EMC Donates $100K to Digital Causes

With today's announcement of $100,000 in grant awards, EMC has demonstrated a beneficial side effect of corporate profit -- the philanthropy that ensures reduced taxation and increased goodwill.

Seven organizations worldwide are receiving grants of $5,000 to $15,000 as part of EMC's Heritage Trust Project, established last year to help with the digitization and Web distribution of important historical documents and cultural artifacts. Today's announcement covers the first lineup of award recipients.

The winners were chosen according to the potential size of the audience that would benefit from access to their information. They were culled from 325 applications and narrowed to 48 finalists -- who don't get anything but a mention in EMC's press release.

The list of seven grant winners is impressive and interesting. It includes the music library of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic in Russia; Japan's Center for the Study of Peace and Reconciliation; and the Edgar Allen Poe Museum in Richmond, Va.

None of the award winners are compelled -- at least not directly -- to use EMC products in their preservation projects. But if I worked for one of them, I'd sure give preference to my benefactor.EMC also claims to have donated over $20 million in the last 10 years to data preservation projects worldwide, including ones at the Smithsonian Institution and the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. Information on the these and other projects is listed on EMC's Heritage Trust Project Website.

Cynics may hoot, but in the aggressively contentious world of storage marketing, I find EMC's news downright uplifting. At the very least, it showcases a focused philanthropic commitment with an imaginative and classy twist. We'd like to hear more at Byte and Switch about companies with similar endeavors.

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