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Funding: Microsoft and its employees committed more than US$11 million in cash contributions and technology solutions to the Hurricane Katrina response.
- Immediately following the hurricane and flooding, Microsoft donated $1 million for relief efforts (including donations of $500,000 to the American Red Cross, $350,000 to Governor’s Funds in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and Alabama, and $200,000 to America’s Second Harvest).
- More than $1.7 million has been raised by our employees and those donations were matched by the company. Those funds went to national nonprofits, community organizations, and faith-based groups.
Several months after the initial crisis, Microsoft continues to make investments of an additional $1 million to organizations involved in the rebuilding the region and assisting evacuees, including:
- $200,000—UNCF (United Negro College Fund) for non-tenured faculty assistance at Xavier and Dillard Universities ($150,000) and $50,000 for students impacted by Katrina (historically black private colleges and universities)
- $50,000—TMSF (Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund) for students impacted by Katrina at historically black public colleges and universities
- $200,000—NPower for nonprofit recovery assistance in the Gulf Coast Region
- $50,000—Seattle Urban League (support of Katrina evacuees in Seattle)
- $500,000—A request for proposals has been issued in the Gulf Coast Region (New Orleans, Mississippi) for workforce-related IT skills training through a coalition of regional workforce investment boards
Technology Assistance: In addition to cash assistance, Microsoft donated $5 million in software donations, technology solutions, and services that were committed to the relief efforts.
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Katrinasafe.org—On September 21, 2005, the Red Cross and Microsoft launched a tool created by the two organizations in four days due in part to the efforts of a 10-person Microsoft team. The Web site consolidated data on missing persons and evacuees to help families locate and register missing relatives at http://www.katrinasafe.org. (Details are available on the Microsoft Community Affairs Web site. Katrinasafe.org was used by governments in the states of Louisiana, Alabama, Texas, and Mississippi and an estimated 340,000 inquiries were made to the site.
- After Katrina, Microsoft worked with the Red Cross to create a tool called “Safe and Well” that could be used for all future disasters.
- In the first days of the disaster, three Microsoft technologists were deployed to the Red Cross operation in Washington, DC, to work in partnership with Intel, Cisco, SBC, and other partners to support a technology plan to aid in the relief operation. This plan will help to support 240 relief centers. Premier support and other consultants are on site at American Red Cross headquarters providing technical infrastructure support.
- MSN developed and hosted a “back end” donation processing site for the American Red Cross that had the capability to process 30,000-40,000 donation requests per hour.
- Microsoft.com and MSN posted links on their Web sites and helped to raise an estimated $23 million for the relief efforts.
- Microsoft provided servers, laptops, Tablet PCs, and software to relief agencies and community development organizations.
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Groove was used by the American Red Cross and the Army Corps of Engineers as a collaboration tool to enable communications for multiple partners in the relief effort. Groove had employees helping on site at the American Red Cross.
- Three of Microsoft’s Across America buses that are fully equipped with satellite communications systems and advanced technology were deployed to American Red Cross relief operation centers in Baton Rouge and Mississippi to provide vital communication capabilities.
- Microsoft provided 100,000 MSN Hotmail accounts to evacuees to ensure online access. The accounts were tied into Katrinasafe.org and included special features designed for those who might not have prior experience with computers or the Internet.
- Microsoft teams worked closely with governments, customers, and business partners to restore infrastructure and communication capabilities.
- Microsoft CIO Ron Markezich led the company’s technology relief assistance efforts, effectively deploying the breadth of Microsoft’s technical assets to support relief efforts through nonprofit organizations, governments and government agencies, business partners, and customers. This included deployment of Technical Analysts, Consultants, Systems Engineers, Developers, and Customer Service teams in a comprehensive, immediate response relief effort.
- In the Puget Sound region, a team of technical volunteers set up computer networks for the American Red Cross of King and Kitsap County’s Administration Center. A second team developed and implemented an Appointment Manager database application to enable the Red Cross to schedule volunteers for training classes. This helped to manage the influx of volunteers that the center saw following the disaster.
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