Platform businesses are not necessarily the financial success that their market valuations suggest, even if they have a dedicated community who use them. Now, however, networks of like-minded people and organizations are emerging to accelerate a first wave of digital co-operative enterprises.
Whether you’re “into tech” or not, the field of artificial intelligence needs input from the minds driving social impact — and organizations need the transformations AI could bring. James Stauch and Alina Turner kick off Future of Good’s series on AI in social impact.
At True North Waterloo, top leaders at the crossroads of tech and social impact came together to discuss the opportunities and challenges in the field.
In 2013, Pathways to Education became the first charity in Canada to accept bitcoin donations. Fast forward to 2019, and giving platform CHIMP has processed over $2.5 million in cryptocurrency donations. Cryptocurrency has clearly already met the world of impact — but the arrival of Libra is about to make that relationship far more complicated.
Impact investing and social finance aren't sustainable with government funding or philanthropic capital alone. There is a continued amount of work that the social change community across Canada needs to do to convene and convince mainstream private sector players of its value.
The benefits of platforms such as Uber and Airbnb are clear, but people are becoming aware of the downside. Platforms are making work more precarious and the sharing economy has been co-opted by investors seeking massive returns. In response, the old co-operative approach (one that Canada knows well) applied to platforms is emerging as an alternative.
