This week in our ongoing periodic series on grant providers and how to apply for their support, we look at the tech company that helps build Microsoft and Apple computers: Intel. The corporation is best known for its processors and motherboards and for its 5-note jingle – but its stand on corporate social responsibility is truly impressive. A post on the company’s CSR blog site by Perry Gruber back in 2008 nicely shows the synergies Intel envisions between corporate wealth and nonprofits and charities that do work that also helps those corporations who support them. A (Flash) video about Intel’s more recent philanthropic outreach can be viewed here.
According to Intel’s Intel’s CSR 2010 Report: Executive Summary, the tech company gave over $1 billion to education projects and over $135 million in green-tech projects that had a bearing on Intel’s own technology development. You can feel good in getting support from Intel also in that the company supports the volunteer efforts of almost half of its world-wide employees.
The projects that their grant-giving body focus on are education, the environment, and ‘community sites’ (all of which make grants to projects all over the world). We are focussing on the US grants for this post, though. Intel’s statement on education might stand as the exemplar of the other two interests:
Our primary giving focus is education, with an emphasis on K-12 and higher education. We support schools and community programs that deliver the kind of educational opportunities that all students will need to prepare for success in the 21st century. Intel vigorously supports education through donations and grants for programs that advance science, math, and technology education, particularly for women and underserved populations.
The company lists those organizations that it typically does not support. On the whole, grants are only considered for non-profit organizations that have tax exemption status under IRS Code Section 501(c)(3). Exceptions include publicly funded academic institutions.
The online grant application can be found here, where you begin with a series of questions to ensure your organization’s general eligibility. I clicked my way through the list trying a few combinations of answers concerning eligibility: a couple gave me a polite “Thank you for your interest…” But your organization could still contact Intel to petition for consideration.
As always, we would love to hear of your experiences with applying for an Intel grant, or for the other grants we have or will cover in this series. Your stories will help your peers in their efforts each and all of us to bring some change to the world.