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General Colin L. Powell, USA (Ret) of America's Promise and Marc Benioff, Chairman, salesforce.com/foundation, Make Announcement at Embarcadero YMCA

July 13, 2000

San Francisco, July 13, 2000 — Salesforce.com/foundation and PowerUP, the leading national initiative dedicated to helping underserved young people succeed in the digital age, announced today a partnership to provide San Francisco youth with access to technology and other resources for positive youth development. Retired Army General Colin L. Powell, a member of PowerUP’s board of directors and chairman of America’s Promise — The Alliance for Youth, joined in the announcement today at the Embarcadero YMCA, along with salesforce.com chairman, Marc Benioff, and a number of additional national and community leaders. The PowerUP center at the Embarcadero YMCA is the first of 10 planned salesforce.com/foundation sponsored sites to be created in San Francisco this year with an initial start-up fund of approximately $2.5 million.

PowerUP is a not-for-profit organization established as a result of America's Promise, a national crusade led by General Colin L. Powell that is dedicated to mobilizing people from every sector of American life to build the character and competence of our nation’s youth by fulfilling Five Promises: caring adults; safe places; healthy start; marketable skills; and opportunities to serve.

“PowerUP is committed to supporting the Five Promises that America’s Promise believes are necessary to help children attain a bright future,” said General Powell. “Together, PowerUP and the salesforce.com/foundation understand the importance of ensuring young people have access to the essential resources needed to become successful adults — especially the need for positive youth development through technology.”

Salesforce.com/foundation’s initial $2.5 million will go towards funding trained, full-time staff who will provide a sustained presence at PowerUP centers — helping young people build digital skills. The funds will also cover connectivity, security and renovation costs at 10 selected locations throughout the city, including Beacon Centers, community centers, and schools.

“We created salesforce.com/foundation to make sure that social responsibility was an integral part of our corporate culture and company DNA from Day One,” said Marc Benioff, chairman of salesforce.com, and chairman and founder of its foundation. “I challenge other Internet companies to follow suit and set aside a portion of their company stock toward community initiatives. Those who aren’t ready to start their own foundation are welcome to leverage our resources and infrastructure and join forces with our foundation by donating stock and volunteering time. Together we can ensure that no child is left behind.”

Salesforce.com/foundation joins a number of additional PowerUP partners dedicated to building a sustainable program that reaches thousands of young people in hundreds of cities nationwide. This program, PowerUP’s “Power Pack,” delivers: Gateway computers; trained adult staff; access to the Internet via AOL; innovative, life enriching programming via PowerUP Online; healthy snacks from PowerBar; links with schools and educators; and community grants.

“For 150 years YMCAs have responded to the needs of communities and families. Together, PowerUP, salesforce.com/foundation and the YMCA will give kids the leadership and technology skills necessary for their success as we enter this new millennium," said Kenneth L. Gladish, Ph.D, national executive director, YMCA of the USA. "This technology initiative is an innovative way for YMCAs to serve the kids and teens of the Bay Area, whether in a school or community center. Not only are the kids in this program gaining technology skills essential in today's world, they're also making a positive difference in their community. PowerUP is another tool for YMCAs to teach the values of caring, honesty, respect, and responsibility."

“We commend salesforce.com/foundation for recognizing an urgent need in its community and stepping forward here at the YMCA as a market leader and trailblazer,” said Rae Grad, CEO of PowerUP. “PowerUP is bringing the ‘Power Pack’ to 250 locations before the end of the year, and salesforce.com/foundation’s support for the program in San Francisco will help us meet that goal, as well as draw other interested partners into this important local initiative. We hope that companies in this market and nationwide will follow salesforce.com’s lead and join our foundation’s crusade to prepare our youth for the digital age.”

About salesforce.com/foundation

Founded in May 2000, the salesforce.com/foundation is the philanthropic arm of salesforce.com (http://www.salesforce.com), a leading provider of enterprise – class software over the Internet as a service. The founders of the salesforce.com/foundation created this non-profit venture because they believe that philanthropy and community service are important cultural values that should be established in a company from its very inception. The foundation is dedicated to developing partnerships with organizations that address its concerns for providing open, relevant access to technology for underserved youth. For more information about the company, visit http://www.salesforce.com or call 1-800-No-Software.

About PowerUP

PowerUP’s mission is to create public and private partnerships to prepare underserved youth to succeed in the digital age. PowerUP partners provide technology, funding, trained personnel, innovative interactive programming, in-kind support and other resources to help close the divide between young people who have access to computer-based information or technology-related skills and those who do not. PowerUP's partners include: America’s Promise; the Case Foundation; the Waitt Family Foundation; AOL Inc./The AOL Foundation; the Corporation for National Service/AmeriCorps*VISTA;
YMCA of the USA; Boys & Girls Clubs of America; Communities in Schools; National Urban League; PowerBar, Inc.; Save the Children; Sun Microsystems; and the U.S. Department of Education. PowerUP will open 250 fully-equipped, staffed centers by the end of 2000. For more information, visit www.powerup.org.