Tableau Announces Global Expansion of Free Software Program for Non-Profits

Tableau Software, working through the Tableau Foundation, is helping to accelerate change by making free licenses of its powerful visual analytics software to small non-profits, NGOs, and charitable community-based organizations in 192 countries. The company has also created the Tableau Service Corps, a volunteer network of Tableau employees who are eager to help nonprofits see and understand their data.

“We started the Tableau Foundation with a mission to encourage the use of facts and analytical reasoning to solve the world’s problems,” said Neal Myrick, Director, Corporate Social Responsibility at Tableau. “By removing the barriers to entry, small nonprofits can better manage programs, tell impactful stories, or increase the effectiveness of fundraising efforts through data.”

Data can have enormous value to these organizations, enabling them to increase transparency and accountability, expand their relationships with funders, discover new trends in their programs, and tell more powerful stories about their communities.

Gagandeep Kaur, Director of Impact at Akanksha Foundation said, "Tableau has enabled our Leadership team and staff, to have macro views and micro insights into the operations and programs across our 20 schools in Mumbai and Pune. We create customized dashboards and visualizations to monitor demographics, performance, budgets and other metrics. We believe that the Tableau for Nonprofits programs in India will continue empowering us to bring about positive impact to the lives of underprivileged children in India.”

The Tableau Service Corps is a volunteer network of Tableau employees who are eager to help nonprofits see and understand their data. Regardless of organization size, a nonprofit can request help on a data-focused project from one of the many volunteers listed on the Tableau Service Corps website. While separate initiatives, the two programs are launched simultaneously so that any nonprofit can use Tableau software and have access to experts who can help make the most of it.

The Global Journal estimates that there are approximately 10 million non-profits and NGOs globally, and a 2013 Johns Hopkins University study projects that 7.4 percent of the global workforce is involved in non-profit work. However, few organizations are harnessing the vast volumes of data that exist in and around their work.

This announcement also fulfills the commitment that Tableau made to the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data in October 2015. At the launch event, Tableau pledged to make its business intelligence software available to small organizations in all non-embargoed countries to promote inclusiveness and data driven development in pursuit of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

To qualify for the software donation, organizations must be recognized as a charitable institution in their home country and have an annual operating budget under USD $5 million. Organizations of any size can request volunteers through the Tableau Service Corps.