Microsoft, in partnership with International Youth Foundation (IYF), launched a scheme in late 2008 to give computer software to charities involved in youth development and empowerment work around the world. IYF has been supporting the Foundation of Goodness' work since 2007 and is instrumental in maintaining and sustaining the Women's Enterprise and Business Skills programmes and the Seenigama Diving & Training Centre. These sectors currently benefit women and youth from 25 villages in the Seenigama region, empowering local people to develop livelihoods, generate income through traditional handicrafts and develop new skills such as professional diving, photography, dress making, beauty care, electrical wiring, catering and mushroom cultivation. 

IYF  invited the Foundation of Goodness to apply for the Microsoft award and the proposal was put together by Jillian Lowes, a UK volunteer who dedicated three months of her time for the betterment of the organisation. She explains that 
The facilities within the Foundation are free of charge and are open to all regardless of age, gender, ability, religion or status, breaking down the divide and creating a sustainable community by empowering and inspiring the disadvantaged to embark on new endeavours to help themselves prosper. 

Educational programs such as English and Information Technology are enthusiastically undertaken by both children and adults alike, who spend their free time participating in the classes provided by the Foundation taught by qualified staff.
Computer hardware and software technology play a large role in the development of both the Foundation and the people who use the facilities on offer. Software will help the Foundation to collate the vast amount of information that is available from the Management Sectors of which there are thirty (30).
 It will also enable the Foundation to improve the quality of classes and courses available within the Computing Training Centres of the Foundation, which currently cater to 300 people a month. The message that the Foundation wants to impart to the people that utilise the facilities on offer is that 'you can achieve your goals'. 

Thanks to Jillian's efforts Microsoft have recently awarded over $150,000 worth of software to the Foundation of Goodness, amounting, in cash equivalent terms, to one of the largest single donations ever received by the Foundation. 

Kushil Gunasekera, Founder and Trustee of the Foundation of Goodness explained that “this is an amazing donation for us, and a sign of the trust and value placed in our work by high profile corporations such as Microsoft. This software will help to improve our standards so that we can provide the best IT facilities and instruction to the young people of rural Sri Lanka and will also help our management systems to go from strength to strength in our efforts towards continuous improvement in efficiency and effectiveness. With help such as this we can continue in our work to empower rural communities to excel”. 
“I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done.” Marie Curie 
 

Quen Geuter, Development Management 

2009.04.20