$50 million commitment from Todd McKinnon and Okta for social impact and sustainability initiative
In service of Okta for Good’s vision of building a safely connected world where everyone can belong and thrive, they are announcing a new $50 million commitment over the next five years out of the Okta for Good Fund to address the world’s most pressing challenges.
These funds will be split across three key areas:
$20-million Tech for Good: Accelerating digital transformation and cybersecurity for the social sector and strengthening the cybersecurity posture of civil society organizations.
Cyber insecurity remains one of the top 10 global risks over the next 10 years and has implications for every organization across every sector while having a significant impact on society’s most vulnerable communities. Nonprofits are the second-most-attacked sector, behind only governments, when it comes to cyberthreats, with 65% of large NGOs lacking confidence in their own security posture due to insufficient resources to protect themselves and those they serve.
Okta is a founding partner of Nethope’s Center for the Digital Nonprofit and Nethope’s Global Humanitarian Information Sharing & Analysis Center (ISAC) — a first-of-its-kind public-private partnership created to better protect nonprofits from rising cyberthreats. Okta’s continued support will help unlock more resources to protect these organizations while increasing their confidence in their security posture for the billions of vulnerable people they serve around the world.
$15-million Digital Equity: Closing the digital divide and expanding economic opportunity by making cyber and tech jobs more accessible to all.
There are simply not enough skilled workers to keep us all safe from cybersecurity threats. In fact, four million cyber jobs remain unfilled globally.
Since 2022, Okta has funded CodePath, a nonprofit organization focused on re-programming higher education by delivering industry-vetted courses and career support centered on the needs of Black, Latine, Indigenous, and low-income students.
$10-million Climate Action: Supporting security and resilience for communities most impacted by climate change.
Climate change impacts everyone, but particularly communities with limited means and resources.
Since 2022, Okta has supported The Solutions Project, a nonprofit that builds power by scaling solutions, funding, and influence for climate justice. They provide grants to support more than 300 grassroots solutions across the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Indigenous sovereign nations.
They will also allocate $5 million of the funds to support our employees as they invest in their local communities around the world.
Okta for Good has been a cornerstone of Okta’s culture and values since before Okta’s IPO and a driving force in the community, deploying nearly $24 million in grants, supporting hundreds of organizations, and touching 14 global communities in the first seven years of grantmaking from FY’18–FY’24.
This commitment is the next step in Okta’s journey and builds on years of Okta for Good’s efforts to turn the company’s people, products, and financial resources toward the community.
In our just-released FY24 Okta for Good Impact Report, they outline some of the progress they’ve made over the last year.
$7.3 million in cash contributed by the Okta for Good Fund, Okta, Inc., and Okta employees, representing a 22% year-over-year increase
$6.0 million in technology and services donated, representing a 25% year-over-year increase
88% employee participation in Okta for Good (giving and/or volunteering)
~4,000 nonprofits supported through giving and volunteering
Erin Baudo Felter is the Vice President of Social Impact and Sustainability at Okta and is responsible for leveraging Okta’s most important assets – its people, products and corporate resources – to create long-term value for people and the planet. Erin leads Okta for Good, the company’s corporate social impact initiative, as well as the cross-functional effort to build and scale the ESG function at Okta. Her leadership includes Okta’s climate strategy; nonprofit business; strategic philanthropy; employee and community engagement; and emerging human rights efforts.
Erin has worked at the intersection of business and social impact for over 15 years and has held various corporate social impact roles at Zynga, Yahoo and Warner Bros. She holds an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management and a BA from the University of Texas at Austin. She is personally passionate about equity, economic opportunity and empowering future leaders and serves on the advisory boards for GenesysWorks Bay Area and Connect Humanity. She lives in Berkeley with her husband and two kids.
Todd McKinnon is the CEO and co-founder of Okta, the leading independent Identity provider, which he co-founded in 2009 with Frederic Kerrest. Under Todd’s leadership, Okta has transformed the way millions of people access the digital world and put Identity at the forefront of security and business growth.
Todd’s experience as a leader and technology visionary spans more than 25 years, with deep roots in enterprise software and cloud transformation. Prior to Okta, he held leadership roles at Salesforce and PeopleSoft.
Todd earned his bachelor’s degree in management and information systems from Brigham Young University and his master’s in computer science from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He is a husband and father, an advocate for equality and inclusion, an exercise addict, and a mountain bike enthusiast.