A new strategic direction for Tech To The Rescue to multiply the impact of outstanding organisations

As a global movement dedicated to democratizing access to technology for nonprofits across the globe, we at Tech To The Rescue have been tirelessly attracting tech companies and inspiring them to engage pro-bono with nonprofits to build impactful tech solutions that help solve the world’s most pressing problems.

Our journey, supported by exceptional partners like Google.org, AWS, Lenovo, Twillio, Ashoka, Clutch, and many more, is steadily advancing toward our vision: “To make impactful pro-bono work an industry standard in the tech world.” 

Four years since the launch of the Tech To The Rescue Foundation, we are proud to have facilitated over 700 impactful pro-bono matches across more than 60 countries. Now, we stand at the cusp of a strategic transformation that will amplify our impact, with an even stronger focus on changemakers who have word-changing ideas about how to tackle the world’s most pressing problems. 

Let’s delve deeper into our new strategic direction with Carol Sanchez, the Head of our Nonprofits Relations Team, who shares insights on the profile of nonprofits we aim to support at Tech To The Rescue.

What is the background of the strategic change in Tech To The Rescue? 

At Tech To The Rescue, we are convinced that technology plays a fundamental role in the promise of achieving a more efficient humanitarian and social environment.The four years of experience we have providing digital tools to nonprofits around the world has taught us that the best way to get closer to this vision is to keep giving a push to those organizations that already see technology as an ally.

This strategic shift aims to help us identify those organizations that are innovating the way we understand humanitarian aid and social service. It also guides us on the path to creating collaborations that will have long-lasting impact and to enabling tech tools that are not only exciting to create but also more accessible to those who will use them.

Our main objective with this change is simple: to ensure our interventions are made where they will have the greatest impact. We are concentrating on organizations that have the capacity to implement and sustain digital strategies and tools, helping them advance in their digital transformation journey with pro-bono tech partners.

What is the profile of the nonprofit organizations that Tech To The Rescue will be focusing on after this strategic change?  

We have developed a framework that consists of six qualities that we want to see in the organizations applying to get our pro-bono matching services. They are simple but carefully considered and discussed with our partners and community.  

First of all, an organization submitting its project proposal should have a positive attitude toward innovation. This does not mean that they must have created a super-cool high-tech tool in the past. We appreciate innovation in its many ways: Have you created a new way of engaging with the communities in which you work? Is your organization a pioneer in a rarely discussed topic? Have you found a unique approach to solving a problem? We want to talk to you!

Secondly, the nonprofit should be recognized as an expert in their field. These nonprofits don’t rely only on their good intentions – they have researched the issue they are trying to solve and are good at doing so! For example, if they’re working on food insecurity, they have conducted research on the root causes of it in their context and have worked with the community to explore and implement solutions. 

On a more operational note, they should have a decision-maker heavily involved in TTTR’s processes and have strong and steady financial muscle. We want to avoid contributing to the “grave-yard” of tech solutions we’re already seeing in the sector. Moreover, we really want to see these digital tools serving their initial purpose and contributing to the final users. To achieve this, we need to make sure that the solutions will be maintained over time and that the organisation has the corporate governance and resources to do so.

We also want to raise awareness on the impact of technology as an enabler of the social world, so we want to see organizations that understand their data and how to measure and present their impact. This basically means that we want to help you tell your impact story and inspire other organizations to follow these ways. If you can work with us on that, we’ll be happy to do it!

And lastly, but definitely absolutely important is for the nonprofit to have a great proven impact record. Whether you have increased your programs or beneficiaries by 5% during the last year, or you’ve raised 50% of donations, your growth matters! And as we want to see you achieve more, we need to understand how you’ve managed your roadblocks and created scalability.

Can you give examples of impactful tech projects successfully matched by Tech To The Rescue? 

Absolutely, I love this question! Recently we published a story of CRIES, , an organization from Argentina, that we matched with the tech company SimplifyNext to create an AI tool capable of monitoring Human Rights violations among indigenous population in Latin America. Also, during our recent ZeroHunger Hackathon we received a challenge from Mahouna Farms aiming to connect West African farmers with the international market to reduce food waste, an inspiring story we will be publishing soon. 

These are the kind of projects that light up my imagination but also my heart! In every case, we manage to find incredible pro-bono tech partners that work really hard to help those organizations achieve their goals. They prove that pro-bono implementations can work and are a sustainable way to do more with less!

How can nonprofit organizations reach out to Tech To The Rescue for pro-bono tech support? 

Our communication channels are always open to you. You can write an email to [email protected], or register in our platform. After verification we can have an onboarding call to answer all your questions!

We are excited to embark on this new chapter and invite ambitious nonprofits to join us on this journey. If your organization is ready to leverage technology for greater impact, we encourage you to get in touch, register with Tech To The Rescue, and submit your tech projects. Together, we can drive meaningful change and solve the world’s most pressing problems.

Let’s transform our vision into reality—one impactful tech project at a time.