San Francisco, California – June 30, 2009 - Three nonprofit organizations, Freestore Foodbank, The New York Theatre Experience, and the Pangea Foundation won top prizes in the Microsoft Show Your Impact Story Contest by demonstrating their use of Microsoft technologies to maximize or expand their impact on the communities they serve.
The contest, hosted by TechSoup Global (www.techsoupglobal.org), a nonprofit organization devoted to making technology and technology education available and affordable to nonprofits and libraries all over the world, invited nonprofits and libraries in the United States and Canada to describe how they had used Microsoft products acquired through TechSoup Global's Product Donation program to help them achieve impact and further their mission. Chosen from a field of 381 entrants, the three winning organizations were awarded prizes in the following contest categories:
Stable and Secure Technology: Freestore Foodbank
The Freestore Foodbank in Cincinnati, OH has employed Microsoft technologies to expand food programs and services such as a Mobile Pantry, Kids Café, and culinary job training to serve over 7,000 individuals a month via 450 agencies in 20 counties while maintaining their IT stability with server redundancy and back-up.
Optimize Mission Delivery: The New York Theatre Experience
Through their Web site www.nytheatre.com, The New York Theatre Experience leverages Microsoft products to more effectively highlight, nurture, promote, and advance the work of thousands of indie/nonprofit theatre practitioners making groundbreaking and foundational art in New York City.
Transformations to Maximize Impact: Pangea Foundation
The Pangea Foundation utilized Microsoft technologies to develop ReliefPoint™, an online solution that serves as a single, unified communications platform for disaster relief organizations. It has been used by organizations responding to the 2008 Midwest floods, Hurricane Gustav, Hurricane Ike, the 2009 Santa Barbara fires and, most recently, the H1N1 influenza (swine flu).
"Software allows nonprofits to dramatically increase the reach and efficacy of their organizations," said Akhtar Badshah, Sr. Director of Global Community Affairs at Microsoft. "Microsoft works closely with TechSoup Global as part of our ongoing efforts to provide access to IT knowledge and software tools that may otherwise be inaccessible to nonprofit organizations, allowing them to transform the way they pursue their missions and deliver services. It was amazing to see and read the stories about how -- for example -- technologies such as the Microsoft Office platform have had such a huge impact on nonprofits and the individuals they ultimately serve."
"For all of the years that TechSoup Global has distributed donated technology products to nonprofits and libraries, the organizations we serve never fail to amaze us with the important work that they do and the ways in which they leverage technologies to extend their reach and impact," said Rebecca Masisak, Co-C.E.O, TechSoup Global. "Congratulations to the winners and we're excited to have the opportunity to showcase your stories and those of all the nonprofits and libraries that entered."
All three winning organizations each receive a $5,000 cash grant from Microsoft plus $25,000 worth of donated Microsoft product. For further information about these organizations and their winning submissions, please visit www.showyourimpact.org/microsoft.
About Pangea Foundation
As the leader in Nonprofit Visual Intelligence®, Pangea Foundation™ is transforming the way nonprofits engage their communities. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit and a trusted partner to nonprofits since 1996, Pangea Foundation is distinguished, not only by its expertise as a SaaS provider, but by its award-winning Client-Intimate Service™, which weaves custom-fit software with a rich array of professional services to create a one-of-a-kind service offering. Fusing real-time intelligence, deep analytics, and advanced Web 2.0 technologies, Pangea Foundation delivers Impact Visualization On Demand® to nonprofits of all sizes, empowering them with an interconnected online environment for visualizing and communicating their impact. The result? Programs that are as vibrant, engaging, and impactful as the people delivering them. Stakeholders who value better results. Funders who are eager to invest. And people who thrive on making a better world. For more information on Pangea Foundation please visit: www.pangeafoundation.org.
About TechSoup Global
San Francisco-based TechSoup Global (www.techsoupglobal.org) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides technology information to individuals and organizations in more than 190 countries, has provided consulting services in more than 50 countries and, through its global network of capacity building NGOs, manages product donations to more than 80,000 organizations in 22 countries. The product donations program has enabled organizations to save over $1.3 billion in expenses as of March 2009. TechSoup Global continues to innovate with a goal of bringing increased resources and capacity to organizations working diligently on their social missions. TechSoup Global has a network of more than 35 corporate donor partners including Microsoft, Cisco and Symantec. For more information about technology donations and resources, visit www.techsoup.org.
