Fundraising

Approved Scaling: $455M Mindanao Transport Connectivity Improvement Project

In 2019, I led my largest implementation and field testing of my local data economy model. Research, investment, policy and program development studies are typically conducted in a siloed and uncoordinated fashion that requires a lot of time, effort and expense for local communities. The Philippines is ranked as the most at risk for disasters and climate change, averaging 22 typhoons (hurricanes or cyclones) a year. This places a tremendous burden on local communities who are typically required to travel long, difficult journeys to attend numerous events and workshops that are often located far away near airports or luxury hotels for the convenience of donors and funders.

In 2019, with World Bank, IFC and Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade funding, I was able to conduct five simultaneous studies, including World Bank’s first gender gap mapping study, across six provinces in the conflict region of Mindanao in the Philippines as Technical Assistance for the Mindanao Transport Connectivity Improvement Project:

1. 600 Gender Gap Mapping Household Surveys
2. 7000 Agriculture Commodity Flow and Origin-Destination Surveys
3. Six Province AI Studies on Industrial Logistics Congestion and Challenges
4. 3 Regional Open Workshops for 180 Cross-Sector Participants (including micro enterprise through to conglomerates)
5. Road, Agriculture, Micro to Medium Enterprise (MSME) to Industrial, Indigenous, Tourism and Creative Industries and Disaster Infrastructure Field and Remote Mapping

These studies required 200 field staff, all of whom were Filipino, and 180 were located in close proximity to the survey sites. For the community-based mapping workshops, I undertook a careful validation process of ensuring the community was represented by progressive cross-sector leaders across government, business, non-profit, schools and university staff and students, and local community leaders. Rather than requiring a technical background, an interest to learn and teach others was the primary criteria, because the best knowledge often comes from people with strong community ties and diverse experiences. Our simplified mapping techniques ensure that anyone can learn to map, and we’ve trained people from age 6-60+ years.

Through our exclusive use of free and open source software and frugal sciencem methods, and hiring local staff and data collectors and processors, we not only strengthen local community engagement, but we are able to increase and improve the standard of data and outputs, at a much lower costs and environmental footprint. This enabled on average, and increase of 2-5 times higher staff and data wages. With every expense designed to directly benefit the local community sites, we create opportunities for research, investment, policy and program development studies, across public and private sectors to be transformed into accelerated impact models.

We were fortunate to compelete the program and report approvals in March 2020. This project enabled and challenged me to further develop inclusive innovations, frugal science, and safer methods that achieve representative data samples at scale, while supporting our highest wages to date, which is US$100 per hour for fully remote recruitment and data collection during the pandemic.

Following the approved expansion of the program in November 2025, the World Bank announced a $455 million fund to support the expansion of the Mindanao Transport Connectivity Improvement Project.

Local Data Economies: Gender, Jobs, Food and Climate Equity

OpenForum Europe (OFE) recently invited me Boston to present my local data economy in partnership with Harvard’s new Digital Data Design Institute. OFE is a European open source software think tank that advises European policymakers and legislators on the merits of openness in computing and provides technical analysis and explanation. OFE promotes open source software, as well as openness more generally, as part of a vision to facilitate open, competitive choice for technology users.

FOSS local data economies are self-sustaining and more equitable economic, social and environmental models that meet the pace and urgency of accelerating global risks. Faster, more accurate, verifiable and representative data enable better public and private sector prioritization, coordination and monitoring across the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs largely lack geospatial indicators that capture mobility, safety, proximity, infrastructure and service assessments, which accurately reflect the intersecting risks and opportunities communities experience in real-life. 78% of the 231 SDG indicators lack gender data, and despite women’s majority contributions to household and economic tasks, they have the least access to essential household and business infrastructure.

OECD reports that less than 10% of funding is received by local organizations, with 80% of climate research awarded to Western organizations over the last 30 years. Of the $137 billion invested a decade after Super Typhoon Haiyan and the Sendai Framework, only 4 percent was invested in mitigation in Asia Pacific, and the lack of coordination and tangle of overlapping multilateral efforts continues to create further chaos to already traumatized communities. 

Rather than a siloed and political approach reliant on glacial grant and funding processes, local governments and cross-sector communities co-develop their own continuous and interoperable SDG map with geospatial indicators to better fast track public and private sector investments and interventions, receive the majority of budgets, and address long neglected infrastructure and the unique needs of marginalized communities.

With the exclusive use of free and open source mapping tools including unique digital twin techniques for infrastructure and disaster modelling, non-technical and technical local communities produce faster, more accurate, representative and verifiable data, at 50% lower cost and environmental footprints, while increasing local daily wages 100-900 percent, starting at 3 months. The highest wage to date is remotely trained World Bank road safety surveys at $100 per hour of work.

This an immediately viable transition to a local data economy, where local communities continuously lead data and knowledge on their community, industry and geography, to depoliticize investments, with greater governance and accountability, especially in technology, engineering and construction, which are among the most corrupt industries.

This bridges the gaps between effective policy, program development, local capacity, data and research gaps.

Download the paper here.

Kumu

At the Creative Economy Council of the Philippines – CECP, we’ve partnered with Kumu, the Pinoy livestreaming app, to explore new ways for creatives to make a living. Kumu currently has 10 million users in 55 countries, with some regulars making P20,000 or $360 per week! Download the app and join our Kumu livestream @CreativeEconomyPH tomorrow at 3pm Wednesday, January 26 to meet and support the artists we’re working with:

Kaliwat Performing Artists Collective, is fundraising for their musical production of Usahay, the timeless Bisaya song composed in Davao.

CATTSKI created 22 Tango Music Group to support original Filipino music and help musicians avoid common pitfalls in the industry.

Waway Linsahay Saway II shares his Talaandig Indigenous songs and musical instruments.

And Kalel Ervin Demetrio shares his journey to create international award-winning spirits foraged with Indigenous and local communities.

https://kumu.ph

Apply For a Telus Philippines Grant

For registered non-profits in the Philippines, we need more grant applicants! The next Telus grant application deadline is June 11. A single organization can receive as much as P500,000 within 1-2 months. Telus funds youth, LGBTQ, Indigenous, health, agriculture, culture, sports, education, environment and technology projects.

Apply online at https://bit.ly/3bw8j1Y

Learn about the program at https://www.telus.com/en/social-impact/giving-back/community-grants/philippines

Fundraising for Maker Faire Toronto

I launched the Pay it Forward campaign to help kids and families in priority neighbourhoods attend the 2013 Toronto Mini Maker Faire. Part science fair, part festival, and part something entirely new, Toronto Mini Maker Faire is a registered non-profit, all-ages gathering of tech enthusiasts, engineers, tinkerers, hobbyists, science clubs, hackers, artists, students, and commercial exhibitors. All of these “makers” come to Maker Faire to show what they have made and to share what they have learned while creating it. Toronto joins over 60 cities around the world that host a Maker Faires of their own.

Over 4000 people packed Wychwood Barns Sept 21 & 22 for Maker Faire Toronto 2013.

Learn more about the campaign and Cory Doctorow’s support.

Georgian College Fundraising Tech Tools

Georgian College invited me to lead a session at their 2010 fundraising conference. Titled, “Getting the Most out of Your Tech Budget,” I share my three page list of free and low cost international tools like free and open source software and $10,000 Google Adwords Grants. Here’s the session description:

Now more than ever, fundraisers are looking for ways to maximize resources. Learn how new free and affordable web tools can help improve the ways you plan and organize events and learn about new resources, grants and programs that help engage and sustain funders and supporters in your community.