Over $500,000 Donated to Room to Read Through Sales of $10 Starter LicensesSAN FRANCISCO & SYDNEY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Atlassian, makers of collaboration and developer tools, announced that its Starter license program has generated over $500,000 in donations to Room to Read, a global nonprofit organization focused on literacy and gender equality in education, in just 12-months. In April, 2009, Atlassian first introduced its Starter licenses to enable small teams and software startups of under 10 users to access its popular software products like the JIRA issue tracker and the Confluence wiki. Each Starter license costs only $10 and includes a perpetual license, full technical support and updates. To date over 31,000 licenses have been sold to over 14,000 unique customers.
“The great results have taken us by surprise”
A Pleasant Surprise
"The great results have taken us by surprise," said Mike Cannon-Brookes, CEO at Atlassian. "We thought we might sell a few thousand licenses, and then the promotion took on a life of its own. The prospect of making a meaningful donation and getting great software has been too good for business customers to pass up. Room to Read's efforts to promote literacy have inspired us for years, so when we sought out a charity for our Starter licenses, it was an easy choice."
Tangible Results
Room to Read has used the funds to invest in literacy programs and girls' education in Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Cambodia. The current and future projects include the establishment of 34 libraries, four schools, and two local language books. Other funds have been set aside to sponsor 250 scholarships through the Girls' Education program which provides school fees, books, uniforms and transportation, mentoring and life skills training to help girls complete secondary school. In total, more than 32,000 children will have benefitted from educational opportunities supported through the Starter license promotion.
Succeeding by Doing Good
Atlassian's Room to Read donations are an extension of its innovative 1/1/1 corporate philanthropy model where 1% of employee time goes to volunteer work, 1% of company equity goes to the Atlassian foundation and 1% of products are donated to non-profits.
According to John Wood, Room to Read Founder and Board Chair, "Atlassian's contributions show how companies can succeed while also doing good for their community. Their innovative approach to selling software is enabling Room to Read to reach tens of thousands of children in Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Cambodia and empower them through education."
In addition, Atlassian participated in a matching challenge with Financial Times readers. Atlassian pledged to equal Financial Times readers' donations to Room to Read of up to $100,000, effectively doubling its monies raised for Room to Read.
About Room to Read
Room to Read is a global organization seeking to transform the lives of millions of children in the developing world by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education. Founded on the belief that World Change Starts with Educated Children, Room to Read works in collaboration with local communities, partner organizations and governments to develop literacy skills and a habit of reading among primary school children and to ensure girls have the skills and support needed to complete their secondary education. Since 2000, Room to Read has impacted the lives of more than four million children in Asia and Africa and aims to reach 10 million children by 2015. Learn more at http://www.roomtoread.org.
About Atlassian
Atlassian is an Australian software company specialising in software development and collaboration tools. More than 17,000 organisations of all sizes use Atlassian's issue tracking, collaboration and software development tools to work smarter and deliver quality results on time. Learn more at http://www.atlassian.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment