October, 2011

I'm pleased to share with you the Microsoft 2011 Citizenship Report. The report provides an overview and assessment of our work over the past fiscal year (July 2010 to June 2011) to serve communities and work responsibly.

We release our Citizenship Report at the same time as our Annual Financial Report to give our broad base of stakeholders a full view of Microsoft’s financial and non-financial performance. Corporate responsibility means more than returning value to shareholders – it means engaging with stakeholders to address our responsibilities in the areas of environmental, social and governance issues. We believe all corporations have, as part of their license to operate, a responsibility to contribute positively to society on a global scale. To quote our company’s founder, Bill Gates: “It takes more than great products to make a great company.”

Our Citizenship Report details our efforts to increase business value while also benefitting society. Our goal is to provide continued transparency and accountability across our business operations.  To support this, we have evolved our reporting to candidly and thoughtfully discuss our social and environmental performance, our progress against goals and our focus going forward. We clearly share where we are on track, where we are falling short and how we intend to close the gaps.

Throughout the report you will find examples of how our Citizenship efforts are influencing how we conduct our business, engage with partners and stakeholders, and fulfill our commitment to strengthening communities and providing opportunities for individuals around the world.

I’m proud of the progress we made this past fiscal year. The following are just a few examples:

• We continued to invest in using technology to create opportunities for youth, encourage lifelong learning and support economic growth. Together with our partners, we reached nearly 16 million students and teachers through Partners in Learning, and provided technology skills training to 23 million people through the Community Technology Skills Program.

• We have increased corporate charitable giving year-over-year since fiscal year 2008, despite economic challenges. Our employees volunteered more time—more than 380,000 hours in the U.S. alone. We also contributed more cash and in-kind support to nonprofits—$949 million globally.

• We recognize our responsibilities as a global citizen and remain committed to enhancing our operations; from how we manage our supply chain to how we support our people. In FY2011, we enhanced stakeholder engagement, strengthened our political giving principles and updated and strengthened our Vendor Code of Conduct.

The report also discusses areas where we have opportunities for improvement, such as continuing to diversify our workforce and reducing our carbon footprint. The data and analysis in the report and the conversations they inspire will inform continued improvement in our business and Citizenship performance.

I hope you can take a few moments to review the report online, and I also encourage you to visit the Microsoft Local Impact Map to find stories of individuals and communities that have been impacted by our programs. For more on our strategies, areas of focus, and latest news, visit www.microsoft.com/citizenship.

Finally, I hope you will share your thoughts with us and provide feedback on our report, please e-mail us at: mcitizen@microsoft.com.

Posted by Dan Bross

Senior Director, Corporate Citizenship, Microsoft

While employees give their time and money throughout the year, October is the time that individuals and groups come together to raise money and resources for their favorite cause or community group. Every full time Microsoft employee in the United States can take advantage of corporate matching of up to $12,000 for the donations they make to nonprofit and community organizations. They also have the opportunity to volunteer their time and have those hours matched with a per hour payment to the chosen organization.

The 5K run which takes place on our Redmond campus is one of the largest giving events with over 1,700 runners last year.

2010 was the largest year of employee giving in the company’s history. Over $96 million was raised during the year (with corporate matching) benefitting more than 16,000 nonprofit organizations – and $53 million was raised in October alone.

That sets a tough target for this year but everyone is committed to making it the best year ever.

During the next four weeks there will be hundreds of employee-driven fundraising events from the popular 5K run to auctions, poker tournaments, employee-created photo books, music albums and much more.

As you’d expect, technology plays a role in making the Giving campaign successful. From our internal Give site which provides all the information and tools people need to get involved, to our online Auction site where you can bid for an astonishing array of items through the month and a new online and mobile volunteering application which matches people with organizations.

We’ll keep you updated on some of the more notable events, fundraising ideas and news from this month’s campaign. You can follow updates here on the blog or on Twitter where we’ll be using the hashtag #msftgiving

By Akhtar Badshah, Senior Director, Citizenship and Public Affairs, Microsoft

Every year at the Imagine Cup, over 300,000 students from around the world come together to solve some of the world’s toughest problems using technology. The array of issues being addressed at the Imagine Cup each year is incredible, from helping students with visual impairments, to supporting refugees, reducing the impact of malaria and helping improve the response to humanitarian disasters. We’ve spent a lot of time in Microsoft thinking about how we can best help some of the teams take their ideas from the competition floor out to market where they can have a real positive impact.

The grant process is competitive, and is open to Imagine Cup 2011 worldwide finalist teams. The program is specifically designed to help student teams build a business or nonprofit organization to bring the benefits of their solution to market. We will award up to three teams with grants.

All Imagine Cup 2011 worldwide finalist teams are eligible to apply for these grants starting today with their Imagine Cup 2011 projects.

All the applicants will be judged on four criteria:

1. Project impact and viability

2. Team quality and motivation

3. Solution design and innovation

4. Problem definition.

You can visit the Imagine Cup website to learn more about the Imagine Cup grant award, the criteria and judging process. The applications deadline is November 11, 2011, and the winners will be announced in early 2012.

In the meantime, we’ll keep you up to date on the program and will share the stories of how students are solving some of the world’s toughest problems.

Watch this space!

October is a month of giving back at Microsoft when employees around the United States host or participate in events to raise money for nonprofits. There are hundreds of events taking place across the company throughout the month, but we’ve found a new favorite.

The Plastic Pink Flamingo Flock!

During October at Microsoft, for a small sum donated to the nonprofit of your choosing - and matched by Microsoft - you can have your co-worker Flocked.

What is that, you may ask.

Well, your chosen victim will arrive into their office to face their work day, only to find it filled with those infamous and charming pink Flamingo yard statues. Awesome.

But it doesn’t end there. There are actually four flock options:

1) Flock‘em – your standard offering where you can have your colleague’s office stuffed with Flamingos

2) Flock Migration - allows the ‘flocked’ victim to pass the flock over to another colleague (increased donation over option 1)

3) Flocksurance – enables you to protect yourself from an unexpected flocking (increased donation over option 2)

4) Flocksurance Side Stepper – this is the premium product which allows you to override another person’s Flocksurance.

Now, this all sounds very interesting, but we felt that we couldn’t report on this particular initiative without seeing it in action.

So we decided to try it out on a beloved colleague.

Here’s the report on Flocking in action.

Editor’s Note: The Flamingo Flock was the brainchild of the Operations team at Microsoft. And please be assured no birds were harmed in the process of this flocking. We assure you the offices are kept cozy overnight, Microsoft also has all the free pop, coffee, and water you can drink.

Yesterday employees and their families turned out for what’s always the most colorful - well perhaps with the exception of the Flamingos - event of the Microsoft employee giving month.

This year participation was up on last year as spouses and domestic partners were allowed to join the fun.  The registration fees will benefit four nonprofit organizations; Teen Feed, A Better Seattle, Washington Trails Association, and Northwest Organization for Animal Help. Representatives from each organization were at the event sharing the work they do.  

In addition to the actual run, there was music, refreshments, entertainment, and the most adorable puppies you have ever seen.

As you can see it was a fun day for great causes. All of our pictures are available on Facebook.

The race started at the fields outside of Building 8 on Microsoft Redmond Campus.

 Employees warm up and stretch, getting ready to take on the 5k. 

Everyone was out in full support of their teams and friends united to rally around the causes.

The starting line was rather colorful as the racers put their game faces on.

And we are off! The 5k begins!!

Amongst the fastest of racers, we spot our own Jane Meseck.

Runners make their way around Microsoft Redmond campus.

Encouragement throughout the 5k put a smile on the runner’s faces.

Microsoft Citizenship’s Gretchen Deo, Kevin Espirito, and Jane Meseck celebrating a successful 5k with the rest of the runners.

More pictures available on the Microsoft Citizenship Facebook.

Stay up to date on the latest posts from the Microsoft employee giving month.

And a few more pictures for good measure, these puppies need adoption and were hanging out at the 5k with N.O.A.H.