Confluent Announces Offer for Nonprofits Providing COVID-19 Relief

In March, I wrote about Confluent’s commitment to our customers, employees, and community during the COVID-19 pandemic. In some respects, it’s hard to believe that only a few months have passed since that post. It seems much longer because so much has changed as we’ve learned—as individuals, as a company, and as a community—how to best cope with and overcome the challenges that COVID-19 has set in front of us. While much has changed, one thing that has not is our commitment to our customers, our teams, and the communities that we belong to.

Non-profit organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) play a major role in easing the hardships stemming from COVID-19. As Wharton management professor Aline Gatignon notes, “Solving this pandemic will require partnering with nonprofit organizations to make sure all of our communities around the world are getting the support they need.”

However, many of these organizations currently lack the technical infrastructure and know-how needed to address today’s demands. In a post titled COVID-19 as the Catalyst for NGOs’ Digital Transformation, Rakesh Bharania writes, “To enable humanitarian and development nonprofits to meet the urgent needs of the moment, digital transformation must be seen as a cornerstone of all operations, now, and into the future.”

In dealing with COVID-19, there are plenty of opportunities for cloud-based event streaming to make a positive impact. Potential use cases include real-time inventory management for essential medical equipment or personal protective equipment (PPE), real-time tracking of relief packages or other resources, and real-time reporting on COVID-19 testing or hospital availability, just to name a few.

As a company at the forefront of event streaming powered digital transformations, Confluent is uniquely positioned to help. That’s why I am proud to announce that Confluent is offering 12 months of Confluent Cloud products, training, and services (up to $10,000 in value) to approved nonprofits and NGOs working on COVID-19 relief.

Now more than ever, we are continually reminded that timing is critical. The faster that we can develop a vaccine, find more effective treatments, get accurate data to epidemiologists, and provide support to those directly affected, the better off we’ll be. We are extending this offer to support organizations that are actively engaged in COVID-19 relief and would benefit from delivering new products and applications faster and more cost effectively with a fully managed event streaming platform powered by Apache Kafka^®.

• Eligible organizations. The offer is open to any NGO or nonprofit classified as a public charity under tax code 501(c)(3) in the U.S. The organization must be working on response, relief, or containment efforts for COVID-19 or supporting individuals directly affected by the virus. (Please refer to the detailed eligibility here).
• Additional information. For more details on this program, see answers to frequently asked questions or the offer’s terms and conditions.
• Signing up. To apply for this program, fill out the Confluent Cloud COVID-19 relief program application form.
• Spreading the word. If you don’t work in an eligible organization but know someone who does, please tell them about this program and help us support as many organizations as possible.

An update on our efforts

We remain committed to doing our part to reduce the spread and impact of COVID-19. Here’s how we’ve been supporting our workforce, community, and customers:

• Supporting our workforce. While we have always had a globally distributed workforce, we continue to introduce programs and resources to support our team’s transition to this fully distributed state and minimize health risks to our employees, their families, and their communities. As part of this, all of our employees have been given the option to work from home through the end of the year, and we are prepared to extend this policy into 2021 as needed.
• Supporting our community. We set a goal of tangibly improving COVID-19 relief efforts within the communities in which we work and live. To this end, we’ve promoted a range of volunteer and philanthropic opportunities, encouraged our teams to participate in volunteer activities during work hours, and donated thousands of dollars to food banks around the world. The safety and well-being of the broader Kafka community is also among our top priorities. With this in mind, and recognizing the importance of Kafka Summit to the community, we transformed this summer’s Kafka Summit from an in-person to a virtual event that everyone can attend risk free.
• Supporting our customers. In my previous blog post, I referenced Earn our Customer’s Love as one of Confluent’s core values. Our dedication to this value has only been strengthened and reinforced as we navigate the current crisis together with our customers. Our customers are not only the lifeblood of our business but they are also a constant source of inspiration for us, with every challenge they solve and every innovation they bring to market. All of the decisions we made when the pandemic started and all of the decisions we will make going forward will be guided by our goal of exceeding our customers’ expectations in every area.

In closing, I want to thank you and everyone in our community for the work you are doing, and urge you to share the Confluent Cloud COVID-19 relief program offer with any of your friends or colleagues that would benefit from it.