Innovation for Social Impact


credit: Fotopedia

The potential for technology to solve challenges in new ways, to enable faster scale, and to invite people around the world into the global economy is limitless. With technological innovation and entrepreneurial resolve we know change is possible.

We hope everyone will join us as we track the Living Progress Challenge solutions. We know the deeply exciting advances for the organizations, and the people they serve, lie just ahead.

After a highly competitive process with more than 130 proposals submitted from 28 countries around the world for Hewlett Packard Enterprise's the Living Progress Challenge:


  • 17 proposals were selected and designed into prototypes
  • 10 teams pitched live at the final pitch event in New York.
  • 4 innovative solutions were ultimately selected as the final winners


These solutions span a range of impact areas from helping rural women save money and gain access to financial tools; to combating the illegal trade of fisheries products; to connecting youth in Mexico with mentors; and helping the world's largest volunteer organization transform the way people engage in their communities.

Each solution is in its final testing phase and will be launched over the coming weeks and months. These teams reflect that same innovative and entrepreneurial drive that is heralded so many Silicon Valley start-ups. For some of the NGO teams, this was the first time pursuing digital tools into their problem-solving. Teams were courageous, they learned about their user needs. Read the Entire Article

Selected Grant News Headlines

A customized collection of grant news from foundations and the federal government from around the Web.

The Impact Investing Case for Telecom Companies

"We are so used to being almost permanently online that we don't really appreciate what we have and do not really know what to do when we're not," Joni Mitchell wrote in her 1970s song "Big Yellow...more

Dentsu Creative Joins Forces with the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (Geapp ...

"No one country and no one organization can achieve this alone," says GEAPP Chief Communications Officer Kate Wills. "This is why we are committed to forming an ever widening and diverse alliance...more

Wilkes Center Announces 7 Finalists for $500K Climate Launch Prize

The University of Utah's Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy has narrowed its list of finalists for its $500,000 Climate Launch Prize to seven. The goal of the prize, which is one of the...more

The Growth of Social Enterprises €” For-Profit Businesses That Tackle a Social Problem

"Having a purposeful job actually does transform someone's life," says Edwin Walsh, who runs a social enterprise in Australia called Assembled Threads. "You actually are moving someone from...more

Youth-Led Startups Showcase Sustainable Development Solutions at the Youth Social ...
Foundation: Citi Foundation

"To the youth, I urge you to be proactive, resilient, and persistent on your entrepreneurial journey," says the UN's resident representative in the Philippines. "Make your voices heard, take up...more

Canada and India Announce Funding for Innovations to Improve Child Health

Canada is putting its money where its mouth is, with a $2.5 million investment in five projects in India meant to help the country's poor, the Toronto Star reports. "Many of these novel projects...more

Maui Adult Day Care Centers: Caring and Trusted Resources for Maui'S Family Caregivers and Kupuna
Foundation: Hawaii Community Foundation

If you're in your 60s or older and looking for adult day care in Maui, you're in luck. The nonprofit Maui Adult Day Care Centers lost its West Maui Center in the Lahaina fire last August, but...more

Pishon Health Launches Innovation Incubator To Empower African Healthtech Innovators

"Africa faces significant healthcare challenges," says Mopelola Ajegbile, founder of Pishon Health. "However, the continent is also brimming with talented innovators developing solutions...more

Portsmouth Abbey School Junior to Travel to Washington, D.C., to Compete in the Poetry Out ...

A 16-year-old from Rhode Island is headed to Washington, DC, in April to compete in the Poetry Out Loud national finals. Jennifer Shon, a junior at Portsmouth Abbey School, won the state...more

Sowela to Offer Evidence-Based Culinary Medicine Program -

A Louisiana community college is adding a new concentration to its culinary arts degreeand it's all about health. Sowela Technical Community College's new Culinary Medicine Concentration blends...more





Ganesh Natarajan is the Founder and Chairman of 5FWorld, a new platform for funding and developing start-ups, social enterprises and the skills eco-system in India. In the past two decades, he has built two of India’s high-growth software services companies – Aptech and Zensar – almost from scratch to global success.