NetHope Expands Membership, Attracts New Foundation & Continued Private Sector Support

McLean, VA, November 08, 2008 --(PR.com)-- Wrapping up its bi-annual member summit at Red Cross International Headquarters in Geneva, NetHope welcomed Ashoka as its 25th member organization and announced new support from the Rockefeller Foundation and Microsoft Corporation.

NetHope, the information technology collaboration of leading international nongovernmental organizations, whose member organizations represent more than $33 billion in program spending on humanitarian and conservation initiatives and employ more than 300,000 people across the developing world, made the announcements as its members gather this week to collaborate on new ways to close the "Humanitarian Productivity Gap" that exists between the private and humanitarian sectors.

"Over the last 20 years, private industry has made huge leaps in productivity due to technology infrastructure investments," says Bill Brindley, NetHope CEO. "Our member agencies will always be resource-constrained by comparison, so we need to find new ways to close the gap and ensure that humanitarian workers and the people they serve have access to appropriate technologies for the often extreme and challenging conditions in the developing world."

Further details around today's announcements from NetHope include:
• Ashoka Joins Membership: Ashoka is the first and only NetHope member whose primary focus is on social entrepreneurs. It champions the most important new social change ideas and supports the entrepreneurs behind them to start, grow, succeed and collaborate on their ventures. Ashoka's commitment to collaboration and the sharing of resources embodies NetHope's mission of finding innovative solutions to close the "Humanitarian Productivity Gap."

• Rockefeller Foundation Support: The Rockefeller Foundation is funding the development of a shared services business model, three-year road map and assessment of the implementation of shared services at member headquarters and in the field, including sub-Saharan Africa, a strategic area of need. NetHope members, with the support of Accenture consultants, are completing analysis, design, piloting and planning work for the project. The Rockefeller Foundation is also funding a biannual summit of six people from NetHope member agencies in East Africa and two ICT Board of Kenya representatives.

• Microsoft Grant for Capacity Building: Following on a more than $40 million grant of software and cash to NetHope and member agencies in 2006, Microsoft is continuing its support for NetHope with a second grant to help NetHope continue to scale its work. The new funds will support NetHope to recruit new member agencies, market its work to new donors, convene its members more regularly and improve the overall quality of its operations.

"The Rockefeller Foundation is proud to support NetHope's efforts to improve and expand Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) in Kenya and throughout the developing world," said Judith Rodin, President of the Rockefeller Foundation. "Our resources will serve a dual mission: they will help this vital coalition develop a shared strategy to connect more NGOs with efficient, world-class information technology and elevate the opportunity for BPO practices to drive sustainable, equitable economic growth."

"We started NetHope eight years ago with the idea that a collaborative approach to developing and delivering technology solutions to common problems throughout the NGO sector would make the most sense for our member agencies and for the corporate and foundation partners whose support of our work has been so critical," says Ed Granger-Happ, CIO of Save the Children and NetHope chairman and co-founder. "The new support from Rockefeller Foundation and the increased support from Microsoft represent an important endorsement of the NetHope approach, including the premise that technology can be a core lever for dramatically improving the overall impact of the humanitarian sector's work."

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NetHope is a new-generation information and communications technology collaboration representing 25 leading international non-government organizations that work to solve humanitarian and conservation issues in the developing world. NetHope, which is headquartered in Washington, D.C., is made up of member agencies that work around the world in more than 180 countries. A complete listing of the member agencies is available at http://www.nethope.org/members.html and a complete listing of corporate supporters is available at www.nethope.org/support.html. For more information about NetHope, please visit its Web site at http://nethope.org/. For other questions or to arrange an interview with NetHope CEO Bill Brindley, please contact press@nethope.org