CARE Australia, part of the CARE International network, addresses global poverty through emergency relief and development assistance. CARE's projects are focused on empowering women, improving the capacity of the local communities, and enabling them to sustain development in some of the poorest regions of the world. CARE Australia employs more than 1,700 staff to operate projects in 20 countries. The organization is largely dependent on donations from the Australian public to fund its operations. Public support helps CARE Australia respond to the most urgent needs in the countries it serves.
However, donations that matter to NGOs do not always come in monetary form. Take for instance the donation of Microsoft software made to CARE Australia via Connecting Up, a partner of the TechSoup Global Network. The donation of Microsoft's Office Communications Server External Connector License and SharePoint Server lets staff log in to all of their Office applications via Internet access and enables collaboration between staff, allowing them to view, comment, and provide input on documents from any location. The donations meant a saving of upwards of 60,000 precious dollars, which can go a long way towards helping CARE Australia's cause.