Microsoft has announced that its Upgrade Your World initiative will start in India from today. As part of the initiative, the company will partner 10 NGOs in India, and support them with a donation of $50,000 each and technical support from Microsoft, apart from varied services and promotional activities. The Upgrade Your World initiative is a worldwide one-year-long program that acknowledges people who inspire and empower others. For now, five non-profit organisations have been chosen, namely Aga Khan Rural Support Program, Enable India, Magic Bus, Smile Foundation, and Udayan Care.
Microsoft has encouraged people from around the country to vote for their preferred non-profit organisations, through Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Participants can also help in selecting five more NGOs for this program. To cast a vote, one will have to make a post with #UpgradeYourWorldIN and #vote, and tag the chosen organisation via @[organisation's name]. People can vote once a day, everyday, till September 23, 2015.
In its press release, Bhaskar Pramanik, Chairman, Microsoft India, said, “Upgrade Your World is led by our vision to help people achieve more through technology, in celebration of the Windows 10 launch. It is inspiring and heartening to see the work these organizations are doing in India to upgrade the world. Their efforts are driving real and positive change in several communities and people across the country. We congratulate the five nonprofits that have been selected from India and we look forward to extending our support to the five nonprofits that will be selected by the people of the nation.”
The Upgrade Your World initiative was started alongside the launch of Windows 10 on July 29. The initiative will see Microsoft partner 10 global and 100 local non-profit organisations, and invest a total of $10 million to support its mission, thereby promoting awareness.
Microsoft plans to highlight 100 local non-profit organisations in 10 countries. These countries include India, Australia, China, France, Germany, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The company has already identified 50 organisations that will receive a donation of $50,000.
Microsoft itself had selected the nine global non-profit organisations, and had asked the people to vote for the tenth one. Yesterday, it announced that the Beagle Freedom Project had been chosen as its tenth partner. As part of the initiative, Microsoft is also giving its employees at offices across the world, an extra day off so that they can volunteer in their community.