Top Honors from Our Community to Yours

By Jon Fine, President and CEO, United Way of King County

It comes as no surprise to me, or to any of our partners, that Microsoft received the prestigious Summit Award for community impact last night from United Way Worldwide.

This award recognizes Microsoft for donating $100.5 million to nonprofits and educational institutions in 2011 in addition to giving $844 million in software to more than 40,000 nonprofits worldwide, including United Ways.

Of the 11,000 people who participated in United Way of King County’s Day of Caring last fall—the largest single day of volunteering in Washington state—6,000 were Microsoft employees. Day of Caring volunteers donated an estimated $1.1 million in hours on 416 projects around our communities. And last year Microsoft’s gifts in King County alone provided 1,183,512 food bank visits to our neighbors who struggle to make ends meet—a very real issue United Way spotlighted recently during Hunger Action Week. More than 1,500 people stood with us that week against hunger, which affects 13 percent of our community.

These are powerful numbers, but more important, they represent real people. People like you and me who shop at the same grocery stores we do, whose kids go to the same schools as our kids. People like Regina, a single mom who took extended time off work to care for her sick son and fell behind on rent and other basic needs. Regina, and many others like her who’ve needed support, got back on her feet with a little help from a United Way grantee program. 

Microsoft’s Andrea Taylor receives the United Way Summit Award

Perhaps the most valuable thing the Microsoft community brings to our larger community is passion for innovation and approaching tough challenges in a smart and efficient way. It’s a mentality that has come to characterize the Seattle region, and it ties back directly to Microsoft’s spirit of generosity. So when something we’re doing gets a positive endorsement from the employees of Microsoft, it makes an impact that resonates throughout the community.

The Parent-Child Home Program is a perfect example of this. On the day we launched the program, Microsoft stepped forward to support it with a $1 million gift. Then follow-up donations came in from other companies and employees, as well as several Microsoft alumni. And the effects of this investment have been countless.

About 75 percent of our state’s lowest-income children are not prepared for school when they enter kindergarten. But key support such as Microsoft’s have allowed for the great success of the program—and a goal expansion from 160 families to 1,000—so we can help even more kids and parents build the skills that lead to academic success.

As evident in these and many other United Way programs and services, Microsoft’s investments of money, time and invention are making true social change. It is a commitment that’s altering the landscape of our community right now, and it’s one that will continue to have such effects well into the future.

From all of us in the nonprofit community, congratulations on Microsoft’s well-deserved Summit award. Thank you!

—Jon Fine

Comments

• Anonymous
  June 08, 2012
  DALLAS L. COONEY 910 W. GARLAND SPOKANE,WASHINGTON:I BUILT GONZAGA LAW SCHOOL.ANYWAYS, IT'S NICE TO SEE YOU MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE COMMUNITY.IT'S NICE TO SEE PEOPLE MAKE ACHANGE IN LIFE WITH HUNGER WEEK.

• Anonymous
  June 08, 2012
  DALLAS L. COONEY 910 W. GARLAND SPOKANE,WASHINGTON 99202:I BUILT GONZAGA LAW SCHOOL.IT'S NICE TOO SEE PEOPLE 160 MILLION TO LEAD CHILDREN AND FAMILY TO PERFECT THEIR NEEDS.