Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 28, 2013

We are a high tech organization that is not organized as a for-profit company, but instead as a nonprofit charitable corporation working to ensure technology serves all of humanity. At Benetech , we like to think of ourselves as part of Silicon Valley’s heart. We believe it’s possible to build on top of this asset without recreating it.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 28, 2014

As Gerardo explained in a recent blog post , Schema.org—the organization that keeps a list of agreed-upon tags that all search engines can use in common—adopted our proposed standards, so that search engine users can refine their searches to easily find accessible learning resources online.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 17, 2015

As the nonprofit operator of Bookshare ,the world’s largest online library for people who are blind, visually impaired, dyslexic, or have a physical disability that prevents them from reading books, Benetech strongly recommends the ratification of the Marrakesh Treaty. There is still much to do, however, before the treaty takes full effect.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 9, 2014

As CEO and founder of Benetech —a nonprofit technology company that has been creating and delivering technology solutions to expand the educational and vocational opportunities of marginalized groups—I was thrilled to learn firsthand about this funder collaborative and its interest in supporting innovative approaches to tackling the education gap.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 30, 2012

This landscape, named by scholars as the “new social economy,” is being dramatically reshaped by recent trends in the social sector that have led to a blurring of the distinctions between business, nonprofit, and government organizations.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 20, 2011

Elaina Todd, an environmental planner who develops social marketing campaigns with the nonprofit conservation group Rare, is profiled in our most recent case study for Benetech’s Miradi software. She says that one of the most important benefits of Miradi is that it allows environmental planners to make the best use of limited resources.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 19, 2013

We’ve designed the site to be fully searchable, making it easy to find the information you need, and developed new content to convey the impact of our work and provide resources we hope will be useful. You’ll also find information about several meaningful ways to support our work. Benetech is committed to making our website accessible to all.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 4, 2014

This keeps us focused on projects that offer the greatest social impact for the resources invested. We’re excited to see Y Combinator admitting some nonprofit teams into their program , but their focus is still on cultivating a community of top-end entrepreneurs for a relatively short period of time.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 25, 2013

We get a huge amount of pro bono assistance from the legal profession, both because of our social impact as a nonprofit, and because of the challenging and interesting issues we tackle. We’re not an advocacy organization, but our technical insights are in great demand from advocates.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 15, 2013

We may be a nonprofit, but we’re also a tech company: in ten years, we shouldn’t be doing what we’re doing today! It’s a great resource for organizations that are engaged in spinning off sustainable projects, or that are considering similar strategies. We used it to review our planning as we wrapped up this move.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 5, 2010

For each American who has a disability that affects access to information and communication capabilities, there are tech solutions that could be delivered through broadband to make that resource accessible. Specific comments on the proposed Clearinghouse. Of these three types, I think the medium-sized prizes would have the biggest impact.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 10, 2014

Without this service, Bookshare would not be the resource it is today. To continue this work, we depend on the support of generous donors. With a gift of just $50, we can add a new ebook to the Bookshare collection, making that book available to hundreds of thousands of Bookshare members with disabilities.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 27, 2013

Digital and mobile communications are changing the rules about social networks, intellectual property, and the availability of big data, with an overall blurring of the boundaries between state, for-profits, and nonprofits. In my contribution to Ron’s book, I discuss the framework that guides us at Benetech, the technology nonprofit I lead.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MAY 7, 2012

This early portion of the Skoll conference is for Skoll awardee staff, the Skoll Foundation and key resources to grow the field. And, I have a feeling it would be some of the most powerful money raised by the nonprofit sector! The senior social entrepreneurs in the audience were listening in rapt attention. How is it structured?

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 17, 2014

As a different kind of Silicon Valley tech company—a nonprofit with a pure focus on social good—our goal is to see that the best of technology gets applied to social needs left unaddressed by for-profit businesses. Why do we at Benetech care about this so much? And, Benetech is committed as an organization to all of these six principles.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 21, 2011

He’s an expert in magnetometers for natural resources and defense applications, and the inventor of the security walk-through metal detector and many other cool devices. And so, my very first for-profit angel introduced me to my first nonprofit angel! Robert, however, changed my mind about what the new nonprofit should be like.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 22, 2012

I've been a longtime fan of Bookshare's services, and this summer, I'm thrilled to be working with the people that develop these amazing resources. Mark Lind-Hanson I have been involved in nonprofit administrative and development work for a decade and a half, and came to Bookshare in the summer of 2010 as a volunteer.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 29, 2011

That's why it's painful to hear about disputes over denying students with very real print disabilities access to these resources. Background Information Benetech is Silicon Valley’s deliberately nonprofit technology company. We have IRS recognition as a 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit organization.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 21, 2008

Downloads, packaged with support, will cost $250 per user per year, discounted to $150 for nonprofits. Benetech's Human Resources Director, Jane Simchuk, says the humanitarian aspirations of job candidates have become a common theme since the company posted twelve new positions on its web site last year.

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Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 7, 2013

Although Benetech''s social enterprises often generate most or all of their budgets from revenues, the human rights movement just doesn''t have that kind of funding to support even nonprofit social enterprises! The balance comes from unrestricted donations to Benetech as a cool overall nonprofit organization!]

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