Atlassian raises $1 million for not-for-profit

Australian software development company, Atlassian, has raised $1 million in donations to assist global not-for-profit organisation, Room to Read.

Room to Read, founded by former Microsoft executive, John Wood, plans to use the funds which Atlassian raised through the sale of $10 software licenses, to establish libraries and schools in developing nations. It will also publish local language literature and fund holistic educational opportunities for girls who are at high risk of dropping out of school.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled to reach this milestone with Room to Read, an organisation that represents so fully the fundamental philosophy of giving back to others,” said Atlassian chief executive, Mike Cannon-Brookes, in a statement.

By the end of 2010, the donations had helped to establish 99 libraries, build four schools, publish two local language titles with 10,000 copies of each and support the holistic education of 430 girls.

“Atlassian’s starter license program is an innovative business mashup between philanthropy and product strategy,” Wood said. “With a little creativity and elbow grease, it’s something more companies of all shapes and sizes can easily replicate.”

To date, Room to Read has built 1442 schools and established 10,759 bilingual libraries. It has also published 521 original local language children’s books in 23 languages.

As reported by Computerworld Australia, Atlassian recently announced its $10 million investment in the creation of ICT jobs in Sydney throughout 2010-11.

In October, the software company made its first buy since taking $60 million in venture capital investment in July 2010, picking up Bitbucket.org, a free code hosting site with some 60,000 users.

Follow Chloe Herrick on Twitter: @chloe_CW

Follow Computerworld Australia on Twitter: @ComputerworldAU

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