Last year, the Breakthrough Prize Foundation pledged $100 million in funding to Tech For Refugees, a new initiative advancing tech-enabled humanitarian aid. Tech For Refugees partners with technology leaders to provide provisions, shelter, and comfort to refugees. These tech leaders include Flexport.org, Welcome.US, Airbnb.org, and Spotify.
Now, the Breakthrough Prize Foundation has announced a new multi-year commitment to support the International Rescue Committee’s (IRC’s) Signpost project. Israeli billionaire Yuri Milner and his wife Julia established the Foundation in 2012 after making their Giving Pledge. The organisation predominantly funds science and tech-focused philanthropic enterprises.
Yuri Milner’s Breakthrough Foundation and Tech For Refugees
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 1 in every 88 people on Earth has had to flee their home. Of these, roughly 27.1 million are refugees and almost half are under 18.
Causes behind the rising numbers of refugees include climate change, global food shortages, economic crises, the Covid-19 pandemic, and an increasing incidence of war and violent conflict.
To address the record levels of humanitarian need globally, Yuri Milner launched Tech For Refugees in 2022. The initiative is leveraging world-class technologies and networks to empower refugees and help them rebuild their lives.
Yuri Milner is a technology investor, science philanthropist, and Giving Pledge signatory. He and Julia joined the Giving Pledge over a decade ago, promising to donate most of their wealth to philanthropic causes, either in their lifetimes or in their wills. The couple established the Breakthrough Prize Foundation to help fulfil their Giving Pledge commitment.
With Breakthrough Prize Foundation funding, Tech For Refugees enables its partners to provide aid to refugees around the world. Last year, the initiative brought relief to hundreds of thousands of people through its various programmes. Many of these programmes focus on crises in and relating to Ukraine, Pakistan, and the Horn of Africa.
How The Breakthrough Prize Foundation Supports Signpost
In February 2023, the Breakthrough Prize Foundation revealed that it would be making a new donation through Tech For Refugees to the IRC. This gift will facilitate the expansion of Signpost, the world’s first scalable, community-driven information platform.
The IRC responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises, helping individuals and families facing conflict and disaster regain their health, safety, education, economic stability, and power. By launching Signpost in 2015, the IRC has helped millions of people make life-saving decisions by improving access to vital, actionable information.
The project’s local teams use digital tools and channels to deliver information to individuals as they navigate complex crises. This information includes regularly updated informational media (like articles, infographics, and videos) and a map of local, relevant services.
Signpost liaisons also offer individualised support to help with critical decision-making, answer queries about temporary housing and educational services, and give legal and psychological advice.
The IRC ensures each Signpost programme is context-specific, engaging users on their preferred digital channels in the languages they speak. Signpost emphasises that the service must reflect clients’ lived realities and needs, offering quick, reliable access to hyper-localised information.
The Breakthrough Prize Foundation’s three-year commitment will enable the IRC to expand Signpost’s scope. This way, Signpost will reach new locations across Asia Pacific, Africa, the Americas, and the Middle East.
Tech For Refugees continues to seek new technology partners — whether companies or non-profits — that can help enhance the diversity, efficiency, and range of its humanitarian operations.
