To support the Celebration of Service, IBM provided $12 million in grants during 2011 to the schools and not-for-profit organizations where IBMers volunteer.
Celebration of Service Grants expanded IBM's existing Community Grants program, as well as adding two new grant opportunities for the IBM Centennial. The grants honor IBMers' dedication to community service, with a particular focus on projects that apply innovation and professional skills to improving the communities where we live and work.
Centennial Grants support projects that apply IBM's smarter planet strategies to community service, and can become a model for similar volunteer engagements elsewhere. IBM has awarded 11 Centennial Grants of up to $100,000 each, totaling nearly $1 million worldwide. The grants will fund innovative projects developed by IBM volunteers in areas such as healthcare, energy conservation and food safety.
The Centennial Grant Winners
El Agora (Argentina)
In Argentina, citizenship observatories publish quality-of-life indicators for cities (housing, transportation, health, etc.) used to propose public policies for local mayors. This grant is designed to help promote the exchange of information across several cities and promote specific improvements.
Wiener Tafel (Austria)
Austria has nearly 1 million people on the edge of poverty, yet tons of surplus food are thrown away daily. This grant will help create a smarter logistics solution to assist the distribution of surplus food from Vienna supermarkets to those in need, aiming to increase donations by 20 percent.
ATN Telecentre Information & Business Association (Brazil)
Lack of technology is a main reason why nonprofit organizations and smaller enterprises fail to survive in Latin America. This grant will help create a smarter network of nonprofits in Latin America, as well as a toolkit, to influence public policy and enable economic development.
United Way Ottawa (Canada)
This grant will expand a database to help the Ottawa Neighbourhood Study better understand where people live, work and play together to promote the health and wellbeing of individuals, families and communities. The data will be analyzed and shared with local leaders to stimulate change.
Drishtee Foundation (India)
Rural India lacks access to critical information and technology. This grant will fund a Smart Rural Aggregation Platform to help transform Drishtee's model villages into sustainable Smarter Villages, by aggregating services and products related to livelihood, agriculture and information.
Indian Institute of Technology, Khraragpur (India)
Urban flooding is a severe, annual problem in India. This grant will help fund a Sensor Web for Smarter Cities (SENSIT) project which will develop a low-cost, sensor-based solution to assist with rainfall monitoring and flood forecasting, providing flood warnings to citizens and local authorities.
Irish Cancer Society (Ireland)
This grant will help develop a smart cloud-based system to support the expansion of the Irish Cancer Society's "Care to Drive" program, which provides free patient transportation to and from treatment appointments — including scheduling, route planning, volunteer reimbursement and data management.
Singapore Green Building Council (Singapore)
This grant will help advance energy efficiency by raising awareness in Singapore schools. The Singapore Green Building Council's Project Green Insights will develop a system to track power usage and reduce energy and maintenance costs, promoting Smarter Buildings across 20 schools.
Foundation for the Training and Protection of Mentally Handicapped Children (Turkey)
Although an estimated 12 percent of people in Turkey are disabled, there is no exact data — so services for them have been neglected. This grant will help build a database of people with disabilities, interconnected with government institutions and NGOs, and develop web services for them.
National Association of Community Health Centers (United States)
This grant will help more than 20 million patients through the creation of a dashboard and knowledge management system. The software will connect 8,000 health centers to share ideas, exchange best practices, and move toward establishing a “medical home” for every patient.
Vermont State College System (United States)
IBM Vermont's manufacturing site uses a smart grid to reduce energy consumption. This grant will help IBM and the Vermont State College system to help two statewide nonprofit organizations reduce energy use by 5 percent annually, creating a model that can be applied throughout the nonprofit sector.
Catalyst Grants supported projects that apply IBMers' professional skills to volunteer projects with schools or community organizations, or demonstrate a connection to a local, sustainable issue. IBM awarded 100 Catalyst Grants of $10,000 worldwide.
Community Grants is an ongoing program that provides cash or IBM products to eligible community organizations and schools where IBM employees and retirees are actively volunteering, and in support of specific projects. During 2011, IBM expanded the Community Grants program to include grants of up to $5,000.