This post originally appeared on NI’s newsroom page, at: https://www.ni.com/en-us/about-ni/newsroom/news-releases/national-instruments-fund-to-support-covid-19-relief-and-stem-ed.html

$2.5M to be deployed immediately to support local Austin and global COVID-19 relief efforts

AUSTIN, Texas – April 3, 2020 – NI (Nasdaq: NATI) today announced that $2.5 million will be immediately deployed from the National Instruments Fund, a donor advised fund established by NI in 2019 with the Austin Community Foundation, to support global and local COVID-19 relief efforts. The remainder of the $7 million donor advised fund is expected to be invested in STEM education and community development programs for underserved and underrepresented groups to promote opportunity and prosperity.

Enabling engineers to innovate quickly, ambitiously and successfully is at the core of NI’s business. And increasing equity in STEM education and the workforce is at the core of NI’s giving strategy. The company’s donation brings these two core elements together, helping community partners to create solutions to some of the biggest challenges our world is facing.

“Our purpose as a company has never been more relevant. We are here to help our employees, customers, partners and the communities in which we work and live, thrive,” said Eric Starkloff, chief executive officer, NI. “We are a company with a 100-year plan, so we are deeply invested in the long-term health and stability of not just our company, but also our society.”

The $2.5 million is to be immediately deployed to COVID-19 relief efforts in the Austin metro area and other countries where NI operates, as follows:

• $1 million to be made available as a matching grant to the All Together ATX Fund, created by Austin Community Foundation and United Way for Greater Austin. The fund will provide flexible resources to nonprofit organizations working with communities who are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 and the economic consequences of the outbreak. The grant will match individual and corporate donations, up to a total of $1 million.
• $1.5 million to be deployed to nonprofit organizations that serve the other communities where NI has major global operations.

“We are honored to contribute to the All Together ATX Fund,” said Tabitha Upshaw, head of corporate responsibility, NI. “As the name suggests, we are all in this together. So, we hope our matching grant will bring even more people together and encourage them to give in support of our community during this unprecedented time.”

The remainder of the fund is expected to be deployed over time to programs that increase diversity and equity in STEM education and the workforce, and that promote community development. The COVID-19 outbreak has had a disproportionate impact on low-income and minority communities. By funding targeted STEM programs in these communities, NI aims to prevent existing opportunity gaps from widening even further.

“In the long-term, STEM education, and the field’s high-paying careers, can provide a path to economic prosperity,” said Upshaw. “Growing and diversifying the STEM talent pool is essential to our collective future.”

As 3M has ramped up production of personal protective equipment to support the global response to COVID-19, we continue to look for additional ways to help our communities during this pandemic. 3Mgives and 3M Foundation together are providing aid for relief and recovery efforts in the fight against COVID-19. Through this commitment, 3M has made humanitarian contributions to support basic human needs in 3M global operations communities – including right here in Austin. In addition, we’re supporting e-learning, protecting and serving frontline workers and we’re also investing in COVID-19 research and development initiatives at leading education institutions in the United States and around the world. Within our 3M Foundation regular grant budget here in Austin, we have permission this year to provide grants to our community partners in the areas of education, environment, basic needs, youth development and diverse arts, for general operating purposes vs more program specific, as we have historically given. This will allow our community partners to use their grant funds this year to reach vulnerable populations in areas where they are needed the most.

Also as part of our commitment, 3Mgives will match employee donations to GlobalGiving’s Coronavirus Relief Fund. GlobalGiving is an international organization that provides grants to nonprofits working locally in communities affected by natural disasters and pandemics. Donations to the Coronavirus Relief Fund will support first responders’ access to medical supplies, food access for under-resourced communities, and nonprofits that work with children, the elderly and refugees. Employees who donate to local Austin community organizations can also take advantage of the 3M Community Giving Match to make their contributions go even further to give to public charities of their choice and get their donations matched by up to $1,000 total per year.

Samsung Austin Semiconductor donated $1 million to support organizations making a difference in response to the coronavirus in Central Texas.

All Together ATX ($500,000): All Together ATX is a community-led philanthropic fund that will support people in the Greater Austin area with immediate needs including food insecurity, basic needs, medical needs, employment and child care.

Crisis Support for Students ($300,000): Funds were distributed to school districts and other school-affiliated organizations that are supporting students in the communities where our employees live, including Austin ISD, Hutto ISD, Leander ISD, Manor ISD, Pflugerville ISD and Round Rock ISD.Central Texas Food Bank ($100,000): The most vulnerable in our community need resources to stay healthy. Central Texas Food Bank will support hunger relief for those Central Texans affected by COVID-19 shutdowns and work stoppages.

Strategic Partner Funding ($100,000): Funds were directed to our non-profit partners as they navigate serving our community with reduced resources and significant changes in their programming.

Additionally, Samsung Austin Semiconductor ran two employee giving campaigns with special matching dollars to support organizations at the front lines of the pandemic!

Collection of excerpts from the DISCO Cares blog, by James “Buck” Bracey.

With our new motto, ”to help is human,” we hit the ground running. In Q1 2020, we hit a 35% participation rate in a single event, with over 100 employees representing every department in the company.

However, like so many companies, the global COVID-19 pandemic threw a wrench in our plans as we entered Q2, and we had to improvise.

Unable to volunteer in person, we shifted to virtual volunteering and mentoring, and implemented creative fundraising campaigns to help those in need. We’re proud that even given the stresses of working from home and an abundance of Zoom meetings, our employees were still eager to volunteer during a time that was so challenging for so much of our community.

The metric that I admire the most is our participation rate. Since inception, we have had >60% participation every year and 100% executive participation every year. Already YTD in this pandemic environment, we have had 100% executive participation and 58% employee participation rate.

This excerpt originally appeared on the DISCO blog, at https://www.csdisco.com/blog/disco-cares-the-power-of-community.

So far this year [through July 2020], over 175 DISCO employees have paid it forward through our DISCO Cares initiatives, supporting causes in education, basic needs, and human services — including over $50,000 in employee lead contributions, and over 150 volunteer hours.

This excerpt originally appeared on the DISCO blog, at https://www.csdisco.com/blog/disco-cares-to-help-is-human.