SAN JOSE — In a blog post Sunday, Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins says the company is committing US$225 in cash, in-kind and planned-giving to support both the global and local U.S. response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“As part of our commitment, we are allocating US$8 million in cash and US$210 million in product to the global coronavirus response. We are focusing these resources on supporting healthcare and education, government response and critical technology. Part of this will go to the United Nations Foundation’s Covid-19 Solidarity Response Fund, supporting the World Health Organization’s (WHO) worldwide efforts to help prevent, detect, and manage the spread of Covid-19,” Robbins writes.
“In addition, we are rallying our 77,000 employees and encouraging them to give what they can to help our community partners on the front lines bolster their operations in this time of need,” Robbins says.
To support a range of nongovernmental organizations, Cisco is launching a 72-hour employee giving campaign this week to encourage donations and the Cisco Foundation will match employee gifts up to US$4 million in total giving and is allocating US$1 million in additional grants to help non-profit partners, Robbins says.
“Through our Country Digital Acceleration (CDA) program, we are providing funding for heads of state, government agencies, and businesses to rapidly deploy Covid-19-related technology solutions. We are also empowering those on the front lines with access to our critical technologies with our free Webex and Security offers. To date, we are helping to secure over 2.2 million people online, and Webex has facilitated virtual response meetings for the French, Canadian, German, Colombian, and other governments around the world,” Robbins writes.
“We will continue to monitor the impact of Covid-19 on our employees, customers, partners, and communities, and evaluate other ways we can help as things evolve. While our world will be different as we move into the future, it is important that we stay focused on making a positive impact in every way possible,” Robbins concludes.
