As part of its disaster response program, the newly announced Autodesk Foundation has extended help to survivors of Supertyphoon Yolanda.
Through the foundation?s program, Autodesk and its employees conducted various fundraisers and donated to charities and relief organizations including Doctors Without Borders, American Red Cross, and Architecture for Humanity.
Autodesk further supported its disaster response efforts by matching employee donations with corporate funds. ?Yolanda? affected around 16 million Filipinos, according to the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
?We believe that design offers humanity our greatest hope for addressing some of the most urgent, interconnected and non-negotiable challenges of our time,? said president and CEO of the Autodesk Foundation and Autodesk senior director of sustainability Lynelle Cameron.
?We want to support and accelerate the design-led revolution currently underway, by investing in design-driven entities that are pursuing scalable solutions with measureable impact.?
Aside from the foundation?s Disaster Response Program, Autodesk Foundation also invests on selected non-profits that are working toward solving epic challenges such as access to healthcare and education, clean energy and water, and efficient transportation among others via its Impact Design Program.
The foundation also supports Employee Impact Program, which provides a platform to Autodesk employees worldwide to create a better world in their community, at work, and at home while Technology Impact Program offers Autodesk?s design tools to qualifying non-profits for a minimal license fee.
Among the first grantees of the Autodesk Foundation, through its Impact Design Program, are KickStart International, which helped African farmers start profitable businesses via simple irrigation tools; Mass Design Group, which designed maternal waiting homes within close proximity to health centers for expectant mothers; and D-Rev, which designed and developed the next-generation ReMotion Knee ? an inexpensive and easy-to-fit prosthetic used by over 5,000 amputees across India.
