The Kerstner Foundation: Free Hosting for Non-Profits
Budget limitations impact non-profit organizations daily. Often, budget cuts are made to the technical side of a non-profit, and bad cheap web hosting companies are chosen over better hosting companies due to budget constraints. This is something that Chris Kerstner decided to change back in 2006.
Kerstner wanted to develop a web hosting company that was truly free for non-profits. So, he set up the Kerstner Foundation: a hosting community that provides worthy non-profits with free hosting, web design, marketing, PR help, and grants to organizations in need. So far, the Kerstner Foundation is home to more than 2,000 non-profit sites.
The Kerstner Foundation: Raising Funds
In order to run a hosting company for non-profits that includes a number of free things, Kerstner had to raise money to support his own cause. Thus far, investors have responded to his cause favorably, and Kerstner has managed to raise more than $3 million USD in both “time and cash.” That's an impressive amount of money for any company to raise.
The Kerstner Foundation is home to many non-profits that deserve a chance at a great Internet presence and website. The Foundation also awards cash donations to various non-profits in need of extra funding (and that's pretty much every non-profit!). Some of the charities that are hosted with the Kerstner Foundation include: Wounded Warriors, One Hope Wine, The Ronald McDonald House, The Dogs on Deployment Foundation, and a number of other very important causes.
Have a non-profit? Looking for free hosting and backing? Here's some information about how you can apply to gain support from the Kerstner Foundation.
The Kerstner Foundation: How to Get Free Hosting
The Kerstner Foundation actually makes it very easy to apply for funding (hosting included in “funding”). Simply fill out the “Apply For Funding” form on the Foundation's website. The Foundation gives away roughly $375,000 per year in time and money to organizations, though yours has to be a really worthy cause in order to gain funding – you will be competing (as is the case with any kind of funding) with many other non-profits.
It's not every day that a hosting company provides free hosting for non-profits. What the Kerstner Foundation is doing is providing a chance for those non-profits to help others – and that's a noble cause. Check out the Foundation's main page for additional information.
