Data-Centering the Community
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Stanford Social Innovation Review / Summer 2020 11 ! Microsoft's Community Empowerment Fund provid- ed laptops to Taal Café PROFILES OF INNOVATIVE WORK Middenmeer to teach immi- grants the Dutch language. company’s relationship with local residents. This idea came from a lesson he learned while Data-Centering the volunteering with an NGO: He noticed that the people his NGO was trying to help didn’t Community appreciate it when international volunteers arrived with preconceived notions of what Endeavoring to be a good neighbor, Microsoft supplements its data cen- would help the community. It occurred to ters with local investments to boost economic and social development. Miles that asking communities for input about their needs would be more effective. So, in BY HEATHER BEASLEY DOYLE North Holland, the first step was to ask lo- they buy large swaths of land; the spacious- cal residents and organizations for insight. s technology increasingly drives ness of rural locations are ideal spots. the global economy and daily The consequence is that nearby commu- PARTNERSHIP, NOT CHARITY life, the need for remote data nities lose natural land and resources. During Realizing this need, Miles quickly assem- Astorage is growing. Data centers, construction, data centers initially boost the bled a team, and Microsoft launched the facilities that house computing and network- local economy because workers are hired to Datacenter Community Development ing equipment, aim to meet that demand. prepare the land and build the center. But, (DCCD) initiative in October 2017 in eight Integral to internet-dependent data cen- once operational, data centers don’t need to of its data center communities. ters (“the cloud”), physical data centers employ as many people. As a result, they “can “This was really about creating a program require massive amounts of water, power, be perceived as a negative impact on the com- that reflected the reality that communities and space to displace the immense amount munity, especially relative to the number of have their own assets and the knowledge of heat produced by the thousands of contin- direct jobs that we create,” says Mike Miles, about what will work best for them, and uously running routers, servers, and other technical equipment. They take up the size of “a couple of foot- ball fields, and [don’t] employ [as] many people as other retail compan[ies],” says Microsoft Datacenter Community Development Program Manager Sonali George. Construction on Microsoft’s North Holland data center in Middenmeer, a town within the municipality of Hollands Kroon, began in 2013 and became operational in 2015. It’s one of more than 100 Microsoft data centers throughout the world. Like many people who live near these data centers, North Holland residents initially “didn’t know what the data center was,” says Gary McLoughlin, Microsoft’s regional Datacenter Community Development project manager in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. In 2017, Microsoft who served as general manager for commu- that Microsoft could move into a different launched a program to partner with its key nity and workforce development at Microsoft space in terms of working with communities data center communities to improve rela- until his retirement in 2018. Between the where it’s really much more of a partnership, tionships with the communities they serve. environmental repercussions and the public as opposed to charity,” explains Fifield, who Data centers are “something that the tech relations challenges, data centers are a clear assisted Microsoft with their data center industry is having to grapple with for the first case for mitigation through corporate social community engagement strategy. time, because they are a new-ish business responsibility (CSR) efforts. Microsoft’s DCCD provides low-cost or model,” says Mary Fifield, a community de- Miles believed that pivoting CSR ef- free broadband, works on local environmental velopment practitioner and consultant. When forts away from a top-down approach in sustainability, and collaborates with com- PHOTO COURTESY OF TAAL CAF É CAF OF TAAL COURTESY PHOTO companies like Microsoft build data centers, data center communities could improve the munity colleges on workforce development. 12 Stanford Social Innovation Review / Summer 2020 HEATHER BEASLEY DOYLE is a freelance journalist, writer, and editor living in Arlington, Massachusetts. The Community Empowerment Fund how to code; a program for Dutch-language residents, particularly because the com- (CEF) is a critical component of the initiative. learners; and a carbon-neutral scouting club- pany initially kept a low profile. “We Established in 2017, it provides funding for house that provides coding and robotics have a lot of big companies in this area, existing social, environmental, and economic instruction to youth. but none of them set up a program like development programs in the community. In In CEF’s first funding cycle, the North this,” he adds. He knows that self-interest designing the CEF, Microsoft team members Holland nonprofit Lions Wieringermeer re- is in the mix—that CEF improves public prioritized power-sharing, trust, and collab- ceived €4,400 (approximately $5,000) for opinion—but thinks “it’s fantastic.” And he’s oration with its data center communities. an event about environmentally friendly not alone: Surveys conducted by Microsoft In CEF’s first year, Microsoft awarded housing. Dutch bank Rabobank provided a since CEF and DCAB launched indicate that $1.2 million to 32 community organiza- matching grant. “[Attendees] came to the North Holland residents see Microsoft as a tions. Grantees included a science center in evening expecting that they had to invest good community partner. Des Moines, Iowa, and a student-led job read- 15, 20, or 30,000 euros to make their house iness program in Dublin, Ireland. Reflecting sustainable,” explains Lions Wieringermeer’s COMMUNITY CUSTOMIZATION their commitment to being good community secretary, Ben Tops. Instead, they discovered George and her colleagues chose North partners, six of the beneficiaries were from that small, inexpensive changes could shrink Holland for the DCAB pilot because, she says, municipalities within North Holland, one of a home’s carbon footprint. “there was already existing local leadership the CEF sites. While organizing the event, Lions that ... we had good relationships with.” And With the first grant cycle, Microsoft members discovered a strong interest in sus- “they were already used to a culture where deepened community coffers with financial tainability among area high school students, they make the decisions.” contributions while establishing relationships so then-DCAB member Age Miedema nudged At the same time, community involve- with local organizations. The team then de- the club to partner with local schools, which ment includes challenges. Miles observes briefed community members who had helped Microsoft funding enabled them to do. that it’s been “very hard for us to make pinpoint local priorities and highlight poten- The new hub linking Lions, Rabobank, lo- sure that our money or other contributions tial grant recipients. cal schools, and local leaders meets another are actually being put to good use in the Based on feedback from communities in DCCD goal: to promote collaboration among community.” An effective tracking system North Holland, Microsoft created a board community groups. McLoughlin created an remains “embryonic,” he adds. Moreover, comprised of employees and community intentional space for this by hosting a net- the DCAB model, from application review leaders from CEF’s local target municipalities, working meet-up for CEF grant recipients and to getting to know local stakeholders and Hollands Kroon and Medemblik. Known as their guests. “It’s [about] being able to bring community, has not yet reached its ideal, the Datacenter Community Advisory Board people together and see if there’s opportuni- streamlined form as a type of CSR. “It’s a (DCAB), the group includes five voting mem- ties for shared value,” he says. more time-consuming model than simply bers (three at-large community members, one McLoughlin visited grant recipient sites writing a check or doing something more Microsoft data center employee, and a local and held public sessions twice a year—known transactional,” Fifield says. Microsoft corporate office employee), up as Voice of the Community—to learn about Nevertheless, Microsoft is scaling DCAB to three nonvoting members, and one local the community’s needs and how Microsoft to other places with community endowment youth representative. can support them. Additionally, the gather- funds—Des Moines, Iowa, and Phoenix, The new board removed McLoughlin from ings give stakeholders a chance to share their Arizona, now have DCABs. The expansion the gatekeeper role as the sole liaison between views on what Microsoft does well, and how has brought with it the realization that each Microsoft’s CEF and the community by en- they can improve their support of the com- community is has its own culture, language, dowing more local groups and initiatives with munity. Voice of the Community represents a and ethos. “It was easy to think that they’re all greater decision-making power when it came crucial aspect of the DCCB approach: listen- going to be roughly the same, and we’re going to grantmaking. It also decided in 2018 to ing. “I can’t emphasize enough that it starts to scale because of that similarity. But because issue an open call for grants via the Microsoft with that community listening and that in- they are all so unique, we had to rethink how Netherlands website instead of selecting teraction with the community, rather than we scale the program to rethink and honor organizations themselves. just going in and trying to deliver projects their individual uniqueness,” explains Miles. From more than 175 proposals in DCAB’s that you feel are meaningful, but you don’t As DCAB expands to the United States, first funding cycle, Microsoft’s governance really know if they’re what’s needed in that the core of its value remains clear.