以下是來自舊金山TechSoup總部 Rebecca Masisak執行長對開拓加入Techsoup-Taiwan平台的祝賀稿。
Hello, I’m Rebecca Masisak, Co-CEO of TechSoup in San Francisco. I want to offer my congratulations to Frontier Foundation on the launch of the TechSoup Taiwan program, and to thank Microsoft and Bytes of Learning for their generous support.The TechSoup platform has evolved since our origins as a small U.S.-focused nonprofit. Initially, our emphasis was on matching volunteer technology expertise with nonprofits that needed their help. Over the past 20 years, our platform has expanded to include a distribution channel for donated technology products, a wealth of technology content resources, online forums, and technology programs aimed at specific constituencies, such as libraries and community technology centers.
Frontier Foundation has been working on creating digital opportunities for NGOs for 14 years through training, building websites and other ways to help NGOs reduce the digital divide. Frontier Foundation created the first Chinese search engine
in Taiwan, set up the first server for NGOs, started the first training courses for NGOs, and has had significant impact building the online communities for women, the disabled, aborigine tribes and other virtual communities.
TechSoup Stock – our channel for product philanthropy – began just six years ago with three donors – Microsoft, Lotus and WebGecko. Today, our roster has grown to 31 providers of not just software, but also hardware, from companies such as Microsoft, Cisco, Symantec, Intuit and Adobe. As of March 31, 2008, we’ve distributed over $1 billion USD worth of technology products through this channel, thanks to the generous philanthropy of these donors. Our global donation program, which launched a year and a half ago, has grown rapidly and we expect to deliver over $50 million USD in donated technology to NGOs and libraries in 18 countries by June 2008.
As the program grows, we seek to partner with organizations that share our vision and have the capacity to deliver. Frontier
Foundation clearly demonstrates both. Like TechSoup, Frontier Foundation is committed to fostering social development and bridging the digital divide through the application of Information and Communication Technologies. We both seek to remove barriers for NGOs to effectively utilize technology, through hardware and software resources, access to expert advice, and connections to communities of support. Frontier Foundation’s efforts around building a resource web site for women’s rights and services, and creating a platform to help aborigine villages to communicate with the outside world are great examples of empowering communities through ICT. We are confident that Frontier Foundation has the leadership,knowledge, resources and reach to make this program successful in Taiwan.
As we bring our platform to partners around the globe, we hope not only to increase the impact of technology product philanthropy, but also to build a network of ICT capacity building organizations that can inspire and support one another. For example, our South African partner SANGONeT played a key role in the launch of BiGTech in partnership with TechSoup in India. We are excited to see how this emerging network will produce benefits we can’t even imagine today.
My sincere congratulations to Shufang Tsai and the rest of the Frontier Foundation team on a job well done. We look forward to working together to serve the unmet needs of the global NGO community and the people they serve. Thank you.
台灣的朋友大家好，TechSoup執行長Rebecca Masisak在舊金山總部向大家問好。恭喜開拓文教基金會在台灣順利推出「科技濃湯」服務，並感謝微軟公司以及位於加拿大的Bytes of Learning慷慨地支持本項服務。
TechSoup服務平台設立時，我們還只是一家小規模、以美國為服務對象的非營利組織。當初主要的工作是為有需要協助的非營利組織尋找他們所需要的科技志工。二十年來，我們的服務已擴展至：分配獲贈的科技產品、在網站上提供豐富的科技相關內容、線上論壇，以及各種為特定對象設計的方案，如圖書館和社區科技中心。
開拓文教基金會過去十多年來，透過訓練課程、架設網站等各種為非營利組織創造數位機會的方式，以減少非營利組織數位落差：架設第一個中文搜尋引擎、架設第一個讓非營利組織共用的伺服器、最早為非營利組織開設相關課程，並在婦女社群經營、身心障礙者、原住民部落以及各種線上社群的服務有卓著的貢献。
再次恭賀開拓文教基金會，很高與未來可以一起為全球非營利社群的需要、以及他們所服務的人們而努力，謝謝大家。
台北市私立勝利身心障礙潛能中心 張英樹主任
向上兒童福利基金會 江益輝行政室主任 
