Refocus tech talent to help people rather than maximizing profits
The tech industry is still going through one of its periodic restructurings. Tech stock prices were up over 40% in 2023 and keep rising in 2024, but employment is down. Hundreds of thousands of tech workers have lost their jobs over the past two years.
With the latest announcements (more than 50,000 more jobs cut so far in 2024), this trend seems likely to continue. The silver lining to the tech retrenchment is the opportunity to refocus some of that technology workforce on actively helping human beings rather than maximizing profits.
The fact is that 95% of humanity (i.e., the less affluent majority) and the health of the planet don't fit into the industry's calculations of profit and loss. Global society's urgent needs are too often overlooked by tech companies focused on chasing bigger and bigger returns. The market is failing to deliver on critically important human needs because they are insufficiently lucrative.
Luckily, the people who work in tech actually do think about the bigger picture. They are not enthralled with the idea that their life's work is only making better ads to sell products (and politicians) that consumers don't really need. Or creating tech that makes poor people poorer.
The pandemic, combined with mass layoffs, caused many tech professionals to re-examine their work lives. They realized they didn't need to go into an office or spend hours each day commuting. Many are willing to trade higher incomes for flexibility and more meaningful work.
There is plenty of meaning in social impact work. Just as software and data have been used to make a select few wealthy, tech could be used to find solutions to large vexing social problems in education, health and climate. What if data was used to shift power back to the people who need it the most, rather than strip-mining them of their personal data and using it against them?
The nonprofit sector is also waking up to tech's opportunities. Would a modest investment in tech allow their current staff to deliver twice as much social good, or raise twice as much money? Could multiple organizations collaborate to build tech solutions useful to them all?
A new class of tech nonprofits are emerging. Some are creating software for other nonprofits, much like specialty software companies write software for dental offices and restaurants. Even more nonprofits are using exciting tech to power their programs. Ambitious organizations of any type need tech these days to succeed. Peel back the covers on more and more of the exciting nonprofits scaling up impact and winning awards, and you will find tech teams with product managers, software developers and data scientists.
A new wave of risk-taking donors is also coming on the scene. These donors understand the importance of investing in data-driven research and exciting new social enterprises. They are comfortable taking risks and making philanthropic investments in tech.
Let us not allow today's crisis in the for-profit tech industry go to waste. There are huge opportunities to invest some of our immense tech talent and wealth to improve the lives of billions. If a small sliver of that wealth increase is donated to a wave of new tech nonprofit startups focused on maximum social impact, not maximum financial return, this could create many thousands of jobs. If even 5% of those affected by tech layoffs used their skills for social good, it could transform the impact sector.
Humanity and the planet need these tech people and investments to address the urgent issues we're facing and help improve our collective future.
Jim Fruchterman is founder of Palo Alto nonprofit Tech Matters and a tech entrepreneur.