January 7, 2025
January 7, 2025
Image Credit: Ginkgo Bioworks
Companies across industries are stepping up to support their communities, whether it’s retailers and manufacturing businesses producing masks for healthcare workers or tech giants like Google contributing research to public health officials. We’ve been inspired by these stories and the efforts we’ve seen up close; in the past few weeks, many of the companies we work with have offered their unique skill sets, software and resources to help those who need it most. Below, we’ve rounded up the resources they’re offering and ways to get involved.
Science and Healthcare
Biotech organism company Ginkgo Bioworks is donating $25M of resources in its $400 million research and development facility to support teams working to cure, prevent and treat COVID-19. (More in Forbes.)
Identity verification platform Merit is offering free access to its platform so that states and medical professionals can quickly verify medical licenses. This supports faster deployment of medical professionals while also providing them with the ability to work across state lines, wherever they’re needed most. (More in TechRepublic.)
Synthetic biology company Seed is putting its expertise to work on social media to help educate the public on COVID-19. Committed to scientific literacy, Seed is using Instagram posts and stories to communicate what’s happening in a factual, graphically compelling way.
Food and Housing
Expense management platform and corporate card provider Expensify has redirected all funds going towards their charity, Expensify.org, to support vulnerable families and fight against hunger during COVID-19. They are matching Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) grocery purchases up to $50 per family, and have reimbursed over 1,000 families since the initiative began. Information on how to donate to support this cause can be found here.
Corporate housing provider Zeus Living is offering several different discounts on housing solutions in response to the health crisis. Recognizing that millions of people across the U.S. are working from home indefinitely, Work from a Zeus allows people to rent apartments or homes for work, providing an alternative environment and serving as their temporary office. Zeus is also offering discounts on rent in select areas for displaced college students and traveling healthcare workers affected by housing shortages and COVID-19.
Business Software and Services
Payments company Finix partnered with online small business lender Kabbage to launch a service to support businesses facing reduced revenue during this time. The platform, for which Finix has waived all fees, allows any business to sign up and sell gift certificates to consumers for future use at their retail locations. (More in CNBC.)
Cybersecurity and cloud provider Ping Identity is offering free usage of Ping products to support organizations as they transition to remote workforces. For organizations new to Ping, they are offering cloud-based single-sign-on and multi-factor authentication. For existing PingFederate workforce customers, they are offering free multi-factor authentication. These products can be deployed rapidly across unlimited users and applications, keeping enterprises’ remote employee bases secure and productive.
Developer interview platform HackerRank is offering unlimited free use of its CodePair remote interviewing tool to both new and existing customers, giving businesses the ability to continue hiring while practicing social distancing. Over 100 companies from 21 different industries have taken advantage, as remote interviews have increased more than 50% since December.
Educational Resources
Cybersecurity provider ReliaQuest is offering a series of use cases and threat intelligence covering emerging threats and how to protect against them to support the shift to secure remote work. They will be providing descriptions of recommended use cases for threat detection, relevant indicators of compromise to watch out for, and sample use case queries to easily implement in enterprise environments.
Facilities management platform ServiceChannel hosted a series of webinars for facilities managers about adapting to operational changes as a result of COVID-19, including insights on managing operations, communicating with providers, and site planning.
Geospatial analytics company Orbital Insight is using its technology to shed light on the impact of COVID-19 around the world, through a series of blogs and other resources. Their satellite technology is analyzing data on foot traffic, device pings, trading ports, and more to offer insights on everything from how epidemiologists can figure out where people are to how prepared the world is for remote work.
DevOps automation company Sonatype shared unique guidance and tips on how companies can succeed with remote-first collaboration both as a team, and as a product.
Tech education nonprofit Technovation compiled resources and dos and don’ts for parents and families that are facilitating learning at home, including tips on goal setting and planning, learning with purpose, and more.
