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Salesforce.com Ranks Among Top Bay Area Corporate Philanthropists

Chairman, CEO and Founder of salesforce.com and salesforce.com/foundation calls for the End of Philanthropy

July 23, 2002

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - July 23, 2002 - Salesforce.com, the market leader in online customer relationship management (CRM), today announced that for the year 2001, salesforce.com/ foundation contributions to Bay Area-based non-profit organizations ranked 35th out of 40 companies recognized by the San Francisco Business Times. The list was published in the edition released Friday, July 19, 2002. Salesforce.com/foundation was also honored by the San Francisco Business Times at the Corporate Philanthropy Summit held in San Francisco on Wednesday, July 17, 2002. At the event, Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of salesforce.com and salesforce.com/foundation, spoke to fellow corporate philanthropists about the recognition.

"I have to say I am embarrassed to be among the top local corporate philanthropists because I am not the 35th largest company in the Bay Area," said Benioff. "I believe that corporate giving should be in line with corporate achievement."

Benioff added, "There are thousands of companies operating in the Bay Area that have been around a lot longer and have had the opportunity to achieve a lot more than salesforce.com. It is time to call for the end of philanthropy. Corporate leaders must answer to the communities in which they operate and our vision of integrating business and philanthropy can make a major difference in the endeavor."

"Marc Benioff and the salesforce.com/foundation are to be commended for their contributions to the community," remarked Mary Huss, publisher of the San Francisco Business Times. "Their contributions raise the bar for corporate donations in San Francisco and encourage others to step up and give back to the community. This community leadership sets a great example for other companies to follow."

The San Francisco Business Times, a Bay Area publication that reports on local business news, also publishes the Book of Lists, honoring the Bay Area's hottest companies and their decision makers. In searching for the 40 largest local corporate philanthropists, the publication appealed to companies operating in the Bay Area. Corporations applied for recognition based on qualified donations made in the 2001 fiscal year which were supported by IRS Tax Return documents and details of the Bay Area-based beneficiaries of donations.

The salesforce.com/foundation was second in donations by a software company, ranking behind Microsoft Corporation, which is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.

Salesforce.com/foundation donates nationally and internationally as it focuses on globalizing its vision to integrate business and philanthropy. Additionally, salesforce.com employees have given over 2500 hours of service back to the community in the two years since the Foundation launched its programs.

About salesforce.com

Salesforce.com builds and delivers enterprise applications as scalable online services. The salesforce.com product suite -- Professional Edition, Enterprise Edition, and Offline Edition -- gives companies a complete 360-degree view of the customer. The company's award-winning CRM solutions provide integrated online sales force automation, customer service and support management, and marketing automation applications to help companies meet the complex challenges of global customer communication. Salesforce.com has received considerable recognition in the industry, including two Five-Star ratings from PC Magazine, two Deploy Awards from InfoWorld, Red Herring 100, Upside Hot 100, Investor's Choice Award from Enterprise Outlook, Editor's Choice from TMCLabs, Top 10 CRM Implementation from Aberdeen Group, and InfoWorld's 2001 CRM Technology of the Year. Founded in 1999, salesforce.com is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in Europe and Asia. Salesforce.com customers include Autodesk, Dow Jones Newswires, Ericson Microelectronics, Fujitsu, Kikkoman, le Meridien, Paymentech, Putnam Lovell NBF, Siemens PT&D, Textron Fastening Systems, USA Today and Wachovia.

About salesforce.com/foundation

Salesforce.com/foundation is integrating philanthropy and business to better the lives of youth by building a new model for corporate community service while providing relevant access to technology for youth in underserved communities both domestically and abroad. The Foundation works with other foundations, youth development agencies, and NGOs to create a society in which children, regardless of socio-economic background, ethnicity or learning level, have access to technology and understand how to use it to enhance their lives. Since July 2000, the Foundation has opened 17 Community Technology Centers in the San Francisco Bay Area, which serve thousands of youth and adults each year. At each Center, the Foundation, through its grants and ongoing hands-on support, builds on the Center's continued successes and strives to provide staff funding, program development, technical support, teacher training, curriculum development, best practices models through collaboration among the Centers, and strategy and sustainability planning. More information is available at <http://www.salesforcefoundation.org/>.

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