BlackRock Invests $600K in Nonprofits Redesigning the Future with Tech
The most innovative tech does more than solve today’s problems. It designs a more accessible, sustainable, and equitable future. BlackRock’s Recovery Forward campaign spotlights 12 high-impact tech nonprofits building this future. Through the campaign, BlackRock employees directed $600,000 to innovative tech nonprofits breaking barriers to health, education, and opportunity around the globe. The campaign was a win-win: it empowered employees to support causes they care about, while providing meaningful grants to tech nonprofits. These forward-thinking organizations are connecting food insecure residents to food pantries, training formerly incarcerated people for high-wage trucking careers, and delivering educational lessons to students with limited internet access – to name a few!
As the campaign’s highest-earner, Hopebound secured over $90,000 for its work providing free teletherapy for low-income youth at high risk for mental illness (Credit: Hopebound)
Through the campaign, BlackRock equipped each employee with a $50 credit to donate to the tech nonprofit of their choice. An impressive 9,500+ team members – more than 43.3% of BlackRock employees globally – took part in Recovery Forward. Employees were particularly excited about Hopebound, the highest earner in the campaign. Hopebound secured over $90,000 through Recovery Forward for its work providing free, quality teletherapy for low-income youth at high risk for mental illness. Chief Community Officer Tenijah Hamilton celebrated the campaign’s immediate impact: “this support will fund 10,000 free sessions for our young people,” she shared. The next two highest-earners were Refunite, a global helpline enabling refugee families to use their smartphones to find missing loved ones around the world, and WattTime, which builds software that equips smart devices to draw energy from clean power sources.
Refunite, a top earner in the campaign, runs a global helpline enabling refugee families to use their smartphones to find missing loved ones around the world. (Credit: Refunite)
BlackRock employees had the chance to hear first-hand about the far-reaching impact of their support through a series of fireside chats. The founders of FreeWorld, Darsel, and Rocket Learning gave a behind-the-scenes glimpse into their solutions and the personal stories that inspire their work. The BlackRock community also had the opportunity to hear about Fast Forward through a fireside chat with our co-founder Shannon Farley. Employees around the world learned how Fast Forward scales innovative organizations like those in Recovery Forward, and ways they can continue playing a part in advancing tech for good.
The founders of Rocket Learning gave a behind-the-scenes glimpse into their solutions through a series of virtual fireside chats with BlackRock employees. (Credit: Romel Dias)
BlackRock and Fast Forward have a rich history of joining forces to support entrepreneurs building tech solutions for our most challenging social problems. Last year’s inaugural Recovery Forward campaign awarded an impressive $1 million in grants to nonprofits building for a post-pandemic future. As a longtime (read: eight year!) partner of Fast Forward, BlackRock has empowered tech nonprofits with invaluable funding and mentorship.
For two years, BlackRock Recovery Forward has enabled tech nonprofits to scale their digital solutions for meaningful impact. We’re extremely grateful to BlackRock for this partnership, and look forward to all the ways we’ll continue teaming up with BlackRock employees to support tech nonprofits driving us towards a more equitable future.