HPE Accelerating Impact is transforming the tech nonprofit sector and advancing DE&I efforts

I have a distinct memory of attending a conference as a teenager and learning that as a young black male in Oakland, I had a statistically greater chance of being incarcerated before the age of 21 than being admitted to the University of California. Now, as Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s Chief Sustainability Officer and President of HPE Foundation, it seems I’ve truly beaten the odds. Along my journey, beyond college and through law school, and in my 20+ years at HPE, I’ve developed a deep appreciation for thoughtful, innovative solutions grounded in lived experience and community empowerment.

But my reality should be the norm, not the exception.

That’s why I’m personally thrilled that HPE Foundation continues to power the tech nonprofit sector through our initiative, HPE Accelerating Impact, in partnership with Fast Forward. For two weeks each year, all 60,000+ team members are credited with $25 to donate to one of the 40 technology nonprofits thoughtfully selected by our HPE Gives and Fast Forward team.

Over 28,000 team members from around the world participated in this year’s campaign, many of them taking advantage of an early bird incentive that gave them the opportunity to make two selections, doubling their donation.

And with diversity, equity, and inclusion now an immovable center to HPE’s social impact work, I’m incredibly proud that over 50% of the 40 tech nonprofits are led by a woman, over 50% are led by a person of color, and over 50% were founded by someone with lived experience with the problem their organization is addressing.

We’re honored to contribute nearly $1.3M in total this year for the tech nonprofit sector in support of their innovative solutions during what remains a critical time of immense need. The tech nonprofits we supported last year positively benefited more than 360 million people worldwide. I look forward to learning about all the innovative ways this year’s tech nonprofits will use their funding.

All 40 of this year’s tech nonprofits in our campaign were carefully curated for excellence in potential for impact, scalability, leadership, tech talent, and diversity.  I felt I would be doing a disservice by not supporting all tech nonprofits—even in some small way. So, I opted to use my credit towards our “Give to all” option and support all the organizations. Clearly a sentiment I was not alone in since our “Give to all” option came in as the second-highest selected by our team members.

Yet, one did stand out to me personally—Movers & Shakers . This organization uses augmented reality (AR) to share the history of people who identify as women, people of color, and the LGBTQ+ community, and reshape the mainstream narrative around those communities in the process. To me, this type of work is critical for shifting perspectives and sowing greater understanding. Using Movers & Shakers’ mobile app, anyone can use a smart phone or tablet to see AR monuments and engage with interactive activities.

And that’s just one of the inspiring tech nonprofits HPE got to support. Below are the organizations that received the most team member interest and funding this year.
 

• Thorn  builds AI technology to combat online child sexual abuse. Their product, Safer, enables the quick and efficient identification, removal, and report of Child Sexual Abuse Material, and has already identified 150,000 abuse images.
  
  
• Allies Against Slavery  harnesses the power of technology, data, and partnerships to combat human trafficking. Their custom-built technology helps organizations understand trends in human trafficking, spot victims of exploitation, and coordinate quality care.
  
  
• Rainforest Connection  repurposes cell phones to automatically detect the unique sound of loggers’ chainsaws and alert authorities in real time.

Thank you to all who participated in the HPE Accelerating Impact 2021 campaign. Thank you Fast Forward and HPE Foundation for making this possible. And especially, thank you to all the nonprofits using technology to make the world a better place!

Download the HPE Accelerating Impact 2021 campaign results here