During its annual member summit in Nairobi this week, NetHope announced that Adobe Systems Incorporated will donate Adobe enterprise software designed to boost productivity and facilitate collaboration, benefiting leading international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) working on humanitarian and conservation initiatives across the developing world.

Included in the software donation are 25,000 licenses of Adobe® Acrobat® 9 software and 40 accounts with the company's Web conferencing software, Adobe Acrobat Connect™ Pro. The software will be available to NetHope's 29 member NGO agencies, which work in more than 180 countries and represent more than $33 billion in program spending.

"This type of donation is so important to our members. Both in the new capability it provides as well as the moneys saved which can go directly to the bottom line of their humanitarian efforts," says Bill Brindley, CEO of NetHope. "Our members employ people and run programs that span the most remote parts of the world and that run the gambit in terms of technical modernization. This donation will empower staff based in the developing world to move from paper-based processes to electronic ones, which will be immensely helpful in finding new and efficient ways to work and optimize limited resources."

Partnering with NetHope and Adobe is CDW, which will build and host a customized portal through which NetHope members can track how they are using the Adobe software. Premier Global is also on board to provide NetHope members using Acrobat Connect Pro with an audio component to support Web conferencing needs, available to them at deeply discounted NGO pricing.

"We can now consolidate the huge volume of material we exchange with outside sources in multiple file formats and share it in a secure manner using PDF," says Carol Bothwell, chief learning officer of Catholic Relief Services, a NetHope member agency. "The efficiencies we'll realize with Acrobat will be extended by Acrobat Connect Pro, which allows us to collaborate in real time and solve problems with colleagues around the world."

In addition to the software donation from Adobe, NetHope will receive a $50,000 grant from the Adobe Foundation, a 501(c)(3) private foundation created and funded by Adobe, supporting NetHope's Innovation for Development initiatives. Through this program, NetHope and its members design technology solutions that can be replicated across the NGOs for programs they run in the fields of agriculture, healthcare, education, natural resource management and micro-finance.

"Adobe and the Adobe Foundation are privileged to work with an organization like NetHope that harnesses the power of technology to help solve problems facing the NGO community in their humanitarian and conservation work," says Michelle Mann, executive director of the Adobe Foundation. "We believe that when Adobe employees, customers, and partners all work together, we can solve critical social and environmental issues that affect how everyone lives and prospers."

About NetHope
NetHope is a collaboration of ICT leaders from 29 leading international NGOs that work to solve humanitarian and conservation issues in the developing world. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., NetHope’s member agencies work in more than 180 countries. To learn more, visit http://nethope.org/.

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Adobe is changing the world through digital experiences. We develop innovative products that enable our customers around the world to foster creativity and collaboration, gain efficiencies, conserve resources and promote learning. See how Adobe solutions are driving positive impacts. For more information, visit www.adobe.com.