Strategic Corporate Philanthropy
This is an inspiring message from Bill Gates - it is in perfect alignment with the goals of the Pro Bono Action Tank.'Strategic Corporate
Philanthropy'
By BILL GATES
FROM TODAY'S WALL STREET JOURNAL
May 8,
2008
How
important is access to information technology? A World Bank report released
earlier this year found a very high correlation between the rate of technology
progress and income growth. It said: "Technological progress [distinguishes]
fast-growing developing economies and slow growing ones. It also distinguishes
economies that have made great strides in reducing poverty and those that have
been less successful."
At
Microsoft, we share the belief that information technology can have a dramatic
positive effect on people's lives. We also believe that one of the best ways to
accelerate the speed of technology adoption is through close partnerships
between the public sector and the private sector.
Public-private partnerships make it
possible to multiply the impact that a single organization or company could hope
to achieve working alone. They combine public sector organizations' knowledge of
local communities with private companies' technical expertise and implementation
experience. As a result, these partnerships can develop and deploy effective
information technology solutions that solve specific challenges with much
greater speed.
The
notion that businesses have a responsibility to promote the public good by
supporting the work of nonprofit and governmental organizations is not new, of
course. The late 1940s and early 1950s saw companies such as Ford, Western
Electric and Philip Morris form foundations to manage corporate
giving.
But
much of this activity centered exclusively on financial support. Today, the
value of corporate involvement lies as much in expertise as it does in monetary
support. This shift is due in part to efforts by a number of United Nations
agencies in the late 1990s to look for new ways to work with corporations to
help address major global health issues.
The
rise of this so-called "strategic corporate philanthropy" is an important step
forward. When a company like Microsoft is in a position to provide not just
money, but also the expertise and experience to help an organization use
technology to achieve its goals more quickly and more effectively, it can speed
the pace and scale of progress.
Take the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization's program to create a set of global
technology competency standards for teachers. The goal is to ensure that
teachers have the training and materials to provide students with the technology
skills they will need to participate in the global knowledge economy. Three
major corporations -- Microsoft, Intel and Cisco -- helped shape the program,
thanks to a shared belief that a technically literate workforce is an essential
ingredient for sustainable economic growth.
Across
The
ultimate goal is to support the development of local economies that have the
infrastructure and skilled work force needed to create sustainable growth. My
hope is that this will help increase the number of people who have the tools and
knowledge to participate in the digital revolution from one billion to two
billion and beyond. As this happens and more people join the global knowledge
economy, they will spur further innovations that address difficult issues faced
by so many people around the world.
This, more than anything, will be
the key to creating a world where everyone can expect to lead long, healthy,
productive and fulfilling lives.
Mr.
Gates is chairman of Microsoft Corporation.
