleague’s office with pink flamingos; to running a 5K around the Microsoft campus or virtually around the world; to bidding on a coveted reserved parking space on campus through our online auction, it’s fun to watch it all happen.

Our employees assist thousands of nonprofit organizations through their donations and volunteering. For example, Adnan Mahmud founded Jolkona, a micro-giving nonprofit that supports grassroots organizations and has over a dozen employee volunteers who committed over 2,000 hours to building the technology platform. And then there are employees like Toby Velte who volunteers at his daughter’s school via EduConnect and teaches students about careers in technology. Toby rallied a team of Microsoft parents to raise money to fund a PC lab in their school district to teach students programming via the Kodu Games Labs.

We are so proud to share these results on behalf of Microsoft employees across the US. This $100,000,000 milestone is due to the many volunteers across our organization that worked tirelessly to help make it happen. Motivating and encouraging all of us every step of the way. We want to thank them for their contribution in making 2011 the largest year of employee giving yet!

It is our privilege to work alongside so many people that care so deeply and give so generously.

Earlier today, three outstanding students, David Hayden, Hannah Wyman, and Jacen Sherman – winners of the Microsoft Imagine Cup and Kodu Cup student competitions – participated in the second annual White House Science Fair, hosted by President Barack Obama. David, Hannah and Jacen were among only 100 students selected to attend the event, which celebrated students that were winners of a broad range of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) competitions from across the U.S.

During the fair, President Obama walked through exhibits of the students’ projects and delivered remarks on the importance of STEM education to the country’s economic future. The President also announced a new $80 million investment to help prepare effective STEM teachers.

Improving STEM education and inspiring more students to pursue STEM careers is an important part of our focus on creating opportunities for young people to help them succeed, make a difference in the world and ultimately help grow the future economy.

David Hayden and his team, Note-Taker, won in the Software Design category at Microsoft’s Imagine Cup 2011 U.S. Finals. The Note-Taker helps low-vision and legally blind students take notes in class as quickly and effectively as their fully-sighted peers. David is legally blind and created the device during his undergraduate years so he could keep up with note-taking in blackboard-intensive math courses.

Hannah Wyman, one of only around 30 students who were chosen to exhibit their projects at the Science Fair, is 11 years old and lives in Leominster, Massachusetts. She was the Grand Prize Winner in the 9-12 year-olds category in Microsoft’s Kodu Cup Last year. She designed a video game called Toxic, where players collect coins and hearts while solving puzzles to help save the environment. Her interest in coding developed from an unusual place – a birthday card from her brother. In order to receive her present, she had to decipher the birthday card message, which was written entirely in bytes. The gift turned out to be a trip to the movie of her choice.

Jacen Sherman is 16 years old and lives in Silver Spring, Maryland. He was the First Prize Winner in the Kodu Cup’s 13-17 year-old category with his game called The Vortex, where players are challenged to save humanity from extinction. In designing his game, Jacen was inspired both by the Kodu programming experience, and by the movie Tron.

After the event, Jacen noted that the day was “awesome!” – an experience he will always remember. In addition to getting to shake President Obama’s hand twice, Jacen got to tour the White House with Hannah and David and meet people from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Unites States Military Academy.

Three students who were winners in Microsoft’s Kodu Cup and Imagine Cup competitions last year, including Hannah Wyman (pictured), Jacen Sherman and David Hayden, were invited to participate in the second White House Science Fair on February 7, 2012.

We congratulate David, Hannah and Jacen for receiving this special recognition today. Celebrating students that excel in STEM is incredibly important and will help inspire more students to get excited about STEM subjects in school. Students like Hannah, Jacen and David are on their way to becoming tomorrow’s innovators and entrepreneurs. We look forward to helping more young people receive these kinds of opportunities and experiences to help them succeed in the future.

The downturn in the economy has heavily impacted theatres across the country, especially over the last three years. When budgets are hard hit, often one of the first things that’s impacted is echnology. “If we have to choose between hiring another actor or upgrading our software, we always pick the actor,” says Amy Wratchford, managing director of the American Shakespeare Center (ASC) in Staunton, Virginia.

But while the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it ” adage has its merits, making do with outdated versions of necessary, everyday software like Microsoft Office can lead to miscommunications and missed opportunities.

The ASC has a full-time staff of 15, and up until August of this year, it was still running Office 2000 on all of its computers. Incompatibility issues were starting to become a real problem. “We were receiving more and more attachments that we couldn’t open. And although we found workarounds, being out of date was clearly hindering our communication with our peers, funders, and fans.” Luckily, these growing issues coincided with Wratchford’s discovery of TechSoup and the Microsoft software donations program. “I learned about the donation program through the Theatre Communications Group, and when I came to the ASC I was thrilled that the company already belonged,” she says. “We were overjoyed to get Microsoft Office 2010 for the whole office and finally be truly functional.”

Wratchford also found herself using a lot of the articles, tutorials, and links she received in TechSoup’s follow-up email. “We really appreciated all of the resources made available to us to help us get the most out of our software.”

The ASC’s mission is to “recover the joy and accessibility of Shakespeare’s theatre and language through performances and education,” Wratchford says, adding, “We do it with the lights on.” That is to say, the ASC uses English renaissance staging to recreate Shakespeare as it was originally performed. This includes keeping the house lights on in its indoor theatre, the Blackfriars Playhouse, to encourage interaction between actors and audience.

From the marketing department to the box office, Wratchford says not only is everyone able to do their job more efficiently (including opening all of their attachments), but they’re also able to tell ASC’s story in the most compelling way possible—all as a result of the Microsoft software donation. “Now we have the proper tools to communicate with everyone on the same level,” she says. “The newest version of Excel is helping to streamline our box office reporting, and our development team is using new features in PowerPoint to create more dynamic presentations. Since we operate on 80% earned income and 20% contributions, attracting funders is vital to our ongoing success.”

The ASC's Education Center also relies heavily on the Microsoft Office suite to develop and present its ongoing workshops, actor trainings, and summer programs that bring Shakespeare's plays to life for people of all ages.

Together, Microsoft and TechSoup are helping ASC keep the lights on, today and for many years to come.

This week Dominik Tomičević from Croatia, Jason Mitsuyuki Wakizaka from the United States, Francisco Perez from Ecuador, and Mohammad Lu’ay Alazzam from Jordan were playing with the very latest Microsoft technology – in this case our new Microsoft Surface - in Davos, the Swiss village that hosts the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting. They were in Davos as representatives of the four teams who have been chosen as the inaugural recipients of the Microsoft Imagine Cup grants program.

The Imagine Cup Grants program is a three-year, $3 million competitive grant program to help Imagine Cup participants take their ideas and their projects and transform them into a business or nonprofit that can bring the benefit of their technology to the communities that need it most.

The students were in Davos to meet with Microsoft Chairman, Bill Gates and to participate in a roundtable discussion on the challenges and opportunities facing young people today. (We’ll have a report on that coming very soon.)

The winning teams were chosen from 50 applicants that competed in the Imagine Cup 2011 Worldwide Finals last year in New York City. A judging panel of eminent industry experts from the worlds of technology, venture capitalism, software development, startup culture, and the nonprofit sector ranked each team based on specific criteria including project impact and viability, and team quality and motivation.

The judges included: Akhtar Badshah, Senior Director of Global Community Affairs, Microsoft Corporation; Peter Cowhey, Dean: Qualcomm Endowed Chair in Communications and Technology Policy, School of International Relations and Pacific Studies: University of California, San Diego; Tim Draper, Founder and Managing Director, Draper Fisher Jurvetson; Debra Dunn, Advisor to Social Ventures, Skoll Foundation; Edward G. Happ, Global Chief Information Officer of International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Chairman of NetHope; Zeev Klein, General Partner, Landmark Ventures; Dan’l Lewin, Corporate Vice President: Strategic and Emerging Business Development, Microsoft Corporation; Jeff Raikes, Chief Executive Officer, Gates Foundation; and Ann Winblad, Managing Director, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners

While the judging process was very difficult, the winning projects are fantastic, and they show the incredible potential of providing young people with the skills and the opportunity to make a difference.

Here’s some more about the four winning teams:

Team Apptenders from Croatia: KiDnect

Ivan Antonic, Ivan Borko, Karmela Bresan, Dominik Tomicevic (pictured)

KiDnect is a Kinect-based solution for on-premise and remote physical therapy for children, especially those born with Cerebral Palsy. This software has the ability to monitor a child’s exercises to ensure they are being completed correctly, and then provides statistical analysis to the therapist. Team Apptenders hopes to add multilingual interfaces in order to integrate additional sensors for limb rotation monitoring and advanced data analysis.

Team Falcon Dev from Ecuador: SkillBox

José Vicente Anilema Guadalupe, Gerardo Francisco Pérez Layedra, Henry Javier Paca Quinaluiza, Juan José Morales Ruiz

SkillBox is an affordable solution to help children who are hearing impaired by translating all audio received from a teacher in a classroom into sign language. A wireless headset captures the sound, sends it to the computer and SkillBox then shows the corresponding sign for the word or phrase.  Team Falcon Dev hopes to take their first step in making SkillBox available to children by selling their technology solution to public schools in Ecuador.

Team OaSys from Jordan: Horizon

Hani AbuHuwaij, Mohammad Azzam, Monir Abu Hilal, Mohammad Saleh, Yousef Wadi

Horizon is a software and hardware system that allows people who do not have use of their hands/arms to use a computer. Specifically, it tracks head movements and translates these movements into mouse movements. Users get full control of a computer and a cellphone, and can browse the internet, type and connect with ease and at a low cost. Team OaSys hopes to improve the software stack by optimizing and adding features, pilot client lab preparations and hire sub-contractors.

Team LifeLens from the United States: LifeLens

Tristan Gibeau, Cy Khormaee, Wilson To, Jason Wakizaka, Helena Xu

Lifelens is an innovative point-of-care tool to diagnose malaria using an augmented Windows Phone application. The project addresses the unacceptably high child mortality rates caused by the lack of detection and availability of treatment of malarial diseases. Team Lifelens is ready to develop their project for launch. They will use the investment for distribution of their devices, subsidizing the phones and field testing.

So what about you?

Right now, students can register to be part of Imagine Cup 2012 and can sign up in any of eight different categories. From designing brand new technology in Software Design to building gadgets through the Kinect Fun Labs Challenge, there is something for every student to enjoy. Who knows - your team could be the next group of students Microsoft funds through the Imagine Cup Grants!