When we launched, people waved off the idea of a nonprofit accelerator, saying that without the economic incentives
an accelerator would never work. But here we are having graduated our first cohort, we have proven that impact is a powerful incentive.
Over the summer, we connected 70 members of the tech community to 5 stellar tech nonprofits. The mentors invested hundreds of hours in these teams. It worked. As a result of these connections, our first cohort raised over $1M, found new customers, recruited new senior talent, moved into new office space, and honed their product visions.
Fast Forward was born to extend the tech community’s entrepreneurial expertise to nonprofit tech, doing for tech nonprofits what accelerators like YCombinator and TechStars do for startups, but addressing issues like poverty, health, and education.
These organizations measure impact rather than profits – but are in every other way tech companies. Once successful they scale incredibly well, leveraging technology to quickly reach wide audiences.
The tech community can and is having a tremendous impact by mobilizing resources to help these organizations succeed.
