Tech To The Rescue, a Polish foundation matching non-profit organizations and tech companies to build digital solutions supporting Ukraine relief and refugee efforts, will receive support from Google.org, Google’s philanthropic arm, in the form of $500k in grant funding and a Google.org Fellowship. The team of Google.org Fellows will work on a pro-bono basis to help enable Tech to the Rescue to scale its platform and efforts globally.
Tech To The Rescue is emerging as a leading European coordinator of tech support for NGOs amid the Russian-Ukrainian war. Four weeks ago, the Warsaw-based foundation launched the #TechForUkraine campaign and has since matched over 35 projects developed by IT companies for humanitarian organizations.
The grant will support the development of the platform and expansion of the #TechForUkraine campaign for another year. Tech To The Rescue estimates that these efforts will positively impact the lives of two million refugees who have fled Ukraine.
The team of Google.org Fellows will support Tech To The Rescue on a full-time, pro-bono basis for six months and work hand-in-hand to build impactful tech products for Ukraine. This model expands on the current Tech To The Rescue portfolio of pro-bono engagements.
“We are extremely happy that a leading global tech company, Google, believes in our mission of making impactful changes with technology. Thanks to the grant and the support of Google.org Fellows, we will be able to continue to expand globally. We’re looking forward to the support of Google experts,” say Jacek Siadkowski and Daniel Di Giusto, co-founders of Tech To The Rescue.
100 projects to help Ukraine
Tech To The Rescue (TTTR) will use the grant from Google.org to strengthen the team behind the #TechForUkraine campaign for another year without impacting other activities. The foundation will be able to launch about 100 digital projects for non-profits in the region and hire local representatives of TTTR, which will ease access for Ukrainian, Romanian, Slovak, and Moldovan non-profits.
“From coordinating humanitarian aid to providing urgent information to refugees, Tech To The Rescue’s #TechForUkraine campaign is helping NGOs get the assistance they need and we’re thrilled to support them with grant funding and a Google.org Fellowship. Together, we can empower NGOs doing critical work on the ground. Our support for TTTR is part of Google’s broader commitment to helping the unfolding humanitarian crises caused by the war in Ukraine. Google.org, Google and its employees have to date committed over $35 million dollars in funding and in-kind donations to organizations delivering humanitarian assistance in the region and working to address the long-term needs of refugees” – says Jen Carter, Global Head of Technology at Google.org.
#TechForUkraine campaign
Tech To The Rescue launched the #TechForUkraine campaign on 23 February, a day before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Since then, over 540 companies from 40 countries pledged to support non-profit organizations helping Ukraine. They include Amazon Cloud Services, Orange, Salesforce, Allegro, Netguru, Divante, Boldare, Nocodely, Astek, Servsoft, Droids on Roids, Twilio, Nord VPN, 10Clouds, Codility, RTB House, and Packhelp.
110 NGOs from Poland, Ukraine, Romania, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States submitted their projects and 35 of them have already been matched with a dedicated tech company that will deliver a suitable tech solution according to most urgent needs. Those projects that are already live include uasos.org, a platform that collects verified offers of support for Ukrainian refugees; dopomoha.pl, the only map in Ukrainian that informs users about humanitarian and medical aid; and peaceofheart.eu, a charitable NFT collection supporting Ukraine and its citizens.
Other projects that have been matched include a CRM system for volunteer management, a Ukrainian-language app that connects people to medical help, and a database system for managing palliative care beds in Ukraine.
About Tech To The Rescue
Tech To The Rescue was founded in March 2020 in response to the Covid-19 crisis. The initiative was backed by 17 founding partners from the CEE region. Since then, over 2,000 companies and freelancers have joined the community. Projects delivered to date have positively influenced more than 1,000,000 people in 12 countries.