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Martin Levine of NonProfit Quarterly examines a tech-backed nonprofit accelerator and poses a round of questions asking if this philanthropic effort helps solve problems like inequality, environmental threats, forced migration, and illiteracy or its partnerships make it part of the problem.
Cueing from a Fast Company article describing a tech-backed nonprofit accelerator, Fast Forward, Levine writes that the company is available to very-early-stage nonprofit startups, providing them with $25,000 coupled with training and mentoring. Just recently, Fast Forward has announced it had secured a new round of funding and raised $5 million in new philanthropic funding from leading companies, such as Google.org and many others.
Levin points out that Fast Forward claims its network has touched 51 million individuals and received more than $100 million in funding. So skeptics might wonder if the $5 million might be better spent going directly into the nonprofits' coffers.
Levine asks, do efforts of this kind obscure the severity of the problems an out-of-control extractive economy creates?
Levine quoted Ruth Cambridge who underscored the message of Anand Giridharadas, author of Winner Take All, "It remains to be seen... whether the nonprofit sector will begin asking itself some deeply uncomfortable questions."
According to Levine, these are tough questions when money is tight and dreams and passion are high.
Selected Grant News Headlines
A customized collection of grant news from foundations and the federal government from around the Web.
Foundation: Silicon Valley Community Foundation, California Endowment
In 2024, Los Angeles will host the Mission Investors Exchange 2024 National Conference, an annual conference that brings together more than 750 philanthropy and impact investing leaders from across...more
Foundation: California Community Foundation, California Endowment
Ava DuVernay financed her latest film with money from the Giving Pledgean initiative of the California Endowment, the largest US foundation to commit its entire $4 billion portfolio to social and...more
Foundation: Marguerite Casey Foundation, Marguerite Casey Foundation, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Skoll Foundation, Target Foundation, Ford Foundation, Philadelphia Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation
"The US creative economy was most recently valued at over $1 trillion by the National Endowment for the Arts," per a press release, "even before considering film, fashion, video games, beauty, food,...more
"These figures underscore the vital role that creativity and culture play not only in enriching community life but also in driving economic development." So says the chair of Pennsylvania's...more
If you're in Nashville and want to help fight climate change, there's a program you can sign up for for free. The Climate Innovation Accelerator is a 10-week program from Vanderbilt University's...more
"Education, a fundamental right, is a powerful catalyst for development worldwide." That's what Kenyan social entrepreneur Mumbe Mwangangi has to say about her new startup, Nyansapo AI, which...more
"The future of our nation hinges upon its young,educated, and socially conscious demographic," State Bank of India CEOjay Prakash says in a press release. Prakash is referring to the roughly 1...more
The director of the Flanders Architecture Institute in Belgium has been named an honorary fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Guardian reports. Sofie De Caigny, who took over...more
If you're an expert in geographic information system (GIS) technology, you may want to consider attending the annual Esri User Conference in San Diego next month. The event, which runs from July...more
"I was working in corporate America for one of the world's largest retail companies, and it was challenging and wonderful in many ways. But I was finding my truest fulfillment on Saturday...more
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Building a Million Dollar Company Where Everyone Counts
Ganesh Natarajan is the Founder and Chairman of 5FWorld, a new platform for funding and developing start-ups, social enterprises and the skills eco-system in India. In the past two decades, he has built two of India’s high-growth software services companies – Aptech and Zensar – almost from scratch to global success.
