Today, Vulcan Inc. announced its support of X4Impact, joining Microsoft and Giving Tech Labs as founding partners and we plan to be instrumental in helping to advance technology for the public interest and informing their plans for global expansion of the platform.
The US nonprofit sector is a $2 trillion/year economy and there is an emerging movement related to creating Technology for the Public Interest. However, there is a lack of a mature set of tools to support the sector’s collective efforts. To address the gap in insights and to spark social innovation, X4Impact was created as a market intelligence platform for social innovation, and it was launched during September’s United Nations General Assembly.
“We have consistently advocated for open data and the use of machine learning and AI for good,” said Bill Hilf, CEO at Vulcan. “The opportunity to connect trusted resources, solutions and credible data to those working for the betterment of humanity reflects our history in building technology for good and in helping to advance the capabilities of the non-profit sector.”
At X4i.org, X4Impact provides more than 190 million data-insights organized under the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. It also offers interactive tools based on content from over 650,000 nonprofit filings with the IRS, tech venture filings with the Security and Exchange Commission and private and public grants. It is a single destination where users can find:
- Tech for Good Solutions and Software for Nonprofits; such as Footprint, a global solution to address plastic waste, Docugami helping improve efficiencies via Document Automation, or Polyverse providing military-grade cybersecurity.
- Trending real problems or challenges that are seeking ideas on how technology can be of help.
- New Private and public grants that support social innovation and that in most cases are open to both nonprofit and social enterprises.
This new resource comes at a time when support of BIPOC businesses is particularly relevant and meaningful. X4Impact and its market intelligence has been used as a tool to empower greater business diversity. For instance,
CWI Labs was able to enhance its program around economic mobility for Black and Hispanic communities. According to early user CWI Lab’s President & CEO, Gary Officer, “X4Impact is a powerful platform that accelerated our ideation and funding phase around AI to address the urgent needs of our vulnerable communities.”
“We are thrilled to have Vulcan's support as a catalyst to scale X4Impact's legacy through free access to data intelligence that sparks social innovation,” said Shelly Kurtz, X4Impact co-founder. “We invite other leaders in tech and philanthropy to join us.”