Humanitarian & Philanthropic Opportunities at IEEE
IEEE is committed to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. Through IEEE's diverse humanitarian and philanthropic programs, there are many opportunities to make a contribution—big or small—to improving the human condition worldwide. You can become involved at any stage of IEEE engagement through contributions of your time, talent, and treasure. Together, the strength and reach of the IEEE network can be leveraged to make a difference worldwide. Doing good brings great returns.
IEEE Foundation
As the philanthropic arm of IEEE, the IEEE Foundation inspires the generosity of donors to enable IEEE programs that improve access to technology, enhance technological literacy, and support technical education and the IEEE professional community. The IEEE Foundation, a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization in the United States, fulfills its purpose by soliciting and managing donations, recognizing the generosity of donors, supporting high-impact IEEE social-good programs, and awarding grants to IEEE grassroots projects of strategic importance. With donor support, the IEEE Foundation strives to be a leader in transforming lives through the power of technology and education.
For more information:
IEEE Humanitarian Technologies Board (HTB)
The IEEE Humanitarian Technologies Board (HTB) inspires and empowers IEEE volunteers around the world carrying out and supporting impactful humanitarian technology activities at the local level. HTB was formerly the Humanitarian Activities Committee and was elevated to a Board in November 2022. The HTB mission is to support impactful and ethically informed volunteer-led initiatives, programs and projects, and mutually beneficial partnerships, as well as to inform policy formulation that harness technology and innovation to address societal challenges (including disaster recovery) in a responsive, effective, and sustainable way.
IEEE Smart Village
Access to electricity creates opportunity and improves lives in remote communities around the world. That’s why IEEE Smart Village brings together local entrepreneurs, experienced engineers, expert educators, and passionate volunteers to seed-fund, launch, sustain, and develop clean energy and advanced education systems that serve community needs. By bringing basic electrical services and transformational educational opportunities that support community well-being to more than 50 million people by 2025, IEEE Smart Village is lighting up homes, businesses, and global classrooms—and empowering local economies.
For more information:
Read an overview of the programs
IEEE SIGHT
The IEEE Special Interest Group on Humanitarian Technology (SIGHT) program is a network of IEEE volunteers around the globe partnering with underserved communities and local organizations to leverage technology for sustainable development.
SIGHT operates through volunteers and groups that partner with local communities to apply technology-based solutions to sustainable development challenges. There are over 36,000 individual SIGHT members and more than 220 SIGHT Groups in over 50 countries.
For more information:
- Visit IEEE SIGHT’s website to learn more about the program, including how to get involved.
- Interested in starting a group in your own community? Visit the toolkit.
- Want to stay in the know? Become a member of IEEE SIGHT.
- Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.
EPICS in IEEE
EPICS in IEEE empowers students to work with local service organizations to apply technical knowledge to implement solutions for a community’s unique challenges. In this way, EPICS in IEEE not only assists communities in achieving their specific local community improvement goals but also encourages students to pursue engineering for community improvement as a career.
EPICS in IEEE has proven its ability to deliver on the IEEE core purpose of fostering technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity.
For more information:
IEEE-Eta Kappa Nu
IEEE-Eta Kappa Nu (IEEE-HKN) is the honor society of IEEE. IEEE-HKN is an early indicator of success and recognizes academic excellence, leadership, outstanding character, and service for undergraduates and graduate students, engineering faculty, and professionals. Founded in 1904 and merged with IEEE in 2010, the HKN story and successes, famous members, THE BRIDGE, and HKN awards encourage and enable students and professionals to achieve and pledge themselves to uphold the highest ideals of the profession. Each year, the more than 250 HKN chapters worldwide perform over 90,000 hours of community service, including tutoring, peer mentoring, course advising, university ambassadors, STEM community outreach, and more.
Eta Kappa Nu … Scholarship … Attitude … Character
See IEEE-HKN chapters around the world
IEEE Life Members Committee (LMC)
The IEEE Life Members Committee, a joint committee of IEEE and the IEEE Foundation, provides leadership in identifying and supporting interests of IEEE Life members (LMs) and future LMs in activities of IEEE including but not limited to IEEE Life Member Affinity Groups and the IEEE Life Member Newsletter. The LMC manages donations entrusted to the IEEE Life Members Fund and, along with the IEEE Foundation, provides grant funding exclusively to IEEE organizational units.
IEEE History Center
The mission of the IEEE History Center is to make known to the public the important legacy of engineering, thereby contributing to better understanding and appreciation of engineering and to increased technological literacy. The Center does this through a range of programs that promote preservation of, research into, and dissemination of information about the history of IEEE-related sciences, technologies, and industries. The IEEE History Center makes its rich digital resources available on the Engineering & Technology History Wiki, a site it developed and maintains on behalf of a consortium of major engineering associations.
Of particular importance is the REACH Program, which provides curricular material to pre-university educators. The material, which follows the inquiry design method and which includes lesson plans, background material, primary sources, hands-on activities, and engaging short videos, is delivered free of charge to educators on an award-winning dedicated website.
The History Center is funded in part by the IEEE Foundation, which has designated REACH as one of its priority initiatives. Visit the IEEE History Center to learn more about the programs, how to subscribe to the Center’s newsletter, and how to get involved in IEEE’s historical activities.
IEEE Power & Energy Society Scholarship Plus Initiative
It's been estimated that the power and energy industry in the United States and Canada will experience as much as a 50% turnover in engineers, and there's increasing concern about the availability of highly skilled, quality engineers. The IEEE PES Scholarship Plus Initiative was established to get more undergraduates students involved in the Power & Energy industry. The program recognizes highly qualified electrical engineering undergraduate students with multi-year scholarships and assists in connecting them with relevant and meaningful career experiences. Since the program launched in 2011, 1,172 scholarships have been distributed to 723 individuals attending 169 universities across the USA, Canada, and Puerto Rico.
IEEE Internet Initiative
The internet has enabled tremendous innovation, economic growth, and societal benefits, and its future offers great opportunity—making it especially important to connect the estimated 50 percent of the world’s people who remain unconnected to the internet. The IEEE Internet Initiative provides a collaborative platform to inform global technology policymaking through a consensus of sound technical and scientific knowledge in the areas of internet governance, cybersecurity, privacy, and internet inclusion for all.
Technology and policy experts can join programs, including the Internet Inclusion Working Groups focused on community networks, connectivity and energy, digital literacy, digital gender divide, evidence-based research, new models for financing connectivity and public access. Members represent organizations across the globe with similar missions—helping to advance solutions for a more accessible and trustworthy internet with inclusion that is affordable, meaningful, and sustainable.
Watch a three-minute video on Connecting the Next Billion, Internet Inclusion: Advancing Solutions
IEEE Empower a Billion Lives
The goal of the IEEE Empower a Billion Lives Competition is to help the global community create and demonstrate sustainable solutions for energy access that are technically and economically viable, and that can rapidly scale to impact more than 1 billion people across the globe who live in extreme energy poverty.
IEEE-USA Community Outreach Initiative (the MOVE Project)
The IEEE-USA Community Outreach Initiative (the MOVE Project) offers a mobile emergency relief program committed to assisting victims of natural disasters with short-term communications, computer, and power solutions. The method of providing these services is through the IEEE-USA sponsored Mobile Outreach VEhicle (MOVE). When not deployed for a disaster, the MOVE truck is used to assist the Red Cross with its home fire campaign and to visit schools, libraries, festivals, and other venues to provide STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) outreach to the general public.