The company-wide culture of giving is often cited by employees as one of the reasons they're attracted to and stay at Microsoft. Lisa Brummell, Microsoft's Chief People Officer, shares: "Our employees tell us that they join Microsoft to make a difference in the lives of others, knowing that we will actively support them in doing so."

This past October, Microsoft also announced $25,000 grants to each of the four nonprofits that have received the most employee donations over the past 30 years: American Red Cross, Seattle Children's Hospital, United Way of King County, and World Vision. You can hear directly from these organizations on the Corporate Citizenship blog, and I'd be happy to put you in touch with spokespeople from those nonprofits to discuss the impact of these grants and Microsoft's tradition of giving.

Fast Facts - Microsoft 2012 Employee Giving Program:

· Microsoft employees raised more than $100 million for nonprofits two years in a row - $105 million in 2012 and $100.5 million in 2011. Donations went to nearly 19,000 unique nonprofit organizations.

· Nearly two-thirds of Microsoft employees in the U.S. participated in the 2012 Employee Giving Program (approx. 37,000 employees), and 40 percent of participants donated more than 60 hours of their time or $1,000.

· More than 2,700 employees, friends, and family participated in Microsoft's traditional 5K Run/Walk and raised more than $300,000 in this event alone.

· Organizations that received the most cash donations in 2012 included: United Way of King County, World Vision, Northwest Harvest, Hopelink, Doctors Without Borders, and Seattle Children's Hospital Foundation.

· Microsoft alumni have created more than 150 nonprofits since leaving the company, including the microgiving sites See Your Impact and Jolkona.