Fall 2010
[an error occurred while processing this directive]The newly launched Esri Nonprofit Program provides software and technology grants to nonprofit organizations, such as nongovernmental organizations (NGO) whose focus is on environmental and humanitarian initiatives. This program enables a worldwide community of conservationists and social activists to use GIS technology to fulfill their objectives by providing Esri software and related resources to qualified organizations and to the developers that assist them.
Ever since its founding as a nonprofit organization about four decades ago, Esri has had a deep commitment to the goals and mission of the nonprofit world. Esri later found that a commercial model was better suited for developing professional GIS tools, but its belief in and support of the nonprofit model has remained a core value. The nonprofit ethos is characterized by a passion to help society and the environment, and a commitment to serve others. Esri passionately believes that GIS concepts, theories, and technology are uniquely appropriate to this mission of service. GIS is integrative, able to include information from many different kinds of groups, cultures, and disciplines and unite it into a collaborative vision of how our world works and what we need to do to help it work better. Esri's first commercial tool to do this was ARC/INFO, which has been used by thousands of businesses and governments to better understand markets, resources, logistics, and costs and to help them become more efficient, more capable, and more thoughtful.
Through the years, Esri has offered various grant programs and donated many millions of dollars in software, training, consulting, and project support to nonprofit organizations and the people and businesses who help them. Esri knows that nonprofit groups need the same tools and capabilities that large commercial groups and governments need. In response to this need, the newly launched Esri Nonprofit Program offers ArcGIS to nonprofit groups throughout the world.
"We have always provided our software to NGOs around the world," says Jack Dangermond, president of Esri. "We want geospatial technology to be available to NGOs of all types so they can build their own data, use government data, and be more active participants in maintaining the health of our planet."
The Esri Nonprofit Program provides qualified participants with single seat licenses of ArcGIS Desktop, ArcGIS Desktop extensions, ArcGIS Server, ArcGIS Server extensions, and community and self-help support via the Esri Resource Centers and Esri Support services. Annual administrative fees apply. Some applicants will qualify for various tiers of the Esri Enterprise License Agreement (ELA) to support the entire organization.
In the context of geospatial technology Web 2.0, the second generation of the World Wide Web, the grant means NGOs will have very fast and high-quality mapping/globe services, geoprocessing, and support for all the standards that enable this environment. Esri's ArcGIS Server enables these users to create more services and use mashups to develop interactive applications. Furthermore, ArcGIS geoprocessing and spatial analysis capability will give NGOs insight for helping our planet.
Learn more about qualifying for the Esri Nonprofit Program by visiting the Web site at www.esri.com/nonprofit. People and organizations outside the United States can contact their local Esri distributor for more details.
