Okta commits $10M funding to nonprofits, launches Nonprofit Technology Initiative

Okta will be giving $10 million in philanthropic funding for the upcoming three years to help nonprofit organizations introduce and leverage technology relating to digital identity to be more effective in their efforts, the company announced.

The philanthropic funding establishes Okta’s Nonprofit Technology Initiative, which has three directions. The initiative is meant to help nonprofits make the shift to the cloud faster, enable digital transformation and boost company and critical data security. The financial donation will be taken out of the Okta for Good Fund, which is operated in partnership with Tides Foundation. Support will be provided to help global communities, employees and education programs. The company also plans to provide technology and services to support the nonprofits in their missions, at an estimated value of an additional $10 million over the next three years.

“Nonprofits should be as powerful as their missions. As every company becomes a technology company, we need a paradigm shift in how we support, fund, and enable nonprofits to make that same transition,” said Erin Baudo Felter, vice president of Social Impact at Okta, in a prepared statement. “The global crisis we are in showcases how critical it is for global nonprofits to have a strong technology foundation to effectively and securely achieve their missions, adapt to new ways of working, and better reach their stakeholders. This commitment represents a recognition of the urgency of community needs and of the role Okta and our ecosystem can play in supporting nonprofits more directly.”

Okta for Good was started in 2017 and has been actively involved in bringing together nonprofits with technology and tech talent. The Nonprofit Technology Initiative includes grants, partnerships and commitments such as Nonprofit Technology Ecosystems, innovation, talent, collaboration, as well as research and advocacy.

“Okta has never been afraid to tackle the hard problems. For Okta as a company, that means solving the identity challenges of global organizations, enabling them to securely connect to the technologies that help them be successful,” said Okta Executive Vice Chairman, COO, and Co-founder Frederic Kerrest in the release. “The Nonprofit Technology Initiative furthers our focus on solving tough challenges, enabling us to help nonprofits leverage the power of technology to make a greater impact and improve the lives of others.”

This week at its Oktane20 Live, Okta launched passwordless technology to bring biometric security to enterprise access control, and announced partnerships with VMWare, Carbon Black, Crowdstrike and Tanium.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  cloud services  |  data protection  |  digital identity  |  funding  |  Okta