World Wide Web Foundation Logo

Investing in the Web

In order to support our programs, we are looking to build a network of passionate and diverse donors who can help foster the future of the Web as a medium for empowerment. Individuals, corporations, and foundations from around the world, who understand the importance and potential of the Web to address major challenges, can now get involved at the early stages of this global effort.

Our Approach

Our approach is to work with individuals and organizations at the local level so that they are able to leverage the Web to build solutions that can scale globally across sectors, regions, actors, and demographics.

For this reason, investment in the Web cannot be thought of as separate from an investment in health, or women’s rights, or institutional transparency, or any other worthy goal or cause but, rather, it is a necessary step towards the collective advancement of all these things.

Supporting the Web Foundation means investing in:

Source: Stephane Boyera

Photo by Stéphane Boyera

  1. Impact and Scalability. This is what the Web is all about. It’s simple: if your goal is to make more information available to more people, you can invest in libraries and impact those within walking distance or you can invest in Web tools and impact billions with access to a Web-enabled device such as a mobile phone. One of the Web’s greatest strengths is its ability to free information by making it available digitally. A new font system could mean hundreds of thousands can reach life-critical services local to their region or an open voice tool could mean that a billion illiterate adults are no longer prevented from accessing educational material. The Web Foundation is based upon the principle of high-impact philanthropy which we believe is a core result of our strategic investment in the Web.
  2. Bottom-up Sustainability. By building strong, vibrant communities of NGOs, entrepreneurs, public sector, students, and civil society, and empowering them with the skills and tools to seed the growth of the Web locally, the Web Foundation ensures that incentive and support structures remain long after our projects end.
  3. Credibility and a Track Record of Success. The Web Foundation is uniquely positioned to achieve its mission because of its deep knowledge of the Web and global network of technical expertise built up through our relationship with founder and Web inventor, Tim Berners-Lee, as well as his other initiatives: the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the Web Science Trust (WST).

Learn more…

If our Vision and Programs resonate with you and you would like more information on how you can support our work, please contact our Development Associate, Craig Heintzman, at craig at webfoundation dot org.

Web Foundation at SpeechTEK 2010

On Wednesday 4 August, I will be leading a discussion on speech technologies in the developing world at the SpeechTEK 2010 conference, in New York City. At the Foundation, we believe that speech technology is crucial for bringing Web access to the 4.8 billion people who have basic mobile phones and/or who are illiterate. Voice access [...]

Read More

© 2008–2010 World Wide Web Foundation. All rights reserved.