Microsoft Response to Hurricane Katrina

The Microsoft Disaster Relief Page was updated tonight with a statement about Hurricane Katrina.

Microsoft Response to Hurricane Katrina

Published: August 31, 2005

Every one of us at Microsoft is deeply saddened by the destruction of property and personal lives in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and our hearts go out to the hundreds of thousands of people who have been affected by the storm and its aftermath.

This page has links to many different relief agencies, so this is a good place to start if you're considering a contribution.

Comments

• Anonymous
  August 31, 2005
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• Anonymous
  August 31, 2005
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• Anonymous
  September 01, 2005
  How much everyone wants to bet that while "tbb" talks trash about MS's donation, he hasn't donate one red cent towards Katrina victums.
• Anonymous
  September 01, 2005
  You know, I don't care what anyone says about MS contributing. MS is "The evil software empire". Those "evil" guys there contribute millions everyday and most people don't even notice. They match employee donations to charities, they give software away, they give time. Hundreds of programmers around the world donate their time and effort and Microsoft backs them 100%. I think the world need a heck of a lot more of these types of "Evil" guys.
  
  I personally belong to a non profit org that develops software for other non profit orgs. We have experienced .net coders that work on these project with people new to .net to teach them the framework, they learn for free by working on projects with experienced programmers that the other non profit orgs could not afford to do. Microsoft donates, servers, software, tools, and lawyers just to make sure our ducks are all in a row. We charge nothing for development and major non profit foundations all over the world benefit which in turn people all over the world benefit from those other non profit orgs. So when someone has the gall to say something like well Microsoft only donated a million dollars. They need to look into some of the things Microsoft does on a daily basis and what they enable people to do even though most people don't even know they have been helped by Microsoft. That million wouldn't include employee donatations which Microsoft matches Microsoft's help and donation in the future clean up. The Microsoft business reps out in the field who have already stepped up to companies impacted by this with only one question "How can we help?"
  
  And no I do not work for Microsoft I just have my eyes open enough to see some of the stuff Microsoft does do to benifit the world well beyond software. Anyone who thinks Microsoft doesn't help out needs to chew on this site for a while. http://www.gatesfoundation.org/
• Anonymous
  September 01, 2005
  Thank you Jeff Parker! - Well said - and oh so true! Thousands of dollars pour out to various charities and organizations by MS Corp and it's employees on a daily basis, and that's when there are NO disasters going on.
  MS doesn't brag, they donate! Go Microsoft!
• Anonymous
  September 01, 2005
  First let me start by saying the only conection with microsoft is that of my windows based program that 90% of us all use on a daily basis. My comment is simple and quick to the point. Nearly every company and household in New Orleans supported and "bought" into the Microsoft program. My question is ...Will Microsoft "buy" into stopping, what could be more than the public and current goverment is prepared to handle. If this state of emergency is not delt with quickly "Katrina" will not be considered a hurricane but, the storm that started it all. Please help our people.
• Anonymous
  September 02, 2005
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• Anonymous
  September 02, 2005
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• Anonymous
  September 02, 2005
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• Anonymous
  September 03, 2005
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• Anonymous
  September 04, 2005
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• Anonymous
  September 04, 2005
  
  Had to comment about other poster (Jeff Parker) and his link to www.gatesfoundation.com, as if this is some sort of trump card and we should all just shut up now. I have 2 points to make here:
  
  a) Gates foundation gave $1.5M to hurricane relief. Fine. They also gave $1M to bridging the digital divide in Bangladesh.
  http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Libraries/InternationalLibraryInitiatives/Announcements/Announce-050816.htm
  
  Not that I am saying they shouldn't give money to the divide in Bangladesh, as some argumentitative type will try to claim but just that it makes the $1.5M seem a little weak when compared. Pessimists will see that $1M aid to Bangladesh not really being $1M since it probably will be spent on MSFT products but I digress, outside the scope of this current blog topic. The foundation has done very good things with world health issues and vaccines I readily admit.
  
  b) Gates Foundation was created by money donated by Bill & Melinda Gates (well mostly Bill but pretty sure wife would be upset if wasn't named after her too ;) This is NOT Microsoft. It is the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation. Great. I haven't heard from Steve, Paul the and the other 4-5 billionaires in the company etc. If you like you can reduce the $10M I expected by $1.5M to $7.5M since Bills share is covered by his foundation.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Anonymous
  September 05, 2005
  That Microsoft donates 1 Million dollar is compared to me to give less than 1 cent. I would be ashamed to give only one cent. But a million is better than one cent. So Microsoft thank you for excusing people who doesn't donate any money.
• Anonymous
  September 05, 2005
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• Anonymous
  September 05, 2005
  hey Bill the III....
  
  I'm sure it is a tough task, to be one of the richest person in the world, but don't you feel a little bit obligated to contribute more than only "1 million" ?? ....Billy, you basically made your money out of Americans, and u are still doing it, every day, every second........get real.....again, u are so rich that even when you are loosing on a bad day at the stock market millions of millions, u could spend a little bit more, don't you agree??
  
  How about at least donating computers to the shelters, Churches, etc. where those who have no home, job, family can use to get their lives back on track?
  
  Is this too much to ask?
  Frank
• Anonymous
  September 06, 2005
  I think the response to both events (Tsunami and Katrina) by Microsoft is weak. My own employer, much smaller in terms of revenue and market cap has chipped in the same as well as matching employee contributions. Many other large companies have come up short as well. I hope they may be preparing to give more after new needs arise.
• Anonymous
  September 06, 2005
  I think that Microsoft is doing a wonderful job of corporate citizenship. I won't repeat the previous chaps reasons; I don't want to be-labor the point.
  
  Rather than point the finger at who should donate more shouldn't we all be looking in the mirror and saying how much "Can I donate".
  
  We aren't wealthy but we have given generously (within our means) and we will probably dig into our pockets several more times over the next few months. We've given enough that it will put a dent in our bank account. You nay sayers should dent your own bank accounts instead of MS bashing, you'll actually accomplish something useful.
• Anonymous
  September 06, 2005
  As an employee of Microsoft, I am disappointed at the level of the company's cash donation. Try $10M not $1M.
• Anonymous
  September 07, 2005
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• Anonymous
  September 07, 2005
  The Relief Effort doesn't need help in "huge ways that are not even talked about". They need money. And lots of it.
  
  A lot of people are going to be buying new computers in the aftermath of this. And 99.9% of those computers will be running with Windows. Unless Microsoft plans on giving away those OS's, which I seriously doubt, they will be making a sizable profit on insurance and relief money. Considering the amount of money that runs through that company and its executives, 1 or even 10 mil is a sickeningly small amount. Reading that the Gates Foundation is donating collectivly 2.25 mil is making me sick to my stomach. How much is Bill G. actually writing out of his own pocket? The richest man in the world? He needs to act like it... I heard his house has personalized rooms with temperature and music and paintings and everything personilized when someone walks into the room. Maybe he could funnel some of his toy money into actually rebuilding houses for these people sleeping the streets. And yes, I have donated both time and effort and money to this cause(a considerable amount more than Microsoft, considering that I am in debt)
• Anonymous
  September 08, 2005
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• Anonymous
  September 09, 2005
  A commercial spot would cost Microsoft much more. There is too much rationalsm in their decisions.
  
  The tax-payer will pay the bill and that is more than $1. And good news for Microsoft. The taxes are reduced for this company. Hopefully the people don't understand this system.
  
  
• Anonymous
  September 12, 2005
  Point taken. With that in mind, these trucks allow hundreds of people a day to register (I assume with the government) to get money. The average turn around time (again, from what I hear) is 24-48 hours. Much faster then waiting for FEMA to do their job. I would much rather know my tax dollars went to this cause than most of the other causes it could be used for. So as long as MS doesn't do like the beer company (I forget which one) - send water to the east coast in their beer bottles (I forget what for), then make a commercial telling everyone how nice they were for doing so... as long as this doesn't happen, I'm all for it.
  Wouldn't it be wonderful if all companies wanted that tax break? If you could save money while helping people, wouldn't you? I agree, they could have helped more... but then, I'm the type of person that would rather praise someone for donating $5 than to criticise them for donating $1 million.
  My guess is that if they donated $10M, people would say "they just did it to get their company talked about"... ah well... that's all I have to say on the subject. Good day.
  
• Anonymous
  September 21, 2005
  Will you all stop pointing fingers and start acting; This is Lives we are talkin about; We need a solution and we need it fast.