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Shannon Farley and Sam Caplan

The AI imperative: How tech nonprofits are leading the way

Shannon Farley digs into the landscape of tech nonprofits using AI for good and reshaping how the social impact sector thinks about technology.
 
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This episode of the Impact Audio podcast features Shannon Farley, co-founder and executive director of Fast Forward. She digs into the ways tech nonprofits are using AI to make a deeper impact and shares her takeaways from the Google.org Impact Summit.

She explores:

  • Real-world examples of nonprofits building AI tools
  • How to avoid “shiny object” funding
  • What nonprofits can teach the for-profit world about AI adoption
guests
Shannon Farley

Shannon Farley co-founded Fast Forward to see the world’s best tech solve humanity’s biggest challenges. Given many of the best technologies are AI-powered, Shannon focuses on AI-powered nonprofits — 501(c)(3) organizations deploying AI to advance core impact objectives. By championing this work, Shannon helps ensure that AI makes a difference for historically marginalized communities.

As the Executive Director of Fast Forward, Shannon has helped improve the lives of over 186M people globally and raised $753M in follow-on funding for tech and AI-powered nonprofits. Before Fast Forward, Shannon was the founding Executive Director of Spark, the world's largest network of Millennial philanthropists. Prior to Spark, Shannon helped start The W. Haywood Burns Institute, a MacArthur Award-winning juvenile justice reform organization. Shannon holds a BA in American Studies from Georgetown University and an MS in Gender and Social Policy from the London School of Economics.

Sam Caplan

Sam Caplan is the Vice President of Social Impact at Submittable, a platform that foundations, governments, nonprofits, and other changemakers use to launch, manage, and measure impactful granting and CSR programs. Inspired by the amazing work performed by practitioners of all stripes, Sam strives to help them achieve their missions through better, more effective software.

Sam formerly served as founder of New Spark Strategy, Chief Information Officer at the Walton Family Foundation, and head of technology at the Walmart Foundation. He consults, advises, and writes on social impact technology, strategy, and innovation.

Connect with or follow Sam on Linkedin, listen to his podcast Impact Audio, and subscribe to his bi-weekly newsletter The Review.

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Impact Audio features short conversations (and a few longer ones) with social impact experts and practitioners. We cover the world of philanthropy, nonprofits, corporate citizenship, and social change.