Microsoft announces success of "$1 billion Public Cloud for Public Good" commitment

In a recent announcement, Microsoft Philanthropies has declared that it has donated cloud services to 90,000 nonprofits worldwide globally. The company has also reached its $1 billion Public Cloud for Public Good commitment a year ahead of schedule. In early 2016, Microsoft had committed to donating $1 billion in cloud computing resources, over three years, to help 70,000 nonprofit organizations digitally scale their impact and serve the public good.

Building on this and deepening its commitment to non-profits further, Microsoft has also announced the formation of a Technology for Social Impact group that will work to bring cloud services to a total of 300,000 nonprofits in the next three years. This group brings new offers to create the most comprehensive suite of enterprise-grade software and services, customized to the unique needs of nonprofits. Through these offers, Microsoft aims to empower nonprofits with the new abilities to scale impact, engage more donors, and achieve more for those they serve.

In the context of India, the company revealed that it has donated millions in cloud services across the country as part of this program. This includes organizations such as Akshaya Patra and Habitat4Humanity that fight issues like hunger and malnutrition in India and works with low-income families to build new homes and incremental housing, respectively.

An impactful example of a nonprofit leveraging Microsoft Cloud is the Child MISS (Management Information System and Services), is the result of a collaboration between Don Bosco National Forum for the Young at Risk and App Point Software Solutions. A comprehensive child tracking system, the Child MISS solution is hosted on the Microsoft Azure public cloud platform and granted Azure credits to be used over three years.

This announcement comes close on the heels of Microsoft India releasing their 2017 India Citizenship Report. The report captures an overview of the company’s citizenship programs and impact in the one-year period between April 2016 and March 2017. In 2016-17, Microsoft extended support to over 4,000 Indian start-ups, supported skill trainings for 30,000 youth, helped train 26,000 teachers, working closely with many state governments and not-for-profit organizations in the country. The company has donated over Rs.4.35 billion in software products to non-profits to aid their community development initiatives in India since 2006.