We all know that data is valuable, but now it is being used to help save lives, and apply data for good causes, as Tableau Software, announces a total commitment to grant $100 million in software, training, and financial support through Tableau Foundation between now and the year 2025.
Non-government organisations (NGOs) including PATH, Splash and Community Solutions are benefiting from the Tableau Software donation. These organisations are applying data for good causes to tackle big issues such as combating diseases globally, bringing clean water to kids living in developing countries, and reducing veteran homelessness across the United States.
“This grant will enable the power of analytics and this community to go further, use data to help solve some of our most complex problems, and make a meaningful difference in the lives of people in need,” said Adam Selipsky, Tableau CEO.
The commitment includes an equity donation of $25 million by Tableau early next year to fund the Foundation’s work. Since its launch in 2014, Tableau Foundation has contributed over $30 million in software, services and cash to support 5,770 organizations working in 86 countries.
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An example of the way data for good causes is used to make a difference in this way is the creation of Visualize No Malaria, a partnership between Tableau Foundation and PATH to support Zambia’s Ministry of Health to use analytics to help eliminate malaria across the African nation. Visualize No Malaria has helped drive a 90% reduction in malaria-related deaths in Zambia’s Southern Province since 2014. The program’s success led the Zambian government to announce that it will scale the initiative nationwide. And last year, a similar program was deployed in Senegal, which is already showing a 60% reduction in reported malaria cases.
Tableau Foundation is a philanthropic initiative led by the employees of Tableau Software to encourage the use of facts and analytical reasoning to solve the world’s problems. Its grants combine Tableau’s people and its products – with financial support to innovative non-profits that help improve lives around the world. It was originally established through a pre-IPO stock contribution by Tableau and its founders. When the company went public in 2013, that gift funded an initial $20 million endowment.
Led by its founding Director, Neal Myrick, the Foundation invests in partnerships to develop innovative ideas that use data to drive change. Steve Davis, President and CEO of PATH said: “The opportunity to bring 21st century data tools and digital technologies to bear against the world’s greatest health challenges has never been better, or more needed. Our partnership with Tableau and Tableau Foundation is putting cutting edge tools in the hands of healthcare professionals and policymakers alike to ensure that no matter where a child is born, they have an equal chance to grow up healthy and to thrive.”
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I’m continually amazed by the creativity and ambition of people with big ideas about how data can help do good in the lives of others,” said Neal Myrick, Global Head of Tableau Foundation, “This contribution to that work gives us an opportunity to take many of those ideas, help them scale them for greater impact, and reach more people in more countries than we ever thought possible.
