What World Economic Forum Global Shapers Are Doing in Philanthropy

How the next generation of global leaders is redefining charitable giving — and what one San Francisco Hub member built to prove it.

The World Economic Forum's Global Shapers Community is a network of young leaders under 30 who are driving change in their communities and fields. Members of the San Francisco Hub work across technology, policy, climate, and social impact — and increasingly, they're bringing the same frameworks they apply to technology and investment to philanthropy. Panos Kokmotos, Co-Founder and COO of Givelink and a World Economic Forum Global Shaper at the San Francisco Hub, is one of them. Here's how the Global Shapers lens is reshaping giving — and what building a transparent giving platform in the Bay Area looks like from the inside.

Key Takeaways

• WEF Global Shapers are a network of under-30 leaders driving change across sectors.
• The San Francisco Hub sits at the intersection of technology, impact, and philanthropy.
• Panos Kokmotos is a Givelink Co-Founder and Global Shaper — the connection is structural, not accidental.
• Young leaders in the Bay Area are applying startup thinking to philanthropic infrastructure.
• Transparent giving is what startup thinking looks like applied to the donor-nonprofit relationship.

What Global Shapers actually do

The WEF Global Shapers Community includes more than 10,000 young leaders across 400+ cities and 160+ countries. It's not an honorary title. It's a working network — shapers lead local projects, advise global policy conversations, and bring field-level insights into WEF's broader ecosystem.

The San Francisco Hub reflects the city: technology-forward, impact-conscious, globally connected. Members work at the intersection of startup culture and social change — often directly.

The shared question in this community isn't "should I give back?" It's "how do I build something that actually works?" Charity and philanthropy are not separate from the work. They're subject to the same product-thinking, data-thinking, and systems-thinking that the Bay Area applies to everything else.

Why a Global Shaper built a transparent giving platform

Panos Kokmotos came to the San Francisco Hub after founding Givelink in Greece — a platform built from the same startup thinking the Bay Area is famous for, applied to a sector that had been running on outdated infrastructure for decades.

The founding insight was straightforward: if we can track a package, we should track impact. If donors can see a live map of their Uber driver, they should be able to see a photo of their donation arriving. The technology wasn't the gap. The will to build it was.

That's what the Global Shaper framework looks like in practice: identify a systemic gap, apply available tools, build the infrastructure that doesn't exist yet.

Givelink is the bet that transparent giving is the infrastructure philanthropy needs. The Bay Area is where that bet scales fastest.

The convergence happening in San Francisco philanthropy

Several forces are converging in the Bay Area that make transparent giving a natural fit.

Tech-native donors expect the same accountability from charity that they build into their products. They give to organizations where they can see outcomes — and they move on when they can't.

Impact-focused capital is increasingly deploying into social infrastructure alongside traditional investments. The lines between impact investing, philanthropy, and ESG are blurring.

A nonprofit sector under pressure — California has more registered nonprofits than any other state, and many are facing the same federal funding pressures hitting organizations nationally.

The Global Shapers community sits at the center of all three: building the tools, connecting the capital, and understanding the organizations that need both.

What Givelink's Bay Area footprint looks like

30+ California nonprofits. Partnerships with Bayview Senior Services, Big Sunday in Los Angeles, Swords to Plowshares, 24th Street Theater. A strategic partnership with Charity Navigator. And an operations team building from San Francisco.

The thesis is proven at small scale in Greece and building at larger scale in California. The next phase is national — following the same playbook that worked in the Bay Area into New York, Texas, Illinois, and beyond.

Givelink in action

A Bay Area technology professional connected to the WEF Global Shapers network discovered Givelink through a community event. She gave from a senior services nonprofit's wishlist, received the delivery photo within two weeks, and shared the profile with three colleagues. All three gave. One became a monthly supporter. That's the San Francisco flywheel — peer referral, tech-native donor expectations, and proof that closes the loop. Browse verified nonprofits on Givelink.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the WEF Global Shapers Community?

A World Economic Forum network of 10,000+ young leaders across 400+ cities driving change in their communities. The San Francisco Hub works at the intersection of technology, impact, and philanthropy.

Who is Panos Kokmotos?

Co-Founder and COO of Givelink, leading the platform's U.S. expansion from San Francisco. Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree and World Economic Forum Global Shaper at the San Francisco Hub.

What is Givelink's connection to the WEF Global Shapers?

Panos Kokmotos's membership in the San Francisco Hub reflects the same thinking that produced Givelink: applying systems-level, data-driven, product thinking to a philanthropic sector that needed infrastructure renewal.

How is the Bay Area tech culture influencing charitable giving?

Tech-native donors expect accountability, trackability, and proof — the same standards they build into products. Transparent giving platforms that deliver photo proof and third-party verification align with this expectation and retain tech-community donors at higher rates.

Give like you build — with proof.

Browse verified nonprofits on Givelink and give with the same standard you'd apply to any product you'd ship.

Stay Human.

---

Panos Kokmotos is Co-Founder and COO of Givelink. He's a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree and a World Economic Forum Global Shaper at the San Francisco Hub.