For decades, Micron has given back to the communities where our employees live and work. We’ve strengthened this relationship between employee, community and company in recent years by aligning all philanthropic efforts under Micron Gives.
Ultimately, our giving programs revolve around our corporate value of people. We provide support and tools to elevate how employees donate time and resources to their favorite causes. Micron Gives also inspires the next wave of innovators and educators by supporting and developing programs to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education, with a focus on underrepresented groups. We also invest in our communities, alongside our employees, by supporting charitable causes that address basic human needs.
We measure our influence in a number of ways. In 2019, we exceeded our employee volunteer goal of 150,000 hours. In 2020, we are shifting to a volunteerism participation goal of 50% to inspire even more employees to volunteer.
The Micron Foundation also matches employees’ donations to qualified charitable organizations, up to an annual maximum of $2,000 per employee per year and a companywide maximum of $2 million. These thresholds more than doubled in 2020 as we joined our global community in supporting health workers and those affected by COVID-19 in our various global locations. Micron Technology and the Micron Foundation also dedicated $35 million to help those disproportionately affected by COVID-19. This included the creation of a $10 million relief fund supported by the Micron Foundation, increased employee gift matching from $2,000 to $10,000 and a financial assistance fund for employees affected by the COVID-19 pandemic funded by Micron and its employees.