One of the things I am really proud of as a Microsoft employee is not only the way that the company itself supports charities both far and near, but the way in which the employees always find ways to become involved personally.

Last week Steve Ballmer announced that Microsoft would donate $3.5 million towards Tsunami relief (link).  $2 million of this is corporate money while the other $1.5 million consists of employee contributions through the company's 100% matching program.  If you do some quick math...  $750,000 (half of $1.5 million) would be the amount donated by employees.  Microsoft has roughly 60,000 employees worldwide.  Assuming every single employee made a contribution (which would obviously not be the case), that makes the average contribution $12.50 per employee. 

I know, I know...when put in to that perspective you might tend to think "big deal, so some hoity-toity MS geek gave up a few lattes.  Who cares?"  But think of it this way...you can safely assume that less than 50% of the employees actually gave which would make that $25 out of each employee's pocket.  Or if only 25% contributed then that would be $50 each.  But I digress and the actual dollar amount contributed isn't my real point.

My point is that not only does the Microsoft culture encourage and promote charity, BUT the employees actually respond!  Not only did I receive a few 'corporate' emails describing what Microsoft as a company is doing and how we can participate, but within the first few days I received at least a handful of other emails from friends and co-workers within the company pointing out various other ways of providing assistance.  It makes me proud that many of the people I work with day-in and day-out really care about the world we live in and put their money where their mouth is!

Here are a few quick links if you want to find out how to provide assistance or help to any one of the organizations providing relief to the Tsunami victims:

• KOMO 4 News Tsunami Disaster Relief Information
• KING 5 Northwest Response
• KIRO 7 TV Tsunami Relief Fund
• You can look also take a peek at Mike Torres' blog entry about the subject.

Find out more about Microsoft's charitable efforts in general here.