Shannon Farley is cofounder and Executive Director of Fast Forward, the first accelerator exclusively for tech nonprofits. Shannon is an experienced social entrepreneur. She was the founding Executive Director of Spark, the world’s largest network of Millennial philanthropists. Spark has the distinction of being the only women’s organization in the world with 50% male members. Prior to joining Spark, Shannon co-founded The W. Haywood Burns Institute, a MacArthur Award-winning juvenile justice reform organization.
Shannon has been awarded the New Leader’s Council “Top 40 under 40 Award”, The Aspen Institute’s Ideas Scholar Fellowship, and The Women’s Funding Network’s Changing the Face of Philanthropy Award. Under her leadership, Spark won the 2010 Outstanding Foundation Award from the Association of Fundraising Professionals and served in the Inaugural Congressional Conference on Philanthropy and Innovation.
Shannon holds a BA in American Studies from Georgetown University and an MS in Gender and Social Policy from the London School of Economics.
Videos
Talk Ideas
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Fear-based Learning: A Guide to Social Entrepreneurship
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New Rules: Advice I Wish I Heard at Women's Leadership Conferences
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Philanthropy for Engineers
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Software for Social Good: A look at new business models that can change the world
Past and Upcoming Gigs
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Center for Social Innovation
- Stanford GSB
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Gathering of Leaders
- New Profit
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Lean Launch Pad
- UC Berkeley Haas
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Social Innovation Summit
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Renaissance Weekend
- Monterey
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Girls Who Tech Annual Conference
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March 2015
March 2015
November 2014
November 2014
June 2014
April 2014