In 2022, Tech To The Rescue has found vetted tech partners to provide pro bono IT services to over 100 projects submitted by non-profit organizations. Most of these projects are from the #TechForUkraine campaign and will positively impact the lives of one million Ukrainian refugees. The 100th match is also an important milestone in the collaboration between TTTR and Google.org. Google.org Fellows have been supporting TTTR on a full-time pro-bono basis since April.
We have reached another milestone! As of mid-August 2022, Tech To The Rescue has matched over 113 NGO projects, which means a 300% year-over-year growth. In 2022 alone, the number of technology companies in the community increased from 225 to 1150 entities, and the number of non-profit organizations increased from 250 to 580 entities.
“This number makes me really proud, because it means that we are no longer a small NGO startup based in Poland. We are a global, fast-growing, established organization that creates change. Since its inception, Tech To The Rescue has contributed to creating over 160 projects,” says Jacek Siadkowski, CEO of Tech To The Rescue.
Recent collaborations
The projects TTTR has supported to date have had an impact in 25 countries, including Ukraine, Moldova, Germany, Poland, the UK, India and the US. These include initiatives stemming from the #AnimalWelfare, #TechForGood and #TechForUkraine campaigns.
Five non-profit projects found their tech partner in Google that has been supporting Ukraine both in direct donations and technological support. Together, Google.org and Google employees have contributed over $15 million to Ukraine, including advertising grants to help trusted humanitarian and intergovernmental organizations connect people to important sources of aid and resettlement information.
The recent collaborations matched by TTTR include:
- Balbek Bureau + Google: Balbek Bureau is an award-winning global interior architecture studio founded by Ukrainian architect Slava Balbek. Thanks to the partnership with Google the organization will preserve Ukrainian monuments as NFTs by taking 3D photos of all monuments/buildings that can be saved and placing them in Google Earth VR with description and updates on changes in recent times. Also, Google will help Balbek build an online platform to collect and verify evidence of war.
- The Human Aspect + Espeo Software. The main project of The Human Aspect is The Life Experience Library – a digital and free content library with interviews and testimonials of thousands of people who share their personal stories about struggles they experienced. Espeo Software has redesigned the website of the Human Aspect and improved its UX, which will help the organization increase their audience by 50%.
- Bamberg: UA + Automattic. Bamberg:UA is a Germany-based non-profit organization that provides humanitarian and medical aid and equipment to Ukraine. Automattic will redesign the website to raise funds and increase outreach twofold.
- MAD-AID (Moldova) + Emfire.io and Google: MAD-AID facilitates the transfer of high quality equipment no longer needed by UK hospitals (NHS) to hospitals in desperate need of upgrades and manages a hydrotherapy center for children with special needs. Since the war in Ukraine started, they regularly send trucks of products from the UK to Moldova, meant for Ukrainian refugees. Emfire will implement and set up a Salesforce CRM system for the NGO and Google will provide support with AdGrants account & campaigns set up to help with promoting the activities of the NGO, reach potential donors, etc.
- Animal Empathy Philippines + IT Factory. Animal Empathy Philippines is committed to improving the lives of farm animals. IT Factory will assist the organization in developing a website.
- Project Sunflower + Google: Google will build an infrastructure for a coalition that includes Polish and Ukrainian Groups of AIDP (International Association of Penal Law), Centre for IHL and Transitional Justice, Peace and Justice Initiative, The Polish Bar Council, Pravo Justice, and ECOM, united as Project Sunflower. The project concentrates on collecting information on evidence of crimes committed in Ukraine since 24 February 2022 and victims who suffered harm as a result of such crimes, with protection of anonymity of a source.
- NovaUkraine that partnered with Automattic has built a website that helped them raise $24.5M.
- MapujPomoc, a catalog of nonprofits supporting Ukraine, which had been matched with mohi.to, was recognized by UNHCR and used as an important part of the system of redistributing United Nations resources.
- The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and SoftServe are building a service supporting teachers in switching to online education (schools are mostly destroyed).
- UASOS + ID Advisory, BCG and Clevsoft – one of the first projects built within #TechForUkraine campaign, an “AirBnB-like” platform connecting refugees with people offering shelter and housing, has ensured 50 000 safe nights altogether, and is still in use – now in 8+ countries, including Poland, Czechia, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia.
Other nonprofits matched with vetted technology partners include:
- Fundacja K.I.D.S.
- Women’s Perspectives
- Yesterday Today Tomorrow
- Zagoriy Foundation
- Associação Vegetariana Portuguesa
- Laska Store
- Fundacja Konflikt
- Care in Action
- Plataforma Alto
- Paso Pacifico
- Renaissance NGO
- Saving Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Online (SUCHO)
Maximizing the scale thanks to Google.org Fellowship
Since April 2022, Tech To The Rescue has been supported by a grant and a Google.org Fellowship, through which a team of Google employees have been working full-time pro-bono to help TTTR scale their operations and their support to Ukraine. Thanks to the grant, the foundation has also hired new staff to amplify the impact, and the team has grown from 3 full-time employees to 22, including Google Fellows who joined TTTR for a six months fellowship.
“In the last few months, our matching speed has increased many times over, and the matching team has done incredible work streamlining processes,” says Jacek Siadkowski. “We have replaced manual processes with automations and are able to find technical partners for an NGO faster,” adds Kateryna Koshlan, Google.org Fellow, who helps Tech To The Rescue with matching. “It’s very satisfying that every day we can help other organizations maximize their impact and equip them with much-needed technology. This job has definitely given me a different perspective and allowed me to meet new, inspiring people,” she says.
