Sending money to a friend can take seconds. The financial infrastructure behind that moment is seamless and efficient. Yet for many humanitarian and development organizations, moving funds across borders remains slow, costly, and opaque, especially in times of crisis.

This session explores how to move beyond traditional philanthropy to co-design and test real-world financial solutions. Together, Ripple and Mercy Corps Ventures set out to answer a shared question: How can emerging payment technologies (like crypto) reduce friction in humanitarian aid, disaster response, and financial inclusion?

Speakers will share a blueprint for a model that uses pilots, cross-functional collaboration, and co-investment to transform promising technology into mission-critical tools. The session focuses on the process: how trust is built, how experimentation is structured, and how internal and external stakeholders align around innovation.

Attendees will get an inside look at:

• How a shared “frontier-first” goal unlocked creativity and strengthened cross-sector trust
• Why prioritizing learning over perfection enabled innovation in high-stakes environments
• The “Power of the Pilot” and how small-scale tests helped validate real-world use cases
• How embracing a venture-style mindset reshaped a traditional donor-recipient dynamic into collaborative co-investment
• The role of cross-functional alignment across engineering, legal, product, and social impact teams in moving from idea to execution
• How localized expertise translated complex financial tools into solutions for unbanked communities and smallholder farmers
• How long-term partnership created new, unexpected use cases over time

Ripple is a 2026 Halo Awards Finalist.