Ripple, provider of the leading enterprise blockchain solutions for payments, announced its formal social impact program, Ripple for Good.
Ripple for Good will focus on projects related to education and financial inclusion. Building on the momentum of recent donations totaling more than $80 million, Ripple is committing an additional $25 million. Ripple is currently in the process of assessing a number of high quality projects to determine how those resources will be allocated.
Ripple’s new focus reflects its view that education, particularly in STEM and FinTech, is a key driver of innovation across all sectors. Ripple’s contributions to teaching and research in blockchain (through the University Blockchain Research Initiative), cryptocurrency and fintech are intended to encourage broader understanding, adoption and innovation in business and finance, computer science, law and policy and other relevant fields. In particular, Ripple for Good will focus on applications and real-world use cases with the potential for scalable social impact.
As a mission-driven company focused on dramatically improving how money moves globally, Ripple is also committed to ensuring that the benefits of innovation in banking and global payments are broadly accessible and available. Ripple’s product set and its subject matter expertise represent a unique opportunity to contribute to the ongoing push for global financial inclusion.
“When we reflected on the unique role Ripple could play from a social impact standpoint, we kept landing on the idea that the benefits of these new technologies should reach as many people as possible,” said Ken Weber, Head of Social Impact for Ripple. “If we are truly committed to transformative global change, we will work to help ensure that innovations in banking and global payments are available everywhere to everyone, among unbanked and underbanked populations and in economies and economic sectors that serve the greater good. Our goal is to deliver on the promise of an Internet of Value for all.”
Ripple for Good will collaborate with RippleWorks, a nonprofit co-founded by Chris Larsen and Doug Galen that supports social ventures across multiple sectors, including financial inclusion and education. Ripple For Good hopes to learn from - and build on - RippleWorks’ experience addressing financial exclusion around the world. It will do so by identifying organizations and initiatives to support as well as engaging Ripple’s employees in hands-on volunteer project work.
“Ripple was built upon the belief that its technology could improve lives, and they had the foresight to support RippleWorks four years ago as proof that those weren’t just words. Since then, RippleWorks has worked on 70 projects in 55 countries to improve the lives of over three million patients, six million students and 250 million people.” said Doug Galen, co-founder and CEO of RippleWorks. “Today’s announcement to create an even deeper alignment with RippleWorks is another validation of Ripple’s long-standing commitment to leverage its technology, financial resources and team to improve lives. RippleWorks is thrilled to have even more of Ripple's help to solve the massive challenges facing people throughout the world.