… To receive $500,000

By Emeka Aginam

Microsoft Corporation Tuesday announced that the Beagle Freedom Project as the winner of the 10th global nonprofit organization partner for the Upgrade Your World initiative will receive $500,000.

The tech giant also announced that people can vote for their favorite local nonprofit via social media, giving nonprofits in 10 different countries the chance to receive a donation.

With this, Microsoft will be spotlighting 100 local nonprofit organizations making an impact in the following 10 countries, Australia, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Microsoft has already identified 50 of the nonprofit organizations (five of the 10 in each country) to receive a monetary donation of $50,000 each, and invites people around the world to vote for their favorite local nonprofit organizations in each country to help select the additional 50 organisations. The top five in each country will receive a donation, joining the 50 nonprofits already chosen. In total, 10 organizations in 10 countries will each receive $50,000, totaling $5 million.

Microsoft had celebrated the launch of Windows 10 on July 29, 2015, by committing to Upgrade Your World, a yearlong initiative that celebrates people and organisations doing great things.

The initiative included a series of partnerships with 10 global and 100 local nonprofit organisations. The company’s mission is to empower every person and organisation to achieve more.

Upgrade Your World is just one example of the many ways Microsoft contributes to local communities worldwide, as the company and its employees donate more than $1 billion each year to more than 100,000 nonprofit organisations around the world.

“With Windows 10 we are celebrating people who are doing great things, and it has been humbling to see the fantastic work people and organisations around the world are doing to upgrade the world. From Australia to China to the U.S., we’ve been inspired by the great work of organisations like Random Acts, Cure Batten and Do Something,” said Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president, Windows and Devices, Microsoft., adding that, “We congratulate the Beagle Freedom Project as our new global partner and look forward to seeing the amazing work it will continue to do as part of #UpgradeYourWorld. We also look forward to celebrating an additional 100 organisations around the world over the coming months.”

Beagle Freedom Project
Microsoft selected nine global nonprofit organisations and asked people to vote for the 10th. With more than 2,000 organisations nominated, Beagle Freedom Project was the winning organisation.
Beagle Freedom Project’s mission is to save the lives of laboratory animals and change the lives of people through these rescue operations.

The organisation rescues, rehabilitates and finds homes for animals used in research laboratories across the globe. Through these rescues, Beagle Freedom Project tells the animals’ stories in an effort to educate the public about animal testing and encourage dialogue about better science and alternatives to using animals for testing, resulting in the advancement of animal and human welfare.

In addition to a monetary donation of $500,000, the Beagle Freedom Project will receive Microsoft technology, services and promotional support.

“Beagle Freedom Project is honoured to be the winner of the Microsoft Upgrade Your World initiative. Knowing that a company like Microsoft is using its position to help charities such as ours is a testament to its compassion for helping those in need,” said Shannon Keith, president of Beagle Freedom Project, adding that , “We look forward to working with Microsoft to grow our nonprofit mission of saving animals from laboratories and hopefully in the future replacing animals with more modern forms of testing that save human and animal lives alike.”
“We are really proud to be the featured nonprofit for Windows 10 in September. As children in the United States and in many countries head back to school this month, we want to shine a spotlight on the importance of early education and the preschool teachers who inspire us all,” said Carolyn Miles, president and CEO of Save the Children, adding that, “For example, in northern rural Vietnam rock stars like Sung Thi Kim a college-educated preschool teacher who came back to her remote village to make a difference are upgrading our world by giving children a foundation for success in school and life.”

During September, Microsoft is joining forces with Save the Children to support its efforts to invest in children’s lives by giving them the opportunity to learn and be ready to succeed in school.

Save the Children works in the world’s most vulnerable places, from America to Zimbabwe, saving one child at a time. For example, it is providing services in a community situated in remote, mountainous northern Vietnam where nearly half of the households are below the poverty line and more than 20 percent of the population is illiterate. Learn more here and watch this video from Vietnam to see the impact Save the Children is having.

To further Save the Children’s mission, Microsoft is providing the organisation with a software upgrade, empowering its global team to continue to effectively serve its mission.