What is it like to work for a tech nonprofit in 2018? originally appeared on Quora, the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus.

It’s the beginning of a golden era. It used to be that there were just a few: DonorsChoose.org, Khan Academy, Kiva, Wikipedia, etc. But now we’re seeing a massive increase in the number of tech nonprofits globally (check out the Fast Forward - Accelerator for Tech Nonprofits directory, which is the most comprehensive out there), which allows more of us to connect and thrive. I think of us as really the second generation of tech nonprofits. And it makes sense why it’s happening: the connectivity is great, open source tools are saving us tons of time, and the tech sector has built such a huge employment base that we’re able to find talent more easily. And the impact you can have is huge. Tech has completely disrupting the economics of the social sector (for example, CareerVillage costs about a dollar per beneficiary and gets cheaper with scale, which you could compare against traditional mentorship programs which cost thousands of dollars per beneficiary and have no economies of scale).

Culturally, it’s a super fascinating time. We sit at the intersection of two worlds: the social impact / social justice community, and the technology community. They’re both amazing in their own ways, but typically don’t interact much. Working at a tech nonprofit means being able to speak both languages and be involved with both communities. It’s exciting and new and really really intellectually challenging. But if you take the best of both sides and combine them, you can have an amazing experience helping a lot of people find a better life. And ultimately, that’s the purpose that drives me: to help people and to live in a just world.

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