Let's start with the word philanthropy.
The word philanthropy, what's the origin of that word?
It's a Latin word, and it really means loving people.
So the idea of people, and networks to give back,
and loving people, is a really, really important idea.
And I think that when you're looking at philanthropy,
there's the importance of finding your passion and figuring out what that is.
So really go wide and then learning about that issue area, and so
going deep, and technology can really help you do that.
But then you're gonna contribute.
And you may contribute time, you may contribute money,
you also may just contribute, kind of, your social network of really
helping spread the word about the passion area you care about.
And all of those are really, really important.
There is a young girl, Vivienne Harr, for example.
So at eight years old, she learned about the issue of human slavery,
about child slavery.
And it really upset her, at eight years old.
And so what did she do?
She did what maybe an eight year old would typically do.
She opened up a lemonade stand and
started selling lemonade to raise money to help kids with slavery.
And through doing this work herself with people, but
also with a bit of technology, fast forward, Vivienne was able to,
in about two years time, actually create her own lemonade company.
And now at age ten she's opened her own technology with using, creating,
a Make a Stand application to help other people make a stand around
issues they care about.
So Vivienne's a great example of one person,
one eight year old who cares about an issue,
using technology to help get the word out, and having a really powerful story.
Just to tell another story, Mark Horvath was formerly homeless in LA.
So, he was a marketing executive in Los Angeles and
found himself on Hollywood Boulevard, homeless.
And felt really, really alone.
And uncovered social media,
uncovered technology as a way of figuring out how to tell his story.
But then realized that there were a lot of stories that weren't being told.
So he started an organization called Invisible People.
And if you hear about Mark Horvath's story, it's really fantastically powerful,
about the role technology can play to get your word out and
tell your story in an important way.
And I think storytelling is really, really key.
So storytelling is just not saying, hey, join me cuz I care about it, but
thinking about what makes for a good story.
So is it something that causes crisis or tension?
Or something that's very timely, something that's just a surprise that just happened,
and how can you capitalize on that?
And Twitter's a great tool for doing that because it's real time.
So it's a great opportunity to kind of harness that time, and
tell your story in a meaningful way, and get it out there through your networks.
So if Vivienne Harr, an 8 year old girl,
can help make a stand against slavery, and Mark Horvath can have technology
help him go from homelessness to an advocate against homelessness.
I think that is a good reminder that anyone, anyone,
can use technology to be a philanthropist and give back in a really meaningful way.
And I think the word democratizing of technology is really, really incredible,
because technology has shifted where the power is.
So a role of Twitter means that you can send a message directly to
the President of the United States, you could send a message to anyone.
And people are more accessible to you than they ever have before.
So rather than even getting your news from the traditional newscasters or
the news forums, you can make news, and create news, and tell your story.
I mean, we saw that at Ferguson, we've seen that with Arab Spring,
we've seen that a lot of places.
And so this kind of, you own the power to make change by using technology like
Twitter is a great example of democratization of technology.
Back to Mark Horvath with Invisible People,
he talks about this one teenage youth who's homeless in LA, who he met.