The challenge
In 2024–2025, Tech to the Rescue ran AI for Changemakers — a global program of AI bootcamps for nonprofit organizations, built around Matching Days: events where nonprofits pitch their AI project ideas to technology companies. The stakes were unusual: because the tech companies implement these projects pro bono, there is no contract to negotiate and no budget to win — the pitch is the only currency. If an organization can't make its mission and project land in minutes, it leaves without a partner. And the presenters were exactly the people the curse of knowledge hits hardest: mission-driven experts from 130 organizations across 20+ countries, five cohorts — Disaster Management, Climate, Health, Education, and Economic Opportunity — more than 350 people, most of them pitching to the tech sector for the first time.
The work
Magda designed and delivered dedicated storytelling training for each of the five cohorts — and then went deeper than a training format usually allows. “She effectively introduced storytelling, built a remarkably effective structure for the presentations, and walked through the concept with nearly every single organization — suggesting changes and sharpening the emphasis,” recalls Magdalena Wasilewska-Michalska, the program's director. The scale of that sentence is worth pausing on: near-individual attention, delivered across 130 organizations. Her sessions ranked among the highest-rated in the entire bootcamp series. And in the spirit of the program itself, she worked pro bono.
The result
“Within just days of each Matching Day, every single organization had found a technology partner to implement at least one AI project — and sometimes several.” A 100% match rate, across all five cohorts.
The result that outlasted the program
The organizations didn't just leave with a partner — they left with a capability. “They told us they valued the sessions not only for the Matching Day preparation, but for building competencies critical to fundraising. To this day, we hear that the program has improved their financial stability — many have secured grants that let them scale their social impact.”