Matching Grants, Volunteer Grants or IBM Community Grants

Have you seen the large list of corporations willing to provide matching grants to the BDPA Education & Technology Foundation? We recommend you check with your employer to see if they will match gifts to BETF. If so, your gift to an eligible nonprofit could be at least doubled. Please take a moment to get a matching gift form from your personnel office and follow the directions to initiate a match. Thank you for making the extra effort — and for your double support!

One of our BDPA leaders is Paulette Johnson-Davis. She is the president of the BDPA chapter in Greater Columbia, SC. Paulette also worked for IBM earlier in her career. She shares the following message to current and former IBMers:

"Fellow IBMers, both current and retired,

I recently submitted a request to IBM for a $1,000 Community Grant, and the grant was approved! It was a fairly simple way to earn money for our Chapter.

If you have not already registered with IBM's On Demand Community, you need to do so. The On Demand Community is an innovative program to support IBM volunteers helping schools and not-for-profit agencies. All you have to do is register and then input your volunteer hours. If you volunteer a minimum of 40 hours over a 5-month period for a particular non-profit organization, you can apply for a grant. Both cash grants and equipment grants are available; I chose to apply for the cash grant.

As a Chapter President, I know you put in many more than 40 hours over a 5-month period, so you are sure to qualify. And, the best thing is that you can re-apply for this grant every 12 months! If you'd like more information, please feel free to contact me or BETF's Executive Director.

Paulette Johnson-Davis
President, GCBDPA
(803) 264-1721

Are there any members of the IBM team reading this message? Do others work in corporate America where a volunteer grant or matching grant might be available? What say u?