Digital revolution and philanthropy with Facebook – a match made in heaven

Tech is transforming the face of philanthropy: younger, faster, higher impact. According to the 2015 Millennial Impact Report, 84 per cent of US Millennials donated in 2014. They are digital natives, and want engagement – volunteering time for fundraising, crowdfunding or fieldwork – plus storytelling of causes that should be tweetable and repeatable.

To understand how tech dynamises philanthropy, Lombard Odier, Fondation de France and Facebook joined forces to convene 100 guests on 2 October 2018, at #cloud.paris – Facebook’s French headquarter.

Hosted by Denis Pittet, President, Fondation Philanthropia & Managing Partner, Lombard Odier Group, Axelle Davezac, Director-General, Fondation de France, and Antoine Bordes, Director of the European Artificial Intelligence (AI) Research Centre at Facebook, a series of mini-TED talks first explored the implications of the digital revolution from different angles.

Is AI the solution?

How does digital change how we work, live and act as citizens, asked Olivier Mathiot, veteran French Tech entrepreneur and CEO of Rakuten Price Minister? Professors Klaus Schoenenberger and Solomzi Makohliso, who lead EPFL’s EssentialTech programme, then explained how AI can actually help us end hunger. Given that Europe’s economies may lose 10% of formal sector jobs to digitalisation in the next five years, Frédéric Bardeau, President & Co-founder of Simplon, showed how we can equip underprivileged citizens with the training they need to become employable in this new economy.
 

How can philanthropists prepare?

In the discussion, it became clear how little prepared the philanthropic sector still is to master the digital transformation, and how much professional help is needed. Lionel Bodin, Director Europe, explained how Accenture Development Partnership has created an internal social business that offers consulting services at cost to bring the expertise of 450'000 Accenture employees to the world’s non-profits and development organisations.Swiss entrepreneur and philanthropist Yann Borgstedt showed how in order to empower women and girls, the Womanity Foundation uses media and pioneering technology training, including offering courses in coding in Afghanistan, to reach populations in the Middle East and elsewhere, where 60% of the population is under 25. Reflecting on 15 years of pioneering work in social business, our Global Head of Philanthropy, Dr Maximilian Martin showed how, thanks to the tech revolution, social business may finally develop the scale and transformational impact that’s needed to turn around our generation’s pressing challenges.
 

Philanthropy and technology working hand in hand

Denis Pittet summed it all up, concluding that rather than a forced marriage between the carp and the rabbit, philanthropy will be instrumental in making sure that the tech revolution benefits all – and that the advent of tech will help philanthropy to speed up and take its social impact to the next level.