Here's What 9 Channel Champions Are Doing To Help Hurricane Harvey Victims

As residents and solutions providers in Southeast Texas look to recover from Hurricane Harvey and the tropical storms that followed, several vendors and channel partners have stepped forward with matching donation programs, fundraising drives, and free IT products and support.

Here's a rundown of what nine industry players are doing in the region to lend a helping hand.

The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation

Dell Technologies Founder and CEO Michael Dell grew up in Southwest Houston's Meyerland neighborhood, which was sitting under 40 inches of water after Hurricane Harvey came through.

[Related: Dell Family Pledges $36M To Texas Flood Relief; Michael and Susan Dell: 'This Is Our Home']

To support his childhood neighborhood and many others, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation is leading the charge to raise $100 million for the Rebuild Texas Fund.

Michael and Susan Dell have given $18 million to launch the fund, and have committed an additional $18 million to a matching campaign that will continue through midnight on Monday Sept. 4. For the first $36 million raised, the Foundation will match $1 for every $2 in donations received.

The fund will support community partners around health and housing, schools and child care, workforce and transportation, and capital for rebuilding small businesses.

Microsoft

Microsoft is contributing $2.5 million in cash, technology and services to support Hurricane Harvey relief efforts and help non-profit and public-sector organizations as they assist the community in recovery, according to Mary Snapp, corporate vice president and head of Microsoft Philanthropies.

The effort included an initial $100,000 cash donation to the American Red Cross to help the organization address its most pressing needs.

Additionally, Microsoft said every dollar contributed by its employees to relief organizations working in the area will be matched dollar for dollar by the Redmond, Wash.-based vendor.

To date, Microsoft said this effort has already raised $100,000 for organizations including the American Red Cross and Team Rubicon, which unite the skills and experiences of military veterans with first responders to rapidly deploy emergency response teams.

ConnectWise

Many of ConnectWise's Houston-based channel partners are struggling to survive each day, and have shared stories of families living out of the office because their homes are underwater.

As a result, the Tampa, Fla.-based IT service management vendor is asking its channel community to come together and help the Houston-based partners survive as entrepreneurs and re-establish their successful businesses.

ConnectWise said it is looking to raise $750,000 to meet their needs and will provide a 2-for-1 match for donations of up to $250,000. Donations can be made at ConnectWise.com/HelpNow.

The company said it's also combining its strength with vendor partners, including HTG Hands that Give, to make sure all of its partners make it through the initial and residual damage.

Cisco

The Cisco Foundation has launched a $500,000 disaster response campaign to support the American Red Cross in its efforts to provide aid to Houston.

The San Jose, Calif.-based company said it would match donations of up to $10,000 per employee.

Cisco additionally has members of its Tactical Operations and Disaster Incident Response Team in Texas ready to respond to requests from agencies for community support. The support is rendered free of charge.

CompTIA

CompTIA is partnering with Heart to Heart International, a global humanitarian organization focused on responding to the needs of disaster victims, to assist the victims of Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Louisiana.

To incentivize potential donors, the Downers Grove, Ill.-based IT trade organization has agreed to contribute $2 for every $1 pledged to the relief campaign for up to $200,000.

CompTIA President and CEO Todd Thibodeaux said Heart to Heart had mobile medical unit deployed in Texas ahead of the storm and is already working with local partners to provide medical support and aid distribution.

Donations to the hurricane and flood relief campaign may be made at http://bit.ly/CompTIACares. Specify CompTIA when prompted for a company donation match to ensure the contribution is matched 2-for-1.

SHI

SHI said all of its nearly 1,000 employees in Central, South, and Southeast Texas have been accounted for and are safe, although some might have been displaced from their homes.

The Somerset, N.J.-based company, No. 9 on the 2017 CRN Solution Provider 500, said it is offering a 2-for-1 match for all employee donations up to $25,000 to the American Red Cross. The total donation amount is therefore expected to be $75,000, according to SHI.

SHI additionally said it is organizing "boots on the ground" relief efforts from its offices in Austin and Dallas, with volunteers departing once officials in the most heavily affected areas indicate they are ready to receive such assistance.

Finally, SHI said it will meet with longtime customers and partners in the affected areas to understand which IT-related equipment, services and support the company can contribute to help relieve the disruption Hurricane Harvey caused to their business and their lives.

Ingram Micro

Ingram Micro's Trust X Alliance partner community has set up a GoFundMe page to help members in Texas and Louisiana that have been affected by Hurricane Harvey.

The community is hoping to receive $10,000 in donations that can go directly to the impacted Trust X Alliance partners. In just three days, the community has raised $2,500 from 16 donors.

Ingram Micro additionally said it has identified the channel partners in the impacted areas and is working with them on an case-by-case basis to help with their cash flow, terms and credit needs now and in the future.

Datto

Datto offered free virtual and imaged SIRIS data protection products to MSPs and small-and-mid sized businesses that needed the immediate capacity to protect additional servers before Hurricane Harvey's arrival.

The Norwalk, Conn.-based vendor has also sent a disaster recovery team to the area with a physical supply of Sirius 3 devices for backup and business continuity, networking appliances to provide routing and internet failover with 4G LTE, and switches and access points to assist with general networking.

These devices are being provided free-of-charge to help MSPs support their SMB customers during this time of need, Datto said.

Datto has finally prioritized all support tickets and tech support staffing for affected areas and added resources to its dedicated support team for critical disaster recovery situations.

DriveSavers

DriveSavers is providing free data recovery services to Texas residents who have lost data as a result of Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Austin, Corpus Christi and other affected areas.

The Novato, Calif.-based vendor said customers must contact DriveSavers and ship their device no later than Sept. 15, with a limit of one device per business or household.

Customers needing additional recoveries – and those with multi-disk devices such as RAID, NAS and SAN devices – are eligible for a 50 percent discount off the regular service fees.

DriveSavers said it might limit the number of free recoveries based on the company's workload, cost of parts, and availability of personnel.