Although online giving marketplaces are small, they make for an important piece of the philanthropic environment. They are, indeed, democratizing the sector by empowering more donors to express their views and support the causes they care about, while allowing nonprofits around the world to obtain the resources they need. In this panel discussion, part of the Online Giving Marketplaces Conference sponsored by the Center for Social Innovation's magazine, the Stanford Social Innovation Review, practitioners in the online giving sector discuss how the new connectivity promises to make an impact on philanthropy. They consider questions such as: Are such online spaces here to stay? Are they simply a tool that everyone will integrate over time? Or do they, in fact, represent the “next generation” of the foundation, adapted to today’s much more connected times?
Moderator Gabriel Kasper is a consultant at the Monitor Institute.
Jay Backstrand is a vice president and banker in the JPMorgan Private Bank in San Francisco. In 1997, he cofounded VolunteerMatch, a nonprofit that uses the Web to bring together charitable organizations that depend on volunteers with individuals seeking opportunities to get involved. Backstrand served as president and CEO of VolunteerMatch and remains a member of its board. He is on the advisory board of YouthNoise, a social networking site, and Medrio, a medical research software company. He received a BA in political science from Brown University, an MA in international economics and international relations from Johns Hopkins University, and an MS from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.
Matt Halprin is a partner at Omidyar Network, where he pursues investments in social media, marketplaces, government transparency, and trust, reputation, and identity. Before joining Omidyar, Halprin was vice president, global trust and safety, at eBay, where he led a team of 90 statisticians, policy managers, and product managers, and coordinated the efforts of 2,000 customer support personnel to increase revenue while minimizing fraud and trust-reducing behavior. Prior to eBay, Halprin was a partner and vice president at The Boston Consulting Group. He is on the board of Management Leadership of Tomorrow, a nonprofit that supports the next generation of minority leaders in the United States.
Jacob Harold is a program officer at The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, overseeing grantmaking in the foundation’s Philanthropy Program, which works to improve the practice of philanthropy. Before joining the Hewlett Foundation, Harold worked for the Bridgespan Group, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Rainforest Action Network, and Greenpeace USA. He trained in business strategy with Bain & Company, learned grassroots organizing in Green Corps, and studied complex systems science in Beijing at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Harold received a BA, summa cum laude, from Duke University and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Mari Kuraishi is cofounder and president of GlobalGiving, where she heads up the organization’s internal operations. Before starting GlobalGiving, she worked at the World Bank, where she managed and created some of the bank's most innovative projects, including the first Innovation and Development Marketplaces, and the first strategic forums for the senior management team. Kuraishi also designed loans in Russia ranging from residential energy efficiency to structural adjustment and legal reform. In addition to her native Japanese, Kuraishi speaks Russian, Italian, and French. She received undergraduate and graduate degrees from Harvard University, including completion of the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.
Brita Lombardi is executive vice president for strategic development at DonorsChoose.org, where she is responsible for driving the national expansion of the organization. Before joining DonorsChoose.org, Lombardi was an associate at Bain & Company, president of VenusSports.com, an investment principal at GameChange Venture Capital (a $100 million venture capital partnership between Softbank and Accenture Technology Ventures), and acting chief operating officer of the Bring Me a Book Foundation. She also spent two years overseeing a portfolio of social enterprises for Keystone Community Ventures. Lombardi received a BA with highest honors from Stanford University.
Resources
This free podcast is from our Stanford Social Innovation Review series.
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