"This is really a government story and a community story and a teacher’s story before it’s a technology story," explains Kathleen Reen of SpaceXAI when discussing the company's partnership with El Salvador to provide access to learning platforms to both rural and urban students at the World Bank's annual meeting: youtube.com/watch?v=6xHVgrE-…

The World Bank kicked off its 2026 Annual Meeting with an informative conversation about the potential of “Small AI” - practical, affordable AI designed for specific tasks and local needs. It featured Ajay Banga, Kristalina Georgieva, Tharman Shanmugaratnam among other government and tech leaders. Watch the full conversation: live.worldbank.org/en/event/… Or catch 8 minutes of highlights: youtube.com/watch?v=CD4RuQTd…

The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) at the AI for Good 2026 Summit highlighted the urgent need to ground AI's future in energy efficiency, safety, and human values. Read this overview for more information about two IEC-hosted sessions. The first asked whether the world can power AI, the second asked how the world can govern it in practice. linkedin.com/pulse/connectin…

ImpactAlpha reports that recent backlash against ESG investing has shifted the focus from intentions to measurable outcomes, demanding verified evidence of impact rather than just good intentions. This evolving discipline now hinges on rigorous KPIs, independent verification, and long-term materiality, illustrated by successful $700 million and $1.24 billion deals delivering real social and environmental value. impactalpha.com/from-intenti…

Size isn’t inherently negative for large INGOs. The question is how they use it. During a recent @devex discussion, @CARE USA CEO Michelle Nunn made a case for the importance of global organizations. “I would just make the positive and affirmative case for the value of global organizations alongside local organizations with a lot more capacity built at the local level where we are facilitators and supporters. But I don’t see us as simply working our way out of business. I think we actually have a job to do.” Intermediaries should: •Amplify local voices, not speak on their behalf •Help grassroots organizations become stronger, not make them more dependent •Create pathways to funding, not add layers between donors and communities medium.com/startingupgood/ma…

Sustainability Magazine lists the top 10 largest certified B Corps in the world, including Danone, Warby Parker, Benefit Systems and Amalgamated Bank sustainabilitymag.com/top10/…

Even when funding reaches on-the-ground-doers, the big decisions often stay somewhere else. Which problems to solve. What success looks like. How to measure it. @sanofi Foundation's Sandrine Bouttier-Stref made the case that innovation "can come from the community itself, from the young generation, because they know better than us what they need to do." Our full take from UNGA 2026 on how intermediaries can help communities make more decisions for themselves: medium.com/startingupgood/ma…

AI wealth could mean a windfall of new funding for global health aid, reports Stephanie Nolen for the New York Times, who interviewed more than two dozen people working in global health, philanthropy and AI. nytimes.com/2026/10/20/us/po…

Good overview of how big tech companies say they plan to share their wealth with the public: apnews.com/article/anthropic…

"I never want to say how quickly can we get there. I want to say we're already there and we're there in partnership." That's Amy Weaver, CEO of @DirectRelief, on how emergency response should work at @ClintonGlobal. When catastrophic floods hit Nepal this year, Mountain Heart Nepal was already positioned to respond, with medical supplies Direct Relief had provided before the disaster. The international partner then backed the local response with additional shipments and operating funds. Mountain Heart Nepal had the medical expertise, the community relationships, and the knowledge of difficult terrain. What it needed was a partner who trusted it before the emergency, not after. That's the model.

Praxis Press profiles Brett Hagler and his new company, Hometown Equity, which plans to build 100 hometowns for Mexico’s emerging middle class shut out of the housing market. The model integrates titled land, home building, mortgages, and community design to create affordable, durable homes in walkable towns close to jobs. Starting with four hometowns this year and backed by $6.5 million in seed funding, Hometown Equity targets smaller cities, focusing on social mobility and lasting homeownership to reverse years of undersupply in Mexico’s housing market. Hagler previously founded New Story, one of YC’s earliest nonprofits, which has helped more than 5,000 households secure better housing. press.praxis.co/p/brett-hagl…

Pioneers Post highlights that refugee settlements often become long-term homes where emergency aid falls short of addressing prolonged displacement. The DREAMS program - created by Village Enterprise and Prosper Global (formerly Mercy Corps) - empowers refugees to start sustainable businesses, increasing household income and assets while boosting self-reliance and local economies. When compared with a control group, household consumption among program participants was 17% higher in Uganda and 9% higher in Ethiopia. Across both countries, household assets increased by 20%, and their savings grew by 90%, providing a much needed financial safety net. pioneerspost.com/business-sc…

Wawira Njiru was 21 when she raised $1,200 from friends to feed 25 schoolchildren in Kenya. @Food4Education now serves roughly 700,000 meals a day. This scale came from building a model where parents pay small amounts through mobile tech, the government funds kitchens and subsidies, and philanthropy pays for innovation. Grassroots organizations don't just need more money. They need the right kinds of money, from the right mix of sources. More on how intermediaries can help with that, from our UNGA coverage: medium.com/startingupgood/ma…

Billions of people speak languages that barely exist in the data used to train AI models. It’s no surprise that AI doesn't work for them. Indian social enterprise Karya is turning the people whose languages are missing into the workforce that fills the gap, generating and evaluating data on their phones for fair wages - 200,000 workers and around $5 million in wages so far. Founder Manu Chopra put it plainly at the 2026 MIT Solve Challenge Finals: "To build AI that works for everyone, we must employ the very same people it leaves out today." That's what a community-developed solution looks like. youtube.com/watch?v=q7JHAw9F…

In 2016, the humanitarian sector promised that 25% of funding would reach local and national responders directly by 2020. A decade later, we’re nowhere close. Recent aid cuts exacerbated this problem. So at UNGA this year, we stopped asking how to grow the pie and started asking how to get a bigger slice to the people already doing the work. Our take on the intermediaries getting right, and doers who deserve attention: medium.com/startingupgood/ma…

At UNGA and Global Goals Week 2026, we heard growing emphasis on solutions discovered and developed by communities themselves. The test is whether funding - and decision-making power - follow. Local agency is the difference from previous years. Our latest article examines how foundations, large NGOs and funding collaboratives can help grassroots solutions thrive. Specifically: •Why funding struggles to reach on-the-ground doers •How intermediaries can help local solutions thrive •The importance of community agency alongside funding medium.com/startingupgood/ma…

FTSE Russell's 2026 Annual Sustainable Investment Asset Owner Survey shows a renewed commitment to sustainability among asset owners, with 84% integrating sustainability into investment decisions, up from 73% in 2025. Growing climate risk concern and governance, tax, and shareholder rights now top sustainability priorities, while corporate reporting quality remains a key barrier. lseg.com/en/ftse-russell/sus…

At Yale School of Management's Social Impact Lab, alumni and faculty discuss the expansive landscape of impact finance. Beyond traditional investing, roles span community development, sustainable real estate, and financial advisory, requiring a blend of technical skills and deep understanding of social goals. The dialogue emphasizes matching skills with meaningful social impact roles. som.yale.edu/story/2026/beyo…

Microsoft’s new open-source AI tool enhances longer-term weather forecasts by addressing bias in current models, offering an efficient solution for making advanced forecasting accessible for resource-limited agencies and helping communities better prepare for extreme weather. theverge.com/science/1011127…

Forbes contributors Margot Brandenburg of the Ford Foundation and Katie Macc of the Sorenson Impact Institute explore critical challenges ahead for impact investing as the market matures, signaling potential "impact cliffs" where growth and impact could stall. forbes.com/sites/sorensonimp…