Rich Wales

This year’s U.N./Gooddler Youth Summit was held on the Stanford University campus. Participants explored the business of charity.

Every year, more than 500 high school and university students come together to change the world.

At least, that’s the goal.

This weekend, Stanford University became the site of the annual Gooddler Social Impact Youth Summit, co-hosted by philanthropy organization Gooddler Foundation and the United Nations.

The goal of the annual summit is to provide a forum for student leaders to “get challenged, learn, and connect with a global community of change makers,” according to the event’s description.

For this year’s event, the goal was to focus on how innovation plays a role in development.

According to Gooddler, “Gooddler Youth Summit 2017 focuses on how young leaders could use innovation and technology to tackle development challenges. Using the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals as an entry point, the Summit aims to take up social entrepreneurship as an avenue for driven young leaders to solve global issues.”

On Saturday, participants were able to hear keynote lectures from UN and Gooddler Foundation employees, as well as discuss and network with professors and entrepreneurs. Fireside chats included discussion topics like virtual reality, medical technology, and challenging conventional thinking. The day ended with a movie screening of “Poverty, Inc.,” a documentary examining charity as an industry.

On Sunday, the program shifted to Gooddler’s first “hackathon problem-solving workshop.”

According to the event’s description, “The aim of the hackathon is to redesign philanthropy, business, and technologies for a better world. With the support of mentors, subject matter experts, process facilitators, ad hoc team members, and guest contributors, hackers work in teams to design social/environmental impact projects.”

Outside of the event, Gooddler Foundation helps philanthropy grow.

“If you are a charity, we provide you with a platform that allows you to post specific items needed to achieve your organization’s goals for supporters to purchase. If you are a donor, we provide you with an easy to use platform where you can buy and donate specific goods requested by charities to maximize the use of your dollar and to give you an assurance that you have a full control over every dollar you spend,” according to the Gooddler team.

In the future, Gooddler and the U.N. aim to provide a space where future generations can grow and help philanthropy shape the world.