When the Afghanistan crisis reared its ugly head again this year, a group of veterans, active-duty service members, former government officials, civil servants, and nonprofit organizations came together to work online to help individuals and families evacuate the country.

Humanitarian responses, whether to a natural disaster or a protracted conflict, have always been complex and have rarely, if ever, involved a single agency, nonprofit, or entity.

The same could also be said of vaccine distribution during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The collaboration required at mass scale between governments at the national and local levels, private entities, healthcare institutions, philanthropic donors, nonprofits, and individuals is immense.

Whether you are trying to advance the Sustainable Development Goals, meet the complex challenge of climate change, or any combination of the critical problems of our time, it is clear that no single nonprofit can solve global challenges alone.

When the Afghanistan government fell to the Taliban just days after the U.S. and coalition forces withdrew their troops, Afghan allies that served alongside the U.S. and others had an extremely short window to flee their country. In order to be eligible for a spot on one of the few remaining flights out of the country, Afghan allies had to demonstrate their affiliation with allied organizations and navigate dangerous checkpoints. Afghans were frantically trying to make their way through the chaos to the airport while collecting the critical information needed to support their request to leave the country.

Veterans Called to Duty Digitally

Meanwhile, back in the U.S., veterans were … Read more

As the second week of COP26 — the UN’s global climate change conference — draws to a close, climate scientists are poring over the pledges made by world leaders, trying to determine whether their commitments to reduce carbon emissions will bring us within the agreed limit of a 1.5 degree global temperature increase. Tools like the Climate Action Tracker present the world’s progress in easy-to-understand infographics. With it, you can see the commitments your country has made.

In the last few years we’ve learned that the climate crisis is one of the most unifying challenges of our time, as extreme weather events have indiscriminately affected both rich and poor countries. We’ve also learned that the climate crisis is an intersectional issue that exacerbates problems of poverty, negatively affects human rights, and hinders our collective progress towards all 17 of the Sustainable Development Goals. This makes the crisis a key … Read more

Fifteen-year-old Gitanjali Rao is proud to call herself a STEMinist, a term she defines as “any female, especially in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math, and especially in male-dominated fields, who sees a lot of these issues are being underrepresented and goes out there and makes an effort.” The idea is to be an inspiration to others — something Rao has certainly achieved.

An inventor, scientist, author, and engineer, Rao was named Time Magazine’s first-ever Kid of the Year in 2020 and won the 2017 Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge for her work on a device that detects lead in water more quickly than any earlier methods. She regularly leads innovation and technology workshops for elementary schools around the world.

Recently, Rao spoke with Devi Thomas, Salesforce.org’s VP of insights and social impact marketing, during a fireside chat that also included three participants from Project Scientist, … Read more