San Francisco Non-Profit Expands Global Services and Technology Distribution Channel to Reach NGOs and Non-Profits Worldwide

New initiative attracts funding and service commitments from major high-tech corporations

SAN FRANCISCO, October 13, 2008 – TechSoup Global, a leading technology non-profit, announced its new Commitment to Action at the recent invitation-only 2008 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting in New York. Microsoft, Cisco, Adobe, Business Objects, an SAP company, Symantec and ReadyTalk have joined TechSoup Global’s CGI Commitment, as did Pure Digital, which agreed to make up to one million of its handheld “Flip” camcorders available to NGOs around the world through TechSoup Global.

This groundswell of support for TechSoup Global’s CGI commitment will enable the organization to broaden its initiative to distribute the latest technology products and services to non-profits and NGOs worldwide, especially in developing countries. This broader initiative will help thousands of non-profit programs throughout the world to alleviate poverty, to protect the environment, and to provide education and healthcare services by improving their efficiency and effectiveness through better and more up-to-date technology.
“The participants at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting are trying to make a difference on all the myriad issues that affect our planet,” said Daniel Ben-Horin, Founder and Co-CEO of TechSoup Global. “The causes are as varied as malaria prevention and mobile banking, but what they all have in common is their dependence on a vital non-profit and NGO sector for dissemination, implementation and success. Our mission is to equip NGOs globally with the technology tools they need. We are now on the fast track to building our channel, with our partners, into a truly global system for efficiently distributing not only technology but other socially beneficial products and services throughout the world.”

ABOUT THE NEW INITIATIVE
TechSoup Global’s new initiative has a two part goal: 1) to increase the number of countries served to 60 by the year 2011, including branching out to underserved areas of Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, and Latin America; and 2) to create additional innovative regional programs that will help selected global non-profits and NGOs to use the latest technology to address important local needs, for example: fostering entrepreneurship and small business; or improving capacity in a variety of critical areas such as healthcare and disaster relief projects.

“TechSoup Global has been a tremendous resource for Direct Relief International. Of course it’s a fantastic concept, but in practice it has been just as impressive”, said Thomas Tighe, President and CEO of Direct Relief International and an attendee at the CGI Annual Meeting. “TechSoup Global has removed the cost barrier to making investments in IT and made very powerful tools available to tackle the very big problems we and other nonprofit groups try to tackle. Our particular mission, which involves pharmaceutical products and worldwide distribution, requires a robust IT system. TechSoup Global allowed us to get there.”

Marjorie Margolies is the Founder of Women’s Campaign International, an organization that provides the tools and training to help women become elected to political office and organizations campaign for social issues and advocate around topics that increase women’s quality of life in countries around the world . “Many of our partner organizations and women candidates, particularly those in emerging democracies, have limited access to technologies that would increase the reach and scope of their campaigns and advocacy,” said Marjorie. “We support TechSoup Global’s efforts to decrease the digital divide and empower grassroots organizations to access technology that can empower women in their communities and are looking forward to being able to access TechSoup Global’s services under their new expansion initiative.”

SEE THE FULL COMMITMENT ON CGI WEBSITE
http://commitments.clintonglobalinitiative.org/projects.htm?mode=view&rid=211670

ABOUT TECHSOUP GLOBAL
Founded in 1987 as The CompuMentor Project, the recently renamed TechSoup Global is one of the most comprehensive nonprofit technology assistance providers in the world, employing a staff of 170 and deploying a budget of US$22 million. It conducts a range of major programs on the international, national, and the local level, including the operation of its nonprofit technology web site and its distribution service for technology product donations. TechSoup’s newest programs are the Net Squared initiative to help nonprofits worldwide use new Internet-based tools such as blogging and podcasting to extend their reach and impact, and the TechSoup Global Network which is aimed at building NGO capacity worldwide.

ABOUT THE CLINTON GLOBAL INITIATIVE (CGI)
Established in 2005 as a project of the non-partisan William J. Clinton Foundation, the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) convenes global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges. Since 2005, CGI members have made nearly 1,000 Commitments to Action valued at upwards of $30 billion to improve more than 200 million lives in over 150 countries around the world. Through past Annual Meetings, CGI has brought together more than 80 current and former heads of state, hundreds of top CEOs and non-profit leaders, major philanthropists, and 10 of the last 16 Nobel Peace Prize laureates.

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