ExactTarget Launches Foundation to Combat Hunger, Advance Education and Accelerate Entrepreneurship

Global interactive marketing provider ExactTarget announced the ExactTarget Foundation today, creating a not for profit organization charted to combat childhood hunger, advance education and accelerate entrepreneurship.

The ExactTarget Foundation will provide charitable grants to support projects and programs that address the obstacles facing the growth of global entrepreneurship, including student hunger and access to education.

“Entrepreneurship is the lifeblood of the global economy, and the ExactTarget Foundation will allow us to tackle the challenges that stand in the way of students realizing their dreams,” said Scott Dorsey, ExactTarget cofounder and chief executive officer. “By addressing the growing epidemic of student hunger and bringing access to quality education, we can fuel the next generation of entrepreneurs.”

A November 2010 report entitled Child Food Insecurity: The Economic Impact On Our Nation found childhood hunger to adversely impact school performance, academic achievement and limit lifetime earnings. Published by Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger relief organization, the study found childhood hunger damages the architecture of children’s brains, making it “extremely difficult for them to ever reach their full potential as effective workers and members of society.”

“We have an opportunity to be a catalyst for change and fuel programs that will help students become the next generation of entrepreneurs,” said Traci Dolan, ExactTarget chief administrative officer who will oversee the Foundation. “By addressing hunger and ensuring students have access to quality education, we can create a new era of innovation.”

The ExactTarget Foundation will begin accepting grant applications in early 2012 and will be managed by a board of directors, including Scott Dorsey, Traci Dolan and Todd Richardson, ExactTarget senior vice president.

The unveiling of the ExactTarget Foundation follows ExactTarget’s donation of more than $100,000 to support education and hunger initiatives led by Teach for America, DonorsChoose.org and the Soledad O’Brien and Brad Raymond Foundation.

The announcements were made before a sold-out crowd of more than 3,000 attending the final day of ExactTarget Connections ’11. Centered on the theme of “The Power of One,” Connections ’11 challenged marketers to explore the power of one consumer to change a brand, one technology to change an industry and one person to change the world. The conference features addresses from Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, CNN’s Soledad O’Brien, author Aron Ralston and executives from Facebook, Adobe, Yahoo!, Best Buy, Klout and Foursquare. The conference also features more than 50 interactive breakout sessions ranging from marketing best practices to building interactive marketing campaigns.

About ExactTarget

ExactTarget is a leading global provider of on-demand email marketing and interactive marketing solutions. The company’s Interactive Marketing Hub technology provides organizations a single solution to connect with customers via email, integrated text messaging, landing pages and social media. Supported by collaborative global services teams, ExactTarget’s technology integrates with more sales and marketing information systems than any other in the industry, including Salesforce.com, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Omniture and Webtrends among many others. ExactTarget powers permission-based multichannel communications for thousands of organizations around the world including Expedia.com, Best Buy, Papa John’s, CareerBuilder.com, Gannett Co., Inc., The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, The Home Depot and Wellpoint, Inc. For more information, visit www.exacttarget.com .