Fast Forward
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2014
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
Fast Forward firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Fast Forward
- Legal name
- Fast Forward
- Website
- https://ffwd.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2014
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Fast Forward industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Nonprofit Accelerator / Social Impact Programs
- NAICS
- Grantmaking and Giving Services (8132)
- SIC
- Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Accelerators & Incubators (Investor-Operated) (FSANAAAM)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- STEM, Digital Literacy & Maker Education Nonprofits (BPAGADAG)
Keywords
Where Fast Forward is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Fast Forward business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others
Revenue model
- Donations and Grants: Fast Forward operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization funded by donations and grants from tech companies, philanthropic foundations, and individual donors. The organization passes through 100% of donations designated for specific portfolio organizations.
- Corporate and Foundation Partnerships: Partnerships with tech companies and foundations who provide financial and human capital support. Some funders support programming and content creation, while others provide funding directly to tech nonprofits through Fast Forward's pass-through model.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | Accelerator Program - $25K Grant |
| Freemium | Pay-as-you-go | Pitch Camp - Free |
| Freemium | Pay-as-you-go | AI Philanthropy Workshops - Free |
| Freemium | Pay-as-you-go | Tools and Resources - Free |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels9 records
Fast Forward product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Fast Forward operates an annual 12-week accelerator program for early-stage tech nonprofits, providing each selected cohort team with a $25K philanthropic grant, mentorship, peer community, and structured training that covers both technology product/GTM topics and nonprofit operational topics (board development, impact measurement, fundraising). The organization also offers Pitch Camp (free virtual pitch workshops), AI Philanthropy Workshops for grantmakers, a Tech Nonprofit Directory of 1,449+ organizations, a Tech Nonprofit Job Board, three newsletters, an AI Proposal Assessment Tool, and a Nonprofit AI Policy Builder — all delivered free to the tech nonprofit and philanthropic ecosystem.
Product overview
Fast Forward is a nonprofit accelerator for tech nonprofits offering a portfolio of programs, tools, and resources. The core offering is the Accelerator program providing $25K grants, mentorship, and community to early-stage tech nonprofits. Supporting products include the Tech Nonprofit Directory (a searchable database of 1,449+ organizations), the Tech Nonprofit Job Board (powered by Getro), and three newsletters: AI for Humanity (monthly AI nonprofit coverage), What's Good in Tech (monthly sector news), and Funding Forward (weekly funding opportunities). Additional offerings include Pitch Camp (virtual pitch training), Tools for Grantmakers (AI philanthropy resources), AI Proposal Assessment Tool, Nonprofit AI Policy Builder, Impact Report, and the annual AI for Humanity Report co-produced with Google.org. These products form an integrated ecosystem supporting the full lifecycle of tech nonprofit development from startup through scale.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- AI for Humanity: A movement and initiative serving the needs of the global majority with AI-powered solutions
- Tech Nonprofit Directory
- Tech Nonprofit Job Board
- Funding Forward
- What's Good in Tech
- Pitch Camp
- AI Proposal Assessment Tool
Products and services
- Accelerator Fast Forward's flagship 12-week hybrid cohort program providing early-stage tech nonprofits with a $25K philanthropic grant, mentorship, peer community, and training tailored to the unique challenges of tech nonprofit entrepreneurs. Runs February through June with Demo Days in May/June, with sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays 9 AM-12 PM PT; at least one co-founder must attend all sessions.
- Tech Nonprofit Directory A searchable, Crunchbase-style database cataloging 1,449+ tech nonprofits worldwide, filterable by issue areas, geographies, and technologies. Enables funders, employees, and advisors to discover tech nonprofits and serves as the central catalog of Fast Forward's ecosystem.
- Tech Nonprofit Job Board A global job board featuring open roles from tech nonprofit organizations (1,473 jobs listed as of the data), powered by Getro. Connects job seekers with mission-driven opportunities at tech nonprofits worldwide.
- Pitch Camp A free two-hour virtual Zoom workshop teaching tech nonprofit teams to craft and deliver effective pitches, with hands-on practice sessions and feedback from trained tech volunteers. Over 1,000 partner employees have volunteered across 40 Pitch Camp events.
- Tools for Grantmakers A curated collection of resources, toolkits, workshops, checklists, and guides to help grantmakers and foundations evaluate and fund AI-powered nonprofits, including the AI Proposal Assessment Tool and AI philanthropy training materials.
- AI Proposal Assessment Tool A free online tool for evaluating AI proposals, helping grantmakers assess AI-powered nonprofit initiatives with clarity and confidence. Uses natural language processing to process text inputs and generate assessments and recommendations.
- Nonprofit AI Policy Builder A free, easy-to-use online tool that helps nonprofits create custom AI usage policies for their organizations, processing text inputs to generate tailored policy drafts.
- AI Philanthropy Workshops Free workshops for grantmakers and foundations exploring AI funding in the social sector. Custom sessions brought to grantmaker teams by invitation, covering how to evaluate AI-powered nonprofits and build AI philanthropy strategies.
Quantifiable outcome
- 415 million lives impacted by portfolio since 2014
- +8 more outcomes
Companies that use Fast Forward
Customer profileNamed customers12 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Fast Forward technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration1 record
AI capability4 records
Feature4 records
Fast Forward partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.
- Patrick J. McGovern FoundationcoreCo-hosts Fund.AI convening with Fast Forward. Provides AI philanthropy tools including Grant Guardian. Partnered on AI for Humanity research and resources.
- MicrosoftmajorInnovation programs accept nonprofits. Azure and technology access for nonprofits.
- Amazon Web Services (AWS)majorCloud credits and programs for nonprofits including tech nonprofits.
- ComcastmajorInnovation programs accepting nonprofits.
- AT&TminorCorporate innovation programs accepting nonprofits.
- VerizonminorCorporate innovation programs accepting nonprofits.
- ToyotaminorInnovation programs accepting nonprofits.
Scale indicators14 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Fast Forward competitors and assessment
Company assessmentEmerging players
- NetHope: NetHope is a consortium of global nonprofits using technology for international development, with overlapping members and a shared focus on tech capacity-building for the nonprofit sector; an adjacent rather than directly competing player.
- NTEN (Nonprofit Technology Enterprise Network): NTEN supports nonprofits in leveraging technology through community, training, and resources; it overlaps with Fast Forward's Tools-for-Tech-Nonprofits offering but focuses on capacity rather than capital.
Direct peers
- Village Capital: Village Capital runs impact-focused cohort accelerators for early-stage ventures solving social and environmental problems, mirroring Fast Forward's peer-cohort format and the nonprofit/impact orientation.
- Acumen: Acumen is a global impact accelerator that supports social enterprises tackling poverty; its cohort-based programs, mentorship model, and impact measurement approach are directly analogous to Fast Forward's accelerator structure.
- Echoing Green: Echoing Green runs a fellowship and accelerator for social entrepreneurs, the closest direct comp to Fast Forward's mission of seeding and supporting mission-driven founders, though it is not tech-nonprofit specific.
- New Profit: New Profit is a venture philanthropy fund and capacity-building partner to social entrepreneurs, comparable in its mix of unrestricted capital, coaching, and ecosystem support for impact-led organizations.
- Unreasonable Group: Unreasonable runs cohort-based impact accelerators pairing social entrepreneurs with capital and mentorship, comparable in structure and target founder profile to Fast Forward's accelerator.
Broad incumbents
- Ashoka: Ashoka is the largest global network of leading social entrepreneurs; it offers a fellowship and ongoing support rather than a time-bound cohort, making it a broader incumbent in the social-entrepreneur acceleration space.
- Skoll Foundation: The Skoll Foundation funds and convenes a global community of social entrepreneurs, overlapping with Fast Forward in the social-impact acceleration thesis but operating at a much larger scale and via longer-horizon grants.
- Y Combinator: Y Combinator is the dominant tech startup accelerator, a much larger incumbent in the accelerator category; its cohort model and Demo Day format are the structural template that Fast Forward's accelerator emulates for the tech-nonprofit segment.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Fast Forward social profiles
Digital presenceFast Forward financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Fast Forward leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Fast Forward funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds6 records
Investors15 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Fast Forward M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments26 records
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Fast Forward
What does Fast Forward do?
Fast Forward operates an annual 12-week accelerator program for early-stage tech nonprofits, providing each selected cohort team with a $25K philanthropic grant, mentorship, peer community, and structured training that covers both technology product/GTM topics and nonprofit operational topics (board development, impact measurement, fundraising). The organization also offers Pitch Camp (free virtual pitch workshops), AI Philanthropy Workshops for grantmakers, a Tech Nonprofit Directory of 1,449+ organizations, a Tech Nonprofit Job Board, three newsletters, an AI Proposal Assessment Tool, and a Nonprofit AI Policy Builder — all delivered free to the tech nonprofit and philanthropic ecosystem.
Is Fast Forward a public or private company?
Fast Forward is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Fast Forward founded?
Fast Forward was founded in 2014. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Fast Forward based?
Fast Forward is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does Fast Forward make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Donations and Grants are the primary driver. The others are corporate and Foundation Partnerships.
Who are Fast Forward's main competitors?
Emerging players on record are NetHope and NTEN (Nonprofit Technology Enterprise Network). Direct peers are Village Capital, Acumen, Echoing Green, New Profit and Unreasonable Group. Broad incumbents are Ashoka, Skoll Foundation and Y Combinator.
Does Fast Forward have an API?
No public API is recorded for Fast Forward.
What industry is Fast Forward in?
Fast Forward's product category is Nonprofit Accelerator / Social Impact Programs. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSANAAAM, Accelerators & Incubators (Investor-Operated), with a secondary code of BPAGADAG, STEM, Digital Literacy & Maker Education Nonprofits. Its NAICS code is 8132 and its SIC code is 8742.