BizWorld Benefit Luncheon Features Marc Benioff and Tim Draper

Dec 14, 2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

BizWorld Announces Benefit Luncheon Featuring
Marc Benioff, Salesforce.com and Tim Draper, Draper Fisher Jurvetson

Fundraising Event Supports Business and Entrepreneurial Education for Children

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (November 18, 2005) – The BizWorld Foundation, a national not-for-profit organization dedicated to teaching entrepreneurship and business skills to children, will host a luncheon on December 14th at the new St Regis Hotel. The event will feature Marc Benioff, CEO, Salesforce.com, Tim Draper, Managing Director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson; and BizWorld students.

“BizWorld students have a unique opportunity to bolster their entrepreneurial instincts and learn what it takes to launch a successful business” said Marc Benioff.

Catherine Hutton, Executive Director of the BizWorld Foundation, elaborated, “Schools are under pressure to produce results with fewer resources than before, while at the same time finding ways to motivate their students. In BizWorld, kids apply what they learn in school to real world situations, so they understand how school prepares them for life.”

All proceeds from the luncheon will benefit the BizWorld Foundation. BizWorld programs add relevancy to academics by teaching entrepreneurship and business concepts in a real world context. BizWorld motives students by providing them with the knowledge, skills, and awareness needed to establish a foundation for a future of financial responsibility and economic independence. BizWorld programs inspire children, by instilling in them that they too can become the next successful entrepreneur or top CEO.

The need and demand for BizWorld’s curriculum and hands-on, “real world” approach to learning is evidenced in students’ and teachers’ enthusiastic responses. As one school district superintendent noted, “BizWorld really turns the light on for kids – ‘Oh, this is why we learn math, writing, art! I’ll need this stuff when I grow up!’ I love BizWorld because it presents curriculum as life skills. After BizWorld, kids know the value of their education. They get the big picture that isn’t necessarily incorporated into traditional education.”

BizWorld Foundation helps spread this innovative program to classrooms across the world. Thanks to the Foundation, more than 100,000 students in classrooms and community programs in 50 states and 16 countries have participated in the BizWorld program. BizWorld established its first international franchise in the Netherlands in 2001; a franchise in Singapore followed in 2002 with the most recent additions including South Korea and India.

Tickets to the luncheon are available through the BizWorld Web site. In addition to individual luncheon tickets, sponsorship opportunities are also available, ranging from $2,500 to $25,000, including luncheon tickets and tables. For more information on sponsorship, please call BizWorld at (415) 503-5880. Donation checks can be sent to: BizWorld Foundation, 444 De Haro Street, Suite #121, San Francisco, CA 94107.

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Media contacts: Caroline Coleman or Lauren Eastman at Glodow Nead Communications,
(415) 394-6500 or caroline@glodownead.com or lauren@glodownead.com.