Bridging Technology and Social Good is a semesterly panel hosted by Blueprint in order to spark discussion about the divide between the tech industry and the social sector, hear about the people and organizations working to bridge this divide, and understand the ways in which students can engage in this movement.
Five incredible leaders in the fields of education and business came to speak on the panel:
- Armando Fox, UC Berkeley — a Professor of Computer Science and Faculty Advisor to the UC Berkeley MOOCLabb
- Karin Knox, Palantir Philanthropy Engineering — Forward Deployed Engineer focusing on the development of partnerships for Palantir’s Philanthropy and Social Sector team
- Twisha Mehta, Samasource — Impact Analyst helping measure the social impact of Samasource’s micro-work business model
- Esther Ray, Adobe Corporate Responsibility (CR)— Employee Involvement Program Manager overseeing global and local CR initiatives
- Ariana Younai, Linkedin for Good — Vice Chair of Linkedin for Good Board providing strategic direction to its employee volunteerism
Triumphs & Challenges
of Tech in Social Good
Across the board, one theme is clear: connectivity plays an essential role inside an organization and outside of it. And strengthening such connectivity leads to great triumphs.
Ray: I am really proud of our pro-bono initiative — where we’ve taken our greatest assets, our employees, and connected them to causes that they care about.
For Ray, Adobe’s focus on engaging employees with challenges in the local community has proven incredibly meaningful. In 2012, Adobe partnered with the local Children’s Creativity Museum to make the place more family-friendly, colorful, and engaging.
Such work has helped forge a partnership between community leads who have a certain vision and employees who help bring such vision to life.
Linkedin has had similar success in integrating employee and nonprofit involvement into what it does day-to-day as a business.
Younai: Our greatest triumph over the last few years is quite simply making social impact a core part of our business model — and that’s both from the bottom up, so our employees model it on a daily basis, and from the top down, so our executives believe in it!
The internal integration of social impact has resulted in significant changes to the user side of Linkedin, including a new volunteer section for people to include on their profiles. This information is more readily shared with non-profits, in order to make sure they know who’s interested in donating their time and skills.
By strengthening the communication between Linkedin and community partners (along with users), the company aims to better align its vision with volunteerism.
Applying Tech
to Large Problems in the World
Knox: We apply resources, such as mass technology, to the organizations in positions to help these bigger problems in the world.
Palantir Philanthropy Engineering follows the philosophy of aiding and applying technology to organizations that are creating change — regardless of the organizations’ ability to pay.
In one project, Palantir partnered with a company creating human trafficking hotlines. In the process, the team was able to actively see and help track down a girl being kidnapped — and with the help of law enforcement, save her.
But this example is only one triumph of many. The greatest triumph, Knox says, lies in having many small ones that improve people’s lives.
Mehta: As a social enterprise, our first step is to not just measure the breadth such as how many people we’ve impacted but also the depth — and what it means to impact one person and their families.
Mehta echoed a similar sentiment: great change comes from enabling action on a personal, local scale. Samasource harnesses the power of the internet to bring jobs and opportunities to people all around the world, including those who live in villages and more isolated, rural areas.
To date, it has trained and hired over 6,000 people across all geographies. And more importantly, it has connected those who would not otherwise get exposure to technology.
Thank you to the panelists for your incredible insight and contributions to the community — and thanks for reading!
What can YOU do? Stay tuned for part two.
To learn more about Blueprint’s mission and team, visit our website and follow us on Twitter!
Interested in more good conversations?
Save the date for 4/1!
Blueprint will be hosting a fireside chat with Watsi co-founder Chase Adam. Learn how Y Combinator transformed a simple idea into a $4 million non-profit serving over 4000 patients. Event specifics here.
