 Headlines
Foundations Boost Funding for Study of Religion
Lilly Endowment Awards Grants to Explore Role of Faith
in Career
Gay Rights Advocates Express Concern Over Case Donation
to School
RealNetworks Creates Charitable Foundation
Digital Divide Volunteer Groups Grow in Popularity
Gates Says Access to Technology Not Priority for
World's Poorest
Computer Game Puts Philanthropic Skills to the Test
San Francisco's Arts Community Sees Both Sides of Boom
Economy
Boston Housing Fund Helps Poor Residents Cope With
Rising Rents
Corporate Mergers Have Nonprofits Concerned Over
Funding Cuts
Horizon Foundation Focuses on Community Health
Correction in Generosity Index Moves Minnesota From
41st to 15th Place • • • • • • |
PHILANTHROPY NEWS DIGEST
Twenty-seven-year-old Ethan Zuckerman, who became
independently wealthy when his Internet company Tripod was
bought by Lycos in 1998, started Geekcorps to help make a wider range of
information available to the citizens of poor and
developing countries. The idea came to Zuckerman while
studying in Ghana on a Fulbright Scholarship. Noticing
that the university library in which he was studying
lacked up-to-date materials, Zuckerman had an epiphany of
sorts: A connection to the Internet could double the
library's holdings overnight.
Working with $350,000 donated by Zuckerman and friends
from Tripod, the North Adams, Massachusetts-based
Geekcorps sent a six-person pilot team to Ghana to train a
local software company in Java and Unix, which in turn
attracted the attention of Denis Gilhooly, the director of
information and communications technology for the United
Nations Development Program.
"The key to information infrastructure," notes Gilhooly,
"is a dual approach of bottom-up development, exemplified
by Geekcorps, and top-down efforts, which would be
exemplified by the UNDP Global Network Readiness and
Resource Initiative."
Geekcorps is not alone in its efforts. Groups such as the
Global Technology Corps,
Net Corps America, and
the Peace Corps have
begun to send volunteers to developing countries equipped
with information technology tools, teaching methods, and
strategies. And in almost every instance, the goal of
these efforts is the same: to help community-based groups
in developing countries leverage the Internet to improve
the medical, educational, and economic infrastructure in
their communities.
Dewan, Shaila. "Geeks, Proud of the Name, Start a
Volunteer Corps." New York Times (Late Edition, East Coast) 10/19/2000.
See also: The Peace Corps and America Online Announce Unique International Digital Divide Campaign." AOL Foundation News Release 10/18/2000.
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