National Volunteer Month in the U.S. gives us the opportunity to embrace our philanthropic culture and celebrate the impactful volunteering efforts of KLA employees around the world. Through volunteerism and resources provided by the KLA Foundation, we have been able to support charitable organizations dedicated to education, social equity, COVID-19 relief and much more. We believe in our ability to better the world both as a corporate institution and as individual change makers, and we are excited to highlight some of the programs we offer to augment the efforts of our resident philanthropists and to tell their stories!
Dollars for Doers and Global Giving
KLA Foundation multiplies our impact by supporting the non-profits and philanthropic programs in which our employees are passionately invested. We strategically align to invest in our three main pillars of focus – Education (with STEM emphasis), Health and Wellness, and Community Enrichment — and support Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) across all programs.
Our Dollars for Doers program allows KLA employees to donate $10 for each hour of volunteer work they perform to a non-profit of their choice. In 2020, KLA employees donated $1.6M to non-profits and received $1.4M in match donations from the KLA Foundation.
Through our internal Global Giving platform, KLA matches dollar-for-dollar the personal donations made by employees around the world to their chosen non-profits. Employees are also able to participate in various corporation-wide fundraising campaigns for disaster relief and social equity.
Meet Some of KLA’s Philanthropists
KLA employees are committed to driving positive change in the local communities where we live and work as well as our global communities. For National Volunteer Month, on social media, we featured several of their contributions to charitable organizations in their communities. Here, you can read more about their efforts:
Mahendra is a Research Scientist at KLA and a mental health awareness advocate. He has been working with the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and personally contributes to the destigmatization of the mental health dialogue.
“COVID has amplified many mental health issues, especially isolation, stress, anxiety and depression… One silver lining, however, is that it has also opened the door for people to talk more openly about these challenges. I hope that I can continue to help bring more attention to mental health as we transition out of the pandemic.”
June is a Regional Development Applications Engineer at KLA in Taiwan, and contributes to SEMI High Tech U and local ocean cleanups. She helps students build robots and rockets, and helps her community preserve the health and beauty of their natural resources.
“Putting ourselves in other’s shoes is the valuable thing I learn through the volunteer activities. Take the ocean cleanup activity for example, cherishing resources and reducing waste are the small things we need to pay more attention to every day.”
Stephen is a Sr. Tech Support Engineer at KLA and is passionate about sharing his technical expertise with the next generation of innovators. As a FIRST robotics team mentor, he provides insight through brainstorming, design and build phases just like we use in the industry!
“I’ve learned when kids have opportunities like our robotics program, they thrive… I’ve seen students who have gone on to study in STEM fields… and some who have gone on to careers in those fields. I like to think that, maybe, I’ve played a small part in inspiring them.”
Olly is an SPTS Etch Technologist at KLA, and has been volunteering with First Aid organizations such as St John Ambulance and the British Red Cross Society. Formerly contributing to public event safety, he now assists with vaccine rollout at the Ashton Gate Stadium Mass Vaccination Centre in Bristol, UK.
“When the opportunity came up to volunteer with the COVID-19 vaccination effort, I jumped at the chance. It has felt extremely good to be able to be directly part of the way out of the global crisis, from settling the worries of people coming for an injection to talking to people who had only seen one or two people in real life for 6 months or more!”
We take great inspiration from our employee change makers, and believe the world is a healthier, smarter, cleaner, safer place through their efforts. Learn more about the KLA Foundation, and be sure to check back in here on Advance to discover the many ways our employees are advancing humanity in our communities.
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