Up in Smoke: Elon Musk's Twitter Cut Aid to Nonprofits (via BFMTV)
"THE WHOLE PROJECT WENT UP IN SMOKE": ELON MUSK'S TWITTER CUT AID TO NONPROFITS
Original article written by Margaux Vulliet for Tech&Co / BFMTV (BFM TV).?Translated to English for LinkedIn, January 2023. See credits at end.
"Twitter for Good" - nonprofits were abandoned by Elon Musk. Overnight, after the takeover of Elon Musk, nonprofits saw their aid from Twitter's charitable program cut off. Tech&Co went to meet some of them in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Black suit, sparkling blue sneakers, and fitted cap on his head, Shaun Tai is used to talking to journalists. In the bay of San Francisco, specifically in Oakland, California, we visited the premises of BRIDGEGOOD, installed in a huge and fully equipped hangar. Sofas, screens, computers, everything is done to accommodate design students who wish to enter the tech sector.
“A few weeks ago we were to have a community event at Twitter headquarters which was canceled,” he slips during the visit.
Because since 2013, BRIDGEGOOD benefited from the #TwitterForGood program which provided financial, human, and resources to support nonprofits. The program was completely cut after the takeover of Twitter by Elon Musk last October and BRIDGEGOOD is one of the nonprofits affected.
At the height of the situation, Shaun Tai, the co-founder of the nonprofit, arrived in a Tesla, the cars imagined by Elon Musk.
Founded in 2009, the nonprofits mission is to provide young people who do not have access to the tech sector with the skills and resources necessary to obtain jobs and launch careers in Silicon Valley. For this, the nonprofit organizes and hosts, for example, work sessions with Twitter employees, including User Experience (UX) designers, to interact with students and give them invaluable career advice.
Visit canceled at the last minute
"Getting a job in tech is probably the hardest thing to do, so we've established connections with the biggest tech companies in Silicon Valley," continues Shaun Tai.
It all started in 2013 with #FridayForGood which turned into #TwitterForGood. The idea was that two or three times a year, Twitter employees take part in nonprofit workshops. "Until today we had a very good relationship with Twitter, from board membership to monetary grants to headquarter visits where we brought 20 to 40 students," recalls Shaun Tai.
But on November 18, not everything went as planned.
"We were excited for our students to visit Twitter to see what it's like to work at a big tech company. The same week we had an appointment, they emailed us to cancel our meeting, because of what's going on at Twitter right now," laments the co-founder.
And for good reason, the entire Twitter for Good team has been fired.
When he learned that Elon Musk wanted to buy Twitter, he first thought it a joke, "but when it became a reality, I think we weren't sure what was in store for us and we were in confusion. After the takeover, I hoped that the same team that we worked with would remain in place but unfortunately that was not the case.”
Shaun Tai immediately put himself in the shoes of the students. The latter never had access to the world of tech and really counted on organizations like BRIDGEGOOD to bring them to these companies.
"Musk is focused on the product, not the community"
Since the event was canceled in November, the BRIDGEGOOD team no longer has any contact with Twitter. "I even posted a tweet mentioning Elon Musk recently," Shaun Tai jokes. In vain.
For him, "Elon Musk focuses more on the product and not on the community" especially on that which surrounds Twitter.
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"If Elon Musk is a businessman, how do you convince him that helping the community, having diverse voices and other perspectives is good for business? That's my goal with BRIDGEGOOD."
Shaun Tai wants to continue this key partnership to give students the opportunity to discover tech professions including working at Twitter. The consequence is not so much financial but experiential for their community beneficiaries.
"One-on-one engagements with employees is better than monetary aid as the tech industry changes every six months. I hope that Elon Musk will bring back #TwitterForGood and make it even better", concludes Shaun Tai with a hint of hope.
“We never collected the keys to the premises”
The Compass Family Services organization experienced the same scenario. Its mission is to help homeless families in San Francisco to find a stable situation. Compass' offices are a stone's throw from Twitter's headquarters . Abbey Leonard, head of communications for the nonprofit, regrets the end of the Twitter for Good program: "he was a really special partner, which makes his loss even harder."
For four years, Twitter has supported Compass through a program called NeighborNest. Through this partnership, Twitter provided a space that included computers, a computer lab, childcare space and meeting rooms. People could come to take part in computer courses, print documents, access the Internet, but also look for accommodation, a job and benefit from assistance.
During the pandemic in 2020, Twitter temporarily closed the space. “We had just established an agreement to reopen it in November, except that we never recovered the keys to the premises, and the whole project went up in smoke,” laments the manager. The partnership was material, human, financial and administrative since Twitter was represented on the nonprofit's board of directors.
Thinking after
On the side of Twitter, Karl Robillard, the person in charge of the Twitter for Good program, was also dismissed. The nonprofit therefore no longer has any contact with Twitter. "Even the HR we were talking to left. We wouldn't even know who to talk to since everyone left."
"Now we have to think about how we are going to provide technological assistance to these families. We have tried to find ways to continue to help them. We are currently looking for other partners but it was a solid program, to find a similar partnership is going to take time,” says Abbey Leonard.
On November 14, the Twitter for Good special week takes place like every six months. In this context, Twitter organizes activities between its employees and volunteers from nonprofits including Compass. This edition was a bit special because it was organized by former fired Twitter employees.
The end of this partnership does not mean the end of the organization. The first week of December, Compass organized a collection of toys for beneficiary families. The number of donations far exceeded the nonprofit's expectations: "we are really grateful, the children are going to be so happy," enthuses the manager.
Original content?? Copyright 2022 BFMTV (BFM TV) / Tech&Co. Original Video Segment Filming & Editing by Luc Chagnon.?Original Article Written by?Margaux Vulliet.?Post- Production for Educational & Fair Use Purposes by BRIDGEGOOD.?Filmed at BRIDGEGOOD Studio, Oakland, California, USA.
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Co-Founder & Executive Director at BRIDGEGOOD
1 年Watch the BFMTV TV news segment at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6bk8_nZayg.