Organization:Kapor Foundation

Overview 

The Kapor Center for Social Impact, originally known as the Mitchell Kapor Foundation, was founded in 1997 by Mr. Mitchell Kapor. Mitchell Kapor is known as a pioneer in the personal computer industry and has been called the founder of the Lotus application, which made personal computers more ubiquitously used in the business world.  It is a foundation founded with the mission of ensuring equality and equity in more low socio-economic communites of color. The center focusing on looking for stratagies that will utilize information technology for positive social impact. They are focused on closing the diversity 'Gap' across all demographics. 

Philosophy

As stated in their mission, Kapor Center for Social Impact extends trust and care from day one. They operate with personal integrity at every turn. Their diversity is critical to their success. They create and pursue opportunities that further their mission. They appreciate and uphold their unique organizational culture. They prioritize working with individuals and organizations that share values similar to theirs. 

Purpose

The purpose of the Kapor Center for Social Impact is to bridge ethic and socio-economic gaps that are preventing the progression and more importantly, involvment of under-represented demographics in technology such as women, African Americans, Hispanics, etc. THis gap covers a plethora of areas that include the gap in academic achievement, access to economic opportunities and healthcare, information and social mobility, among others.They believe that it is necessary to have the community of tech leaders reflect the diversity of the United States. They predominantly focus on three areas within the foundation and they are Diversity in Tech, Educational Access, and Tech for Social Impact. 

Diversity in Tech

This area in particular focuses on increasing the visibility of minorities of color in technology sectors as entrepeneurs, investors and leaders of innovative thought. This initiative manifests in the form of addional partnerships with entities that share the same vision for closing gaps in the tech pipeline. Some of these organizations include:

• Black Girls Code 
• CodeNow
• Hidden Genius Project
• Level Playing Field Institute
• Latino USA
• UNCF

Educational Access

The center also wishes to increase the number of under-represented minorities in college, particularly in the realm of technology and science fields. Some of their partnerships in education include College Bound Brotherhood, Level Playing Field Institute, Berkley Science Network. 

Tech for Social Impact

This area is focused on expediting the effectiveness of social movements through the utilization of modern day technologies. This could be manifested in the form of sponsoring events that bring together non-profit and tech companies together for collaborative efforts. Some examples of this would be hackathons or demo days. 

Appeal: 

This resourceful organization appeals to students for the following reasons:

• Your afforded opportunities for scholarship
• Educational Access is broadened through Educational Access Initiative 
• Investments: Kapor Capital invests in seed stage startups focused on social impact through Information Technology
• Open partnership opportunities to organizational entities with similar social and technological objectives 

How to Get the Resource on your Campus

1. Utilize the below contact information to reach out directly to the Kapor Foundation and discuss what your objectives are for social impact in technology
2. Plan an Event. Solicit the sponsorship and assistance of the Kapor Foundation and their partnerships 

Contact Information

The Kapor Center 

2201 Broadway, Suite 725, Oakland, CA 94612

Phone: 510 488 6600

Fax: 510 488 6600

Resources 

[1] http://kaporcenter.org

[2] http://www.kapor.com/bio  

Also See:

http://blog.mkf.org/category/social-media/

https://twitter.com/MKaporFdn

https://www.facebook.com/CollegeBoundBro