Tech's Drive For Social Responsibility - Page 2

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People and money well spent

High-tech companies have also begun experimenting with novel approaches to philanthropy, becoming more directly involved by donating equipment and subsidizing employees who want to contribute with their labor.

Earlier this month, Microsoft announced a program to provide students with a suite of software for $3 through local governments and to provide PCs directly to needy students.

According to Passman, Microsoft gives away $300 million worth of software every year, most of it to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other charities. According to Passman, "we have seen how powerful it is when private entities, public entities and civil society come together to address an issue of common concern."

Other companies contribute their own products or services: GE  donated an X-ray machine worth millions of dollars to a hospital in Bugesera, one of the poorest areas of Rwanda. Google  contributed free operating systems for 50,000 Rwandese and formed partnerships to provide technical training across the country, according to Ruxin.

Cisco  has also created a much-admired Networking Academy Program to help train high-tech workers around the world.

Ruxin said that several corporations have funded employee missions. "Human capital is probably the single-most valuable asset on earth. When a company puts people to addressing a problem, I think that says a lot for the company."

Even when it comes to simply contributing money, companies are looking for ways to make the money more effective.

Blake said that BT is working through UNICEF because the charity understands local problems; it knows which areas are the most impoverished and which schools need the most help. "We can target our philanthropy in a way that will help break the cycle of poverty in those areas," she said.

The UNICEF program specifically targets girls in very poor regions who have fallen through the cracks of government spending. It provides basic needs like water, electricity and a safe environment for children to learn. "There's no point in putting in great computers if you don't have the basic infrastructure in place," Blake said.

Last year, Cisco pledged one million dollars for micro-financing initiatives launched by Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Prize Laureate who created micro-credit financing.

The initiatives financed by Cisco will provide micro-credit loans and educational credits to qualifying students for entrepreneurial business training, mentoring and micro-credit start up capital to launch their own tech-related businesses.

Multinationals are increasingly checking to make sure that their corporate largesse bears fruit.

Ruxin noted that GE sought assurances that Project Access would have the proper infrastructure and skilled workers in place before agreeing to donate its X-ray equipment.

"They said, 'can you make sure that if we make a multi-million investment, it will be well-utilized?'"

With that kind of attitude, their generosity might even make a difference.