Funders should get on board the online revolution to create a more transparent and democratic world, increase their impact and invest more effectively.

That was one of the messages from the panel of philanthropists, digital experts and non-profit leaders who convened at the ‘The Power of Information: New Technologies for Philanthropy and Development’ conference, held in London last Thursday (Sept 15^th).

The event was hosted by The Institute for Philanthropy, The Indigo Trust, a grant-making foundation that funds technology-driven projects for social change,  and The Omidyar Network, a ‘philanthropic investment’ firm established by e-Bay founder Pierre Omidyar and wife Pam, to encourage individuals to participate across multiple investment areas.

With the development of digital infrastructure, platforms and tools over the last few years and the explosion in local user-generated content, the ‘building blocks’ are in place to open up data, create and scale online and sustainable programmes that can save lives and hold governments to account, delegates heard.

 Facebook’s Richard Allen called it “an exciting time” for the non-profit world. However, Fran Perrin of the Indigo Trust, one of the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts, also warned against thinking ‘that technology is a bright shiny object that will solve everyone’s troubles.” She said that technology is a tool like any other and had to work for project aims.

However funders who do not understand the digital universe or how to use social media are at a disadvantage and are not making the most of the potential impact they could achieve through their philanthropy, delegates were told. In addressing the issue, The Institute for Philanthropy used the event to launch a new guide Philanthropy and Social Media, funded by The Indigo Trust, that offers practical advice on how to overcome the knowledge gap so they can make better investments in digital projects.

Among those who spoke about their work in bringing about transparency through technology “to make it easier to know” was Owen Barder of the Centre for Global Development, director of aidinfo that works to reduce poverty by making aid more transparent and accountable, and a former private secretary to Tony Blair. He spoke about The International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) that aims to make information on aid spending easier to find, use and compare.

It establishes universal standards for reporting data and if universally adopted Barder said it would allow for more transparency, greater accountability and ever more powerful tools.

He gave an example of how a lack of accessible data could cause real suffering. After the 2004 Tsunami, many children suffered bouts of measles. It transpired that each child had been vaccinated against measles three times by different aid agencies. Barder made a plea for funders to push for projects to adhere to the AITI standards so data could be more easily shared and these kinds of situations could be avoided.

Delegates were given graphic examples of open source technological tools that have put power into the hands of the people, such as the mobile reporting network that allowed voters to report on the fairness of Nigeria’s 2007 elections; the crowd-sourced crisis mapping of the Haiti disaster by Ushahidi, that let citizens report real time on how aid agencies were responding to the emergency on the ground, and the UK’s ‘FixMyStreet’ tool that gives people the ability to report potholes, fly-tipping, graffiti and other problems direct to the right council departments.

Tom Steinberg of MySociety a non-profit, open source organisation that created FixMyStreet as well as other democracy websites including parliamentary transparency website TheyWorkForYou, said digital tools were “changing hearts and minds.” He said half of the people using FixMyStreet had never reported anything to the council before and it showed that tools “could change expectations.”

 “Tools are empowering, serve needs and change world views,” he said.

 Indigo Trust founder Fran Perrin said use of social media and transparency should be encouraged in the non-profit world, and foundations should open up their data to the world, as governments and aid agencies were doing. She accepted that “transparency can be scary when applied to yourselves”, adding that technology had “made life easier’ for Indigo Trust. Their online application tool had delivered “better, more relevant applications” said Perrin. Using twitter and Facebook had also put them in touch with projects it would have taken them years to find, had given them greater access to their grantees’ work on a day-to-day basis and had offered them opportunities to collaborate, she explained.

 Martin Tisne of donor collaborative, the Transparency & Accountability Initiative, said the job was now to convince ‘the sceptics’ by providing evidence of how technology and transparency together can save lives. He said that technology must not remain an ‘atom’ of the non-profit universe but must cut across it.  He added that data had to be much more user-centric and less donor-centric if it was to be of use.

 In the evening, Pierre Omidyar gave a video message in which he announced the intent to grant up to $3m to six leading organisations around the world focused on advancing government transparency and accountability, including the UK’s Open Knowledge Foundation.

Over the last two years, the firm has invested over $40m in transparency efforts across the globe, including organisations such as mySociety, Ushahidi in Kenya, Janaagraha in India and the Sunlight Foundation in the United States.

The Open Knowledge Foundation will receive a grant of up to $750k over three years to expand its key financial transparency project, openspending.org; to sustain and build working groups on open data; and establish chapters in additional countries. In a separate announcement, Stephen King, investment partner of Omidyar Network, announced the launch of a global office in the Shoreditch area of London. The office will serve as the philanthropic investment firm’s headquarters for its work in Europe as well as serve as the global hub for its Government Transparency initiative.

Philanthropy and Social Media will be launched officially in early October.