Connecting nonprofits to the Microsoft employee giving campaign

Kevin Espirito, Senior Manager, Employee Engagement Programs

The culture of giving at Microsoft is deeply rooted in our culture with our employee giving programs beginning in 1983 and growing each subsequent year. Last year our U.S. based employees raised over $96 million for nonprofits, however many non-profits don’t know how to take advantage of our employee giving programs.

We regularly get questions about how an organization can get on “the-list.” Of course there is no list. Our employees dictate which organization their matching funds go to. The programs are open to any 501c3 or educational institution based in the United States. Although political and religious organizations don’t qualify for our matching programs, there are exceptions such as if a religious organization has a secular program.

Last fall, in an effort to help provide nonprofits with more transparency to our employee giving programs, we launched our first giving program information session. The sessions are designed to educate both non-profits and our employees on how they can fully leverage Microsoft’s giving programs to benefit their causes. After seeing a standing room only venue at our first session last September, we knew that these sessions were popular but more importantly they were needed. Based on that experience we have launched a quarterly program of sessions where nonprofits and employees can come and find out more about the Microsoft employee giving program and yesterday we held our third such session in the Microsoft store in Bellevue, Washington.

Attendees at the Bellevue event.

Cole Hoover Director of Programs at Lumana attended the event: "For me the event was a great chance to get to talk to people whose job it is to make the intimidating prospect of building relationships within Microsoft seem a little bit more accessible and human. It also provided me with a ton of information that I do not think my Microsoft donors and volunteers were aware of. I am excited to share with them what I have learned and use the tips from the informational session to craft a better strategy for this October. Last year we felt that it would be hopeless to try to navigate Microsoft to find supporters for our cause but this year after attending the session we are excited to get started."

I have the pleasure of seeing employees creating change inside and outside of Microsoft every day. To be able to see these sessions come to life with engaged nonprofits who are learning even more about Kinecting, sorry connecting, to our employees is inspiring. Here at Microsoft, our employees’ innovation never stops, even when it comes to giving. We’re planning to continue hosting these sessions through the year to serve as a bridge between our employees and non-profits serving our communities.

Kevin Espirito