Microsoft marks Windows 10 launch with $10M donation to nonprofits for ‘upgrade the world’ program

With the Windows 10 launch a matter of weeks away now, Microsoft is ramping up its efforts to raise awareness of the upcoming upgrade.

The company has announced that a new TV and digital advertising campaign will be kicking off on July 20 in the U.S. and July 29 globally, as Microsoft looks to “highlight how Windows 10 delivers a more human way to do.” But the software giant is also going on a year-long charm offensive with a new program “celebrating people and organizations who upgrade the world every day.”

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With Upgrade Your World, Microsoft is teaming up with 10 global not-for-profit organizations, and an additional 100 local bodies, to donate $10 million in cash “in support of their missions and to promote awareness of their causes,” the company said in a press release.

Among the beneficiaries are CARE, Code.org, Keep a Child Alive, Save the Children, and The Global Poverty Project, who each receive $500,000. Only nine of the 10 global not-for-profit companies have been set so far — from July 29, the day Windows 10 launches, Microsoft is inviting the public to nominate the final organization to complete the 10.

Microsoft will also be asking the public to nominate 10 local not-for-profits from 10 countries, with each of the 100 national organizations receiving $50,000 cash.

Windows 10 represents a major upgrade for Microsoft’s omnipresent operating system, as it looks to unify its PC and mobile software. The company’s even distancing itself from the toxic Internet Explorer with the newly branded Microsoft Edge browser.

Fresh from a mammoth round of redundancies and corporate restructuring, Microsoft is looking to focus less on hardware and get back to its roots as a software company — and it’s going to be firing on all marketing cylinders to ensure its message is heard.