Community Investment

Sun Foundation Ambassadors

Last year, a call went out to all Sun people managers worldwide, inviting them to nominate employees for Sun Microsystems Foundation Board seats that were becoming available. The candidate pool was so distinguished that the Board created a permanent connection to these employees. This college of nominees defined the inaugural class of the Sun Foundation Ambassadors.

Today, there are more than 50 Sun Foundation Ambassadors around the world. Their countries of residence include Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Spain, U.K., and U.S.A.

Ambassador-Driven Initiatives

The Sun Foundation Ambassadors are the switching fabric for employee-driven digital divide initiatives. Using an open, transparent process that is anchored around a wiki internal to Sun, all of the company's employees are invited to submit ideas for programs which eliminate the digital divide in the communities where they live and work. The assessment criteria includes:

• The proposals must be anchored around mobilizing our systems and people
• They must fuel participation on the network
• They must be relevant globally
• They must be repeatable

Proposals proceed through a review process with the Sun Foundation Ambassadors, who select the winning proposals which will get resources for execution.

Eliminating the Digital Divide

Our cause — to eliminate the digital divide — is a thread that has been woven throughout the body of the work of the Sun Foundation since its inception. One example is Net Days, one of the most innovative volunteer programs in the technology industry. Founded in 1995 by Sun's Chief Scientist John Gage, Net Days brought network infrastructure — and what was then called the Information Super Highway — to schools.

Indeed, bringing the power of the network to education has always been an emphasis at Sun. Previous programs include the Open Gateways Program, the NFL Youth Education Town (YET) initiative, the Sun Training and Employment Program for Solaris and the Java Teaching Innovations Portal. In addition, the Sun Foundation has developed tools to eliminate barriers to accessing the network, as well as productivity applications including the Internet and the StarOffice 8 Office Suite Tutorials and Guides.

UN Global Youth Leadership Program

Taking on the digital divide is not only about technology transfer; it is also about knowledge transfer. In October 2006, hundreds of Sun's employees from 14 countries stepped forward to volunteer for a year-long mentoring program that paired some of our best and brightest employees with delegates to the UN Global Youth Leadership Summit.

The Summit invites one young man and one young woman from each nation in the world to come together to address the Millennium Development Goals. The program allows Sun employees to extend a hand of partnership across geographies and generations to reach out to these young people as they grapple with some of the world's most challenging issues. The aim is to share private sector disciplines in ways that help fuel momentum, maximize impact, and achieve ongoing, measurable results. The engagement model for this interaction is the network. Mentors and delegates use an online tool to collaborate and make progress on established learning goals as this program runs its course.