Organization structure and design: SheLovesAI is a dynamic women-in-AI mentoring network. It addresses the need for women role models, mentors and thought leaders by developing networks of women in AI and facilitating their connections to schools and educational institutions through AI webinars and online discussion forums. After a careful analysis of our enterprise goals, vision and mission as SheLovesAi.com, we believe that it is most appropriate for us to be classified as a global nongovernmental organization (Vakil, 1997), structured to be centered in the United States, with local chapters in in the United States and in countries arounds the world. Our primary reference points for the articulation of the organizational design for SheLovesAi and the granular details of the steps involved have been from Wikipedia and law websites. One particular resource which has helped us balance vision, passion, practical thinking, structure, process, best practices and governance has been a summary of steps called “How to build a good small NGO” (Alin, et., al., 2008). We believe that we will be able to maximize our reach as a global NGO, as e influential power of global NGOs have been well studied and documented (Tallberg, et., al., 2018). As a startup we are also aware of the various challenges we could face as we implement initiatives and grow – we will place a strong emphasis on identifying best practices and focus on building strong ethical foundations. Numerous corporate governance challenges have been identified by past research and mitigating strategies have also been discussed (Moore & Stewart, 1998) and we as SheLovesAi.com will have a clear focus on ethics and governance. With the above foundational organizational thinking, SheLovesAi.com will pursue it goals through sound structure and best practices. A few core design, structure, implementation and sustainability points are mentioned below.
Starting Up and getting going: SheLovesAI will be personally funded for the first year of operations, which is mostly virtual. I expect to setup our advisory board and to organize our first panel of mentors in the first year. We will connect with at least two schools and setup at least four webinars in the first year. We will also build the tools and resources section on our website, followed by a development of an online discussion platform with group creation capabilities. This project is based on a critical need for encouraging girls and women of all ages and backgrounds to get educated and involved in AI related careers and being very passionate about this, I will fund the first phase myself within a preset budget.
Sustainability: We will also lay the groundwork for seeking NGO status and charitable contributions from the second year. We do not believe that we can survive and thrive without support from like minded people and organizations. I believe in the power of the core concept and idea underlying SheLovesAI.com and am therefore confident (hopeful!) that I will be able to attract supporters and donors to contribute. I do not envisage ‘memberships’ at this point, but will aim for developing a strong Board for governance and a strong advisory Board for facilitating projects and events which can serve as additional sources of revenue. I would like to conduct one annual global event under the auspices of a large well known entity such as the United Nations or the NSF – this would provide visibility and strengthen the brand value of SheLovesAI. Additionally, I also plan to setup an online store on SheLovesAI.com to supply knowledge resources -some free, some on a pay-as-you-like model and some items on a low cost model. Thus we would be able to sustain the initiative from a value addition and financial perspective.
Structure: SheLovesAI will be structured along the lines of Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) as an NGO network with chapters operating on the same ideology, with shared resources and governance but with each full chapter exercising a fair degree of autonomy. Leadership will consist of a CEO (Executive, myself), CFO (finance), CKO (knowledge) and CTO (technology). SheLovesAI will initially use consultants, volunteers and college interns to keep the costs low. We will hire employees once we gain patrons /donors and establish a steady stream of revenues and charitable income. We will establish a corporate Board for governance and one or more advisory Boards for facilitating projects and events. Chapters will have local Chairs, Vice-Chairs and Treasurers who will provide oversight along with project and event leaders.
SheLovesAI Desired Impact & Measurement – It is difficult to forecast exact impact quantitatively at this early stage, and therefore we would like to state our desired impact in terms of what we believe SheLovesAI will be able to achieve: SheLovesAI will reach one thousand young women directly in the first four years (year 1 – 10 girls, year 2- 90, year 3 – 250, and year 4 – about 700, total ~ 1050) and many more indirectly through them visiting and being influenced by SheLovesAI.com but not necessarily signing up for the mentoring initiative. We will measure progress through four mechanisms: 1) periodical surveys, 2) website usage metrics, 3) subscriptions and 4) tracking of actual stories. There will be some metrics of general influence that we may not be in a position to track or evaluate effectively, such as the impact of our events or influence of freely available case studies – we will use proxy measures to gauge general progress, such as repeated random sample surveys over a period of time.
SheLovesAI Contribution – Our work is important in its contribution towards promoting involvement of women in AI and we expect this to help create gender equity in the workplace, greater awareness and contributions to reducing AI bias against women. We believe that a network effect will kick in and as more women get motivated and inspired, the movement will snowball and the passion that is reflected in the name SheLovesAI will be seen and expressed through the success stories of many women!
Connections to the Class have been discussed under the “Personal Commentary” page on the SheLovesAI website.
I am personally very passionate about SheLovesAI and its vision – I want my daughters to grow up in an environment of gender equity and be comfortable with the emerging advanced technologies and artificial intelligence environments. My research and my past experiences have prepared me to be passionate about this topic and passionate about Women’s passion for AI!
References:
Alin, F., Freer, G., Klaasen, W., Mbane, J. R., Mokoetle, K., Moynihan, M., … & Tewodros, A. (2008). How to build a good small NGO. Maeve Moynihan (Ed).
Vakil, A. C. (1997). Confronting the classification problem: Toward a taxonomy of NGOs. World development, 25(12), 2057-2070.
Tallberg, J., Dellmuth, L. M., Agné, H., & Duit, A. (2018). NGO influence in international organizations: Information, access and exchange. British Journal of Political Science, 48(1), 213-238.
Strang, K. D. (2018). Strategic analysis of CSF’s for not-for-profit organizations. Measuring Business Excellence, 22(1), 42-63.
Moore, M., & Stewart, S. (1998). Corporate governance for NGOs?. Development in Practice, 8(3), 335-342.