Why digital inclusion needs a new funding model

Samantha Schartman, director of philanthropic programs at Connect Humanity, a nonprofit impact investor and emerging Community Development Financial Institution; and Mark Colwell, executive director at Mission Telecom, a nonprofit telecom provider, discuss the importance of funding digital inclusion initiatives and, specifically, the recent publication of their Alt Funding Field Guide, which outlines an approach to building sustainable funding for digital adoption. The guide is designed to present a new funding model for digital inclusion initiatives, which frequently fall victim to temperamental funding cycles. Whether due to corporations pulling back philanthropic contributions, or politicians decreeing on social media that funding digital inclusion is somehow unconstitutional, or both, the result of such inconsistency is an unsustainable source of funds for an ever-growing need to help people connect to and use digital devices and services.