November 29, 2001 | Read Time: 1 minute
The Oracle Corporation, in Redwood Shores, Calif., has created a new grant-making organization to increase access to the Internet in schools and nonprofit organizations that serve young people from needy families. The company has committed to provide $6-million worth of equipment in the Oracle Help Us Help Foundation’s first year.
The equipment provided will mainly be New Internet Computers, inexpensive Internet appliances made by a company closely held by Oracle’s chairman, Larry Ellison. The appliances, which sell for about $200 apiece, have little processing power on their own but can be linked together on a network and then connected to a more powerful computer.
According to Colleen Cassity, senior manager of the new organization, the New Internet Computers were selected as the basis for the program because they offer the least expensive way to get classrooms online. She says that if at some point another company offered a less expensive option, the Oracle fund would switch to those machines.
Realizing that Oracle couldn’t reach all the schools that need help by itself, the company decided to set up the fund as a supporting organization, which allows it to solicit contributions from other companies, foundations, and individuals, says Ms. Cassity.
The fund plans to donate equipment to at least 200 schools and charities in its first year, giving away more than 10,000 Internet machines, as well as laser printers, servers, and the supplies needed to connect the equipment to a network. Eighty percent of the foundation’s product grants will go to elementary and secondary schools in the United States, and 10 percent will go to domestic youth organizations. The rest will go to organizations overseas.
For more information: Go to http://www.helpushelp.org.
