Okta Announces $500,000 Grant to Tipping Point Community to Address Poverty and Homelessness in the Bay Area

Okta, Inc. (NASDAQ:OKTA), the leading independent provider of identity for the enterprise, today announced that Okta for Good will commit $500,000 over the next four years to Tipping Point Community, a nonprofit organization that finds and funds the most effective programs and policies fighting poverty in the Bay Area. This grant from the Okta for Good Fund, a donor-advised fund of Tides Foundation, is one of four commitments Okta will make to its communities in conjunction with its 10-year anniversary.

Okta’s large-scale and long-term investment in Tipping Point represents the company’s ongoing commitment to address issues impacting its local communities. It builds on Okta’s early participation in SF Gives, a $10 million four-year initiative spearheaded by Tipping Point and leading technology companies in 2014, to encourage the private sector to support nonprofits focused on addressing poverty in the Bay Area. Okta for Good’s grant will provide resources to experts closest to issues such as education, workforce development, early childhood development and housing, ultimately enabling Tipping Point grantees to utilize the funds as effectively as possible. Okta will also continue to engage its employees and connect its team with Tipping Point nonprofits throughout the Bay Area.

In addition to this grant, Okta is also announcing that the company will:

• Open its doors: In light of increasing rent prices throughout the Bay Area, Okta will offer community space in its new San Francisco headquarters for nonprofit organizations to hold events and meetings at no cost. Okta will also open its doors to nonprofits in need of space in its global offices.
• Offer inroads and job opportunities to community members: Okta will support San Francisco Mayor London Breed’s Opportunities for All initiative, a program designed to address economic inequality by ensuring that all young people can be a part of San Francisco’s thriving economy. As part of Mayor Breed’s efforts to provide paid internships for youth, Okta will commit to bringing on six San Francisco high school students this summer. This commitment builds on Okta’s ongoing support for students interested in exploring roles in technology and its existing partnerships with nonprofit organizations like Genesys Works, Year Up and Citizen Schools.
• Volunteer with local nonprofits: Okta will continue to empower its employees to work shoulder-to-shoulder with community organizations, giving employees three days off per year to volunteer and incorporating volunteering to its new hire orientation program. It will also commit to coupling volunteer work with learning experiences to drive a deeper understanding of community issues.

“We launched the Okta for Good Fund over a year ago with the goal of positively impacting our communities around the world. Right now it’s the community in which we’re headquartered — the Bay Area — that needs our support,” said Frederic Kerrest, Co-founder and COO of Okta. “As we open our new San Francisco headquarters and mark another era of growth for Okta, it can be easy to look inward and consider our accomplishments and goals. But our success is linked to our community: the only way Okta can continue to thrive is if our community is thriving as well. That’s why we’re continuing to invest in Tipping Point and committing to opening our doors, offering inroads and job opportunities and empowering our employees to give back to their communities.”

“Today in the Bay Area, one in three people make impossible choices between putting food on the table, paying their utility bills, or seeing the doctor. In a region as prosperous as ours, that’s simply unacceptable,” said Daniel Lurie, Founder and CEO of Tipping Point Community. “Okta is modeling how companies in the Bay Area can step up to address this crisis in a meaningful and sustained way. There is no silver bullet to solving poverty, but if we come together as a community, there’s nothing the Bay Area can’t tackle.”

To discuss Okta's investment in Tipping Point and its commitments to the community, the company will welcome local nonprofit and civic leaders to its new headquarters and at its Community Open House tonight, featuring a panel of speakers including Daniel Lurie, CEO of Tipping Point Community; Shamann Walton, San Francisco Board Of Supervisors, District 10; and Emily Schaffer, Executive Director, Year Up. For more information or to RSVP, please visit: http://regionalevents.okta.com/oktascommunityopenhouse.

For more information about Okta for Good, visit: https://www.okta.com/okta-for-good/.

About Okta

Okta is the leading independent provider of identity for the enterprise. The Okta Identity Cloud enables organizations to both secure and manage their extended enterprise, and transform their customers’ experiences. With over 5,500 pre-built integrations to applications and infrastructure providers, Okta customers can easily and securely adopt the technologies they need to fulfill their missions. Over 5,600 organizations, including 20th Century Fox, JetBlue, Nordstrom, Slack, Teach for America and Twilio, trust Okta to securely connect their people and technology.

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