Daniel Ben-Horin | |
---|---|
Nationality | American |
Occupation | social entrepreneur |
Title | Founder of TechSoup (formerly CompuMentor) |
Daniel Ben-Horin is an American social entrepreneur, [1] known for founding the technology assistance nonprofit CompuMentor, now known as TechSoup, in the late 1980s. [2] He is also a former journalist who has written for publications such as The Arizona Republic, The Nation, The NY Times, and Mother Jones. Ben-Horin's debut novel, Substantial Justice, was published in June 2020. [3]
Ben-Horin was born to Jewish parents from Latvia and Ukraine, who both emigrated separately to British Mandatory Palestine and met on a kibbutz in 1930. Ben-Horin's father was a Zionist activist and journalist. After the couple moved to Queens, New York in 1945, his mother earned an M.A. from Columbia University and became a probation officer for New York City. [4] He graduated from the University of Chicago in 1969 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. [4]
After college, Ben-Horin lived in Phoenix, Arizona for six years, [4] where he worked at The Arizona Republic before becoming an editor of the Phoenix New Times. [5] In 1974, Ben-Horin moved to San Francisco. [4] He has written for publications such as The Nation, [6] Mother Jones [7] and Redbook. [8]
In 1977 he wrote the article "Television Without Tears", a socialist analysis of television and its role in popular culture and ideology, which was published in the journal Socialist Revolution. [9] [10]
From 1981-84, Ben-Horin served as the Executive Director of Media Alliance, a nonprofit association of media workers in the San Francisco Bay Area. [4] In 1985, Ben-Horin became active on the Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link (WELL), [11] where he encountered technologists who wanted to share their knowledge with nonprofits, but had no outlet to do so. [12] The following year, Ben-Horin approached WELL members with a printer problem and was overwhelmed by the assistance he received in resolving the issue. [11] This led to him establishing CompuMentor in San Francisco in September 1986, [13] with the objective of trying to "help nonprofit organizations use available technical tools to produce better work and to activate a truly skilled sector of the population--technically adept people--by getting them into the community to do what they do best--talk about technology and teaching." [14]
In April 2009, Ben-Horin received the "Lifetime Achievement Award" from the Nonprofit Technology Enterprise Network (NTEN), and two months later the Ashoka Foundation elected Ben-Horin as a Senior Fellow for his work. [15] The NonProfit Times named Ben-Horin in its Top 50 most influential people in the nonprofit sector four years in a row from 2004 to 2007. [16]
Ben-Horin was the CEO of TechSoup until 2013, [17] when he became Founder and Chief Instigator, [18] with Rebecca Masisak replacing him as CEO. [19] As of 2017, TechSoup Global had a staff of 212 and an annual operating budget of $34 million. [20]
In 2013, Ben-Horin returned to his first love, writing fiction. His novel, Substantial Justice, was published in July 2020 by Rare Bird Books. [21] Substantial Justice received positive reviews. [22] Kirkus Reviews called it a “remarkable first novel”. [23]
Daniel Ben-Horin.