AOL’s Leaving Has Hurt More Than Just the DC Tech Community

AOL was once a huge technology cornerstone along the Dulles technology corridor outside Washington, DC. They were an icon in the early days of the internet boom. But sadly, those days are long gone. In October, AOL laid off over 750 local DC area employees and moved their headquarters to New York. Outside of the government, I would say that AOL was one of the larger technology employers in the area and their leaving was a blow no matter how you look at it.

What I didn’t realize until I read this article in the Washington Post was just how ,uch else the local community lost. I think that many of these things get largely overlooked when a company the size of AOL picks up and leaves town. According to the article, AOL was a huge philanthropist in the area,

At its height, AOL donated about $200,000 a year to Greater D.C. Cares, a group that coordinates volunteering and business philanthropic efforts

There were other groups as well who had come to depend on AOL’s generosity. There was the Loudoun County Music Festival who lost much of their operating budget as well as Loudoun Youth who received their last 75K this year according to AOL. Instead AOL has refocused to a more international outlook.

“In the past, we focused on Northern Virginia, but our aspiration is to really reflect the areas where we have a major presence, which now includes Bangalore, [India]; London; New York and Mountain View, [Calif.],” said AOL spokeswoman Anne Bentley, who heads a smaller community-investment group. AOL plans to announce global giving initiatives in early 2008.

After reading this, it struck me how much we as communities come to depend on these large corporations, and not just for jobs. The climate is such that AOL has to make these hard decisions in order to stay a viable entity and answer to their shareholders.