$1,059,000 Raised For Tech Nonprofits Through HPE Foundation and Fast Forward Partnership
Two weeks. 25,000 employee participants. $1,059,000 raised for tech nonprofits. That was the incredible outcome of our partnership with the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Foundation during HPE Accelerating Impact: a first-of-its-kind employee giving program enabling tech nonprofits to scale up impact. Every HPE employee received a $25 donation credit from the Foundation, empowering each individual to support one of 31 nonprofits leveraging tech for good. Through its support of these organizations, HPE impacted over 300 million people worldwide. Pretty amazing, right?
The funds raised from HPE Accelerating Impact were a huge–and rare–win for the 31 tech nonprofits. All the participating organizations had to do to raise the grant money was opt-into the campaign. On top of that, the donations were unrestricted, meaning the tech nonprofits choose how to use the funds. This kind (and scale!) of gift doesn’t come tech nonprofits’ way every day.
“I can’t say strongly enough how helpful this model is to us.”
Gavin McCormick, Executive Director, WattTime
The roster of 31 tech nonprofits featured during HPE Accelerating Impact are addressing a wide range of issue areas, from education, to healthcare, to homelessness. These tech organizations have implemented tech tools like AI, open source data, and chatbots. HPE employees raised the most money for three tech nonprofits they were particularly inspired by: Thorn, which uses AI to combat online child sexual abuse; Dost Education, a mobile platform empowering low-literacy parents to promote early childhood education; and Medic Mobile, which builds open-source software to support health workers delivering equitable care. Two of these organizations, Dost Education and Medic Mobile, are Fast Forward Accelerator alums!
Sneha Sheth and Sindhuja Jeyabal, Co-Founders of Dost Education | Photo credit: David Dines
HPE Accelerating Impact aligns with HPE’s mission of advancing the way the world lives and works through the power of technology. The campaign also furthers the company’s efforts to encourage its employees to be invested citizens: employees were given a voice in which causes matter most to them, and the ability to impact these issues. Kathy Gu, our partner at HPE and the champion behind the campaign, said: “HPE Accelerating Impact is both a tribute to the company’s deeply embedded values of giving back to society as well as a living embodiment of our corporate purpose of advancing the way people live and work through technology. Employees responded with overwhelming enthusiasm for the opportunity to contribute in a way that is easy, engaging, and aligned with HPE.”
“HPE Accelerating Impact is…a living embodiment of our corporate purpose of advancing the way people live and work through technology.”
Kathy Gu, Program Director, HPE Foundation
HPE Accelerating Impact injected $1M+ into the tech nonprofit ecosystem, making significant ripples in the sector by helping build capacity for the tech nonprofits of the future. It also gave HPE employees access to these organizations, opening the door to further involvement with them: since Accelerating Impact, HPE employees have provided mentorship and participated in pro bono projects with a number of tech nonprofits.
A community health worker uses Medic Mobile’s software in Kenya. | Photo credit: Medic Mobile
We are so grateful to HPE for their commitment to helping tech nonprofits accelerate good. And this is just the beginning. We hope that through future partnerships with companies like HPE, we can leverage this employee giving model to help even more tech nonprofits reach new heights.