Dropbox announces global foundation to support human rights work

Melanie May | 16 February 2018 | News

• Tagged with:
• Technology
• trusts and foundations

Dropbox has launched the Dropbox Foundation: a global charitable foundation to support organisations that defend human rights.

 
The support will be in the form of:

• Flexible, unrestricted grants that recipients can use in the way they feel is most useful
• Dropbox employee volunteers with skills that match the organisation’s needs, such as financial modelling or improving data security

The Foundation is jointly funded by Dropbox CEO Drew Houston and co-founder Arash Ferdowsi, and Dropbox, with an initial endowment of approximately $20 million that is expected to grow over time. It will be overseen by a board that includes Dropbox executives Dennis Woodside (COO), Bart Volkmer (General Counsel), and Amber Cottle (VP of Policy), as well as four independent directors from Silicon Valley Community Foundation. 
In a blog post announcing the Foundation’s launch, Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi said:

“As Dropbox continues to grow, we want to do more — especially for organisations that are fighting for equal opportunity, basic freedoms, and fundamental necessities for people around the world.
“These partners were selected because of their commitment, optimism, and creative problem-solving. Between them they have more than a hundred years of combined experience defending human rights. We hope to help these partners expand their impact and learn from them along the way.”

About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.