November 2, 2000 | Read Time: 1 minute
By DEBRA E. BLUM
A Seattle software company has created a new foundation to help make good on the company’s three-year-old pledge to give a substantial portion of its profits to charity.
RealNetworks, the maker of RealVideo and RealAudio software, which allow video and audio signals to be transmitted over the Internet, has earmarked $2-million for its new grant-making arm, the RealNetworks Foundation.
The foundation will make grants in three areas: fostering free-speech rights throughout the world, broadening access to technology in underserved areas, and improving the quality of life in the Puget Sound area and other places the company’s employees work and live.
When RealNetworks’s founder, Rob Glaser, took the business public in 1997, he promised to commit 5 percent of pre-tax profits to charity.
The catch: No one knew when, or if, RealNetworks would become profitable. But it did last year, and since then the company has been socking away money.
The foundation will make its first round of grants next year. The amount of money it gives away each year will depend on how much the company earns.
“Tying the giving to the company this way means that we are able to do good as we do well,” Mr. Glaser says.
He adds that while he hopes the RealNetworks Foundation will give away a lot of money over time, he also hopes his company’s 5-percent commitment to philanthropy will inspire other businesses to be generous, too.
Nationwide, companies typically donate to charity about 1 percent of pre-tax profits.
