What's the challenge?

More than one million public charities in the U.S. are trying to address society’s most complex problems using inadequate and out-of-date technologies. Often, an individual charity will invest in a technology solution for their own organization. Unfortunately, this perpetuates a fragmented ecosystem as each organization focuses on delivering value without figuring out how to address issues at a systemic level. A related issue that public charities face is the risk of cyberattacks, a serious and growing problem for which nonprofit organizations typically have little to no budget to address.

What are we doing about it?

Panorama created the Tech for Social Impact Fund to provide funding for innovation to serve the public interest by addressing such technology issues. The goal of the Tech for Social Impact Fund is to unleash capital for innovative solutions that leverage technology to enable social impact organizations to deliver on their mission. By pooling resources into the Fund, we can find economies of scale and create systemic technology solutions to support organizations working toward social impact goals.

What is our progress?

Panorama’s newest philanthropic fund, the Tech for Social Impact Fund was launched in fall 2019. The Fund creates specific windows to achieve impact, with an initial focus on improved technology infrastructure for organizations that help survivors of child abuse and sexual assault. Through the Fund, Panorama is exploring possibilities to support organizations addressing the following problems:

• Sexual assault response mapping: Currently, there is no central database showing how many and which U.S. emergency rooms have resources to support victims of sexual assault. Through the Fund’s support, a proposed solution is the creation of an online widget that will offer real-time access to continuously updated data on the availability of sexual assault resources at any given emergency room in the U.S.
• Improved forensic interviewing for victims of child abuse: Recorded forensic interviews are essential in providing justice to victims of child abuse. Child advocacy centers have been seeking ways to reduce trauma in the interview process and to ensure recordings are securely stored and managed to protect victims. A technology solution could be a cloud-based digital video management system to securely process, manage, and store child forensic video interviews.
• Cybersecurity: Non-profit organizations find themselves at risk of cyber attacks. Not only do bad actors seek to access sensitive data that non-profits collect about beneficiaries or donors, but some aim to impede the mission of a non-profit itself. Through the Fund, resources will be provided to support efforts to evaluate, monitor, and mitigate security risks for non-profits working for the rights of women and girls.

At this early stage of the Fund, we are grateful for the contributions already received from individual donors and private companies to support organizations providing assistance to survivors of child abuse and sexual assault.