Jim Fruchterman is a serial tech and social entrepreneur. He founded Tech Matters in 2018 and has created two new nonprofit tech enterprises there. Aselo takes helplines from the telephone era to the social media era, helping them better respond to the urgent needs of those in crisis. Terraso is a tech platform to bring tech tools, knowledge, and funding to community leaders building more regenerative local economies against the backdrop of the climate crisis.
In addition, Jim is dedicated to building the tech for good field, helping others use technology strategically for positive systems change. This work includes the Better Deal for Data, a new data reform movement, and his first book, Technology for Good: How Nonprofit Leaders Are Using Software and Data to Solve Our Most Pressing Social Problems, MIT Press.
Prior to founding Tech Matters, Jim was the founder and CEO of Benetech for 30 years, delivering large-scale change in partnership with hundreds of organizations as part of social enterprises addressing education, disability, human rights, and the environment. In addition, he has advised hundreds of diverse social enterprises on the use of technology, data, and AI.
He previously founded two successful for-profit Silicon Valley machine learning/artificial intelligence companies. Jim has been widely recognized for his social change work, including being selected as a recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship, the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, the Schwab Social Entrepreneur Award, and the Caltech Distinguished Alumni Award.