Corporate Philanthropy and Advocacy

National Instruments collaborates with numerous nonprofit organizations through volunteer initiatives and monetary donations to ensure thriving communities. The majority of spending is focused on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education initiatives. The remaining portion of NI corporate philanthropy is directed toward broader initiatives such as meeting the basic needs of the less fortunate, improving the environment, and supporting the arts.

NI corporate headquarters has an employee-based funding advisory council that helps maintain transparency in all philanthropic efforts and works to ensure that at least 1 percent of NI pretax profits are donated to the most worthy causes. In 2010, NI donated 2 percent of pretax profits. Refer to the NI corporate giving guidelines for information about the grant request process. The following sections detail the collaborative efforts NI corporate headquarters participated in during 2010.

Education

Austin Pre-freshman Engineering Program: The Austin Pre-freshman Engineering Program (AusPrEP) at Huston-Tillotson University helps prepare high-achieving middle and high school students for college engineering and science studies. The AusPrEP program has provided more than 600 minority and underserved students with an eight-week summer camp focused on enhancing math, computer science, logic, and problem-solving skills. With in-kind donations from NI, AusPrEP integrated robotics into their summer curriculum.

Breakthrough Austin: Breakthrough Austin provides a path to college for low-income students who will be first-generation college graduates. With the help of NI donations, the program admits students as sixth graders and makes a six-year commitment to help them graduate from high school and enter college.

Girlstart: Girlstart provides hands-on learning to empower young girls in STEM education. The organization's unique programs include nationally recognized Saturday workshops, summer camps, and after-school programs to engage girls in STEM activities and to introduce them to female role models, including NI engineers. In 2010, NI Vice President of Global Information Technology Arleene Porterfield joined the Girlstart Board of Directors.

Basic Needs

Capital Area Food Bank: The Capital Area Food Bank provides food and groceries to hungry children and adults in Central Texas. The NI collaboration with the food bank includes regular volunteer opportunities during which employees sort and process thousands of pounds of food each visit. In 2010, NI employees volunteered nearly 300 hours at the food bank.

Shoes for Austin: NI has contributed to Shoes for Austin for many years to support its mission of motivating children to achieve physical fitness goals by providing an incentive of new athletic shoes. In 2010, NI employees at corporate headquarters bought 64 pairs of shoes as holiday gifts for underprivileged students.

United Way Capital Area: The company's 15-year relationship with the United Way Capital Area has been a consistent collaboration that supports the nonprofit organization’s strong emphasis on education, health, and financial stability. The United Way is the top nonprofit to which NI employees donate, both by number of employees and amount donated.

Arts and the Environment

Austin Children's Museum: Austin Children's Museum cultivates a community of children that embraces learning, knowledge, and questions. NI and the museum collaborate by engaging employees in volunteer opportunities, company-wide visits, and special museum exhibits that feature NI products and teach engineering concepts to a young audience. In 2010, NI Vice President of Sales and Marketing for the Americas John Graff served as the immediate past president and secretary.

Keep Austin Beautiful: Keep Austin Beautiful (KAB) inspires and educates the community on greater environmental stewardship. The organization's goal is to clean and beautify the Central Texas environment through physical improvements and hands-on education. In 2010, NI continued its KAB Adopt-a-Street responsibility with its adoption of a road portion near an Austin elementary school. Additionally, two NI employees served on the KAB board in 2010.

Texas Performing Arts: The NI collaboration with the Texas Performing Arts (TPA) Center strengthens the company's relationship with The University of Texas at Austin and supports the arts. By sponsoring the TPA Pop Ed 101 educational outreach program, NI helps support the education of underprivileged students about the value of music.

Additional Philanthropic Efforts

Sometimes the greatest need for corporate philanthropy comes from unforeseen events. When a catastrophic earthquake hit Haiti in January 2010, NI and its employees organized fundraising initiatives to support relief efforts. NI corporate headquarters made a significant donation to the Red Cross and, along with select branch offices, matched employee donations of more than $20,000 USD to help support the basic needs of Haitians in crisis.

In addition, not all corporate philanthropy is driven by NI headquarters. Often times, NI branch offices will donate money and resources to worthy causes in their regions. Last year, for example, NI Singapore donated more than $7,000 USD to a nonprofit organization that trains youth in science and technology skills; NI Hungary provided funding for three students to pursue degrees in engineering; and NI Vietnam donated $10,000 USD to the Sunflower Mission, a nonprofit organization that delivers education assistance programs. NI Germany opened a training center in their Munich office specifically for training K-12 teachers on STEM subjects while NI Malaysia contributed $1,600 USD to sponsor a robotics team. Other branches, such as NI Hungary, NI Malaysia, NI Mexico, and NI United Kingdom and Ireland, donated NI products and other technology including LEGO^® MINDSTORMS^® NXT robotics kits to nonprofit organizations.

Corporate Philanthropy Efforts Around the World

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