How Cisco Foundation and Social Impact Investments are driving impact at scale

[ad_1] The next is an excerpt from our FY24 Goal Report, celebrating 40 years of influence at Cisco. Information and metrics are reflective of Cisco’s fiscal 12 months 2024, ending on July 31, 2024.

We envision a world of resilient and empowered communities the place everybody has the chance to thrive.

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-475099 " src="https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2025/06/bbcsw-uganda-cisco_-50-scaled-e1751304072321-902x1024.jpeg" alt="Vertical image of 3 women walking over a bridge in lush vegetation" width="278" height="315" srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2025/06/bbcsw-uganda-cisco_-50-scaled-e1751304072321-264x300.jpeg 264w, https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2025/06/bbcsw-uganda-cisco_-50-scaled-e1751304072321-902x1024.jpeg 902w, https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2025/06/bbcsw-uganda-cisco_-50-scaled-e1751304072321-768x871.jpeg 768w, https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2025/06/bbcsw-uganda-cisco_-50-scaled-e1751304072321-1354x1536.jpeg 1354w, https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2025/06/bbcsw-uganda-cisco_-50-scaled-e1751304072321.jpeg 1440w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 278px) 100vw, 278px"/> Picture credit score: Bridges to Prosperity in Uganda established by a present from Cisco Techniques, Inc. to assist deal with primary human wants within the San Francisco Bay Space. Over the previous 27 years, that localized help has grown to a worldwide mission throughout a number of areas of want.

At this time, the Cisco Basis and our company Social Impression Investments collectively leverage our folks, know-how, and funding to advertise a wholesome planet and improve the wellbeing of individuals and communities in all places. We offer catalytic capital to high-potential organizations for ideation, innovation, and experimentation of tech pushed options, and we assist scale these options for measurable and sustained influence. These efforts are underpinned by know-how donations, capability constructing help, and extra.

We make investments alongside a continuum of wants in Disaster Response, Schooling, Financial Empowerment, and Local weather Regeneration. This funding mannequin was vital to attaining Cisco’s purpose to positively influence One Billion Lives , and it continues to information our method at this time. In fiscal 2024, our early investments drove ecosystem-level influence, and we noticed nearer-term optimistic outcomes from investments in new options, resembling AI for Good. Collectively, we intention to catalyze an ecosystem of changemakers and create optimistic influence globally.

Study extra about Cisco Basis’s legacy, technique, and influence within the FY24 Cisco Basis Report . Leveraging AI for Good As our world and workforce proceed to evolve with AI, our strategic method and investments should evolve alongside it. At this time, our companions are actively creating, testing, and making use of AI to bridge the digital and knowledge divide, and we’re proud to help our companions’ vital work, together with:

Bettering Schooling We help college students, lecturers, and faculties world wide—serving to to extend engagement, construct abilities, promote topic mastery for college kids, and instructor skilled improvement. For instance, we companion with Human-I-T to increase entry to Web connectivity at dwelling and supply refurbished gadgets for Los Angeles and Detroit faculties. We additionally help Glific.org —an open supply, two-way communication platform that bridges the hole between nonprofits and their beneficiaries. With Cisco’s help, Glific schooling companions are leveraging know-how to enhance instructor capability and scholar outcomes throughout Asia, Latin America, Africa, the Center East, and Europe.

Supporting Sustainability <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-475105" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2025/06/Jaza-Hub-1024x768.jpeg" alt="Image of solar powered hub in an African village" width="411" height="308" srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2025/06/Jaza-Hub-300x225.jpeg 300w, https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2025/06/Jaza-Hub-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2025/06/Jaza-Hub-768x576.jpeg 768w, https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2025/06/Jaza-Hub-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2025/06/Jaza-Hub-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 411px) 100vw, 411px"/> Jaza Vitality works to combine photo voltaic powered hubs and telecommunications towers. In 2021, the Cisco Basis dedicated US$100 million over the subsequent 10 years to help local weather options. Our funding applies a diversified, blended method: local weather influence investments in early-stage, for-profit local weather startups and local weather enterprise capital funds, and grant funding for nonprofits.

One of many Basis’s clear power influence investments was made in help of Jaza Vitality , which works to combine photo voltaic powered hubs and telecommunications towers.

Our Basis’s local weather grants additionally help safety of pure ecosystems. For instance, we supported Amazon Sacred Headwaters Alliance to advertise a regenerative bioeconomy and shield 86 million acres of rainforest the place 600,000 folks from 30 Indigenous nationalities dwell. We additionally supported Kara Photo voltaic , an Indigenous-led group in South America that gives photo voltaic river transport options, group power grids, and coaching applications for native technicians.

Driving Financial Empowerment Our investments help abilities improvement, entrepreneurship, and entry to monetary providers that allow people and households to realize financial safety and contribute to local people development.

Our skills-to-career companion Defy Ventures equips previously incarcerated people with abilities to acquire jobs or begin companies. Our help helped them interact 7,000 people, launch 175 new companies, and obtain an 84% post-release employment price. As well as, our entrepreneurship companion, Agora Partnerships , created an interactive platform to assist small and medium companies throughout Central and South America construct revolutionary local weather options to enhance efficiencies and outcomes.