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Jonathan Donner
Senior Researcher in Digital Economies
Professional Background
Jonathan Donner is a distinguished researcher specializing in Digital Inclusion and Socioeconomic Development. His impressive career spans two decades, during which he has dedicated himself to exploring the crucial intersections between technology and society. Jonathan has served as an invaluable advisor to a diverse range of clients, including private sector companies, global foundations, multinational development organizations, and various government entities.
As a Senior Director of Research at Caribou Digital, he leads innovative research initiatives that aim to enhance digital inclusion across the globe. His unique approach integrates empirical data with actionable insights, ensuring that his work translates into practical benefits for communities striving for digital equity. Jonathan’s advisory work has made significant contributions to informing public policies and best practices in technology and society, making him a sought-after speaker and thought leader in his field.
Having developed a broad repertoire of qualitative and quantitative research designs, Jonathan melds academic rigor with real-world applicability, which has made his research both impactful and relevant. His extensive experience mentoring and managing researchers from various cultural and disciplinary backgrounds highlights his commitment to collaboration and knowledge sharing.
Education and Achievements
Jonathan’s educational background is equally impressive. He commenced his academic journey by attending Milton Academy, where he laid the foundational skills that would support his pursuit of knowledge. He then earned his Bachelor of Arts (BA) in History from Amherst College, equipping him with a robust understanding of historical context in relation to contemporary issues.
Driven by a passion for communication and research, he pursued a Master’s degree (MA) in Communication Research at Stanford University, eventually achieving a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in the same field from the same prestigious institution. This comprehensive educational experience fueled Jonathan’s passion for bridging gaps in communication, policy, and technology, ultimately shaping his career trajectory.
In addition to his degrees, Jonathan is the esteemed author of numerous scholarly and archival articles, as well as three significant books, including the widely acclaimed “After Access: Inclusion, Development, and a More Mobile Internet” published by MIT Press in 2015. This book has made a profound impact on the discourse surrounding mobile technology and its role in fostering digital inclusion, positioning Jonathan as a credible voice in the academia and beyond. His work has been cited over 6,000 times by fellow researchers, underscoring his influence in the field and the relevance of his research and findings.
Career Highlights
Throughout his career, Jonathan has held pivotal roles at several influential organizations. His tenure as a Faculty Fellow at The Fletcher School at Tufts University allowed him to interact with emerging leaders in global policy and research. His time at Microsoft as a researcher enabled him to engage with cutting-edge technology and explore its implications for society, while his position as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Earth Institute at Columbia University gave him a platform to address vital socio-environmental issues through rigorous research.
In addition to these roles, Jonathan has been associated with the OTF Group as a Senior Consultant, where he provided strategic insights to enhance policy practice in digital access and inclusion. His consultancy work at Monitor Deloitte (formerly Monitor Group) similarly highlighted his capacity for delivering high-level recommendations tailored to meet complex client needs. Jonathan’s diverse career reflects his adaptability, innovative thinking, and profound impact on the research landscape surrounding digital technology and inclusion.
Contributions and Legacy
Jonathan Donner has made significant contributions to the fields of Digital Inclusion and Socioeconomic Development, leaving behind a legacy of knowledge, mentorship, and research excellence. His role as an advisor has enabled numerous organizations to harness technology to create inclusive pathways for development, thereby enhancing the lives of individuals and communities around the world.
In addition to his project work and advisory capacities, Jonathan's commitment to fostering talent and mentoring young researchers has nurtured the next generation of scholars in the field. By sharing his knowledge and expertise, he has empowered many to carve their paths in the complex world of technology and society.
As he continues to engage with ongoing projects and research endeavors, Jonathan Donner's influence is poised to amplify further. He remains a trusted resource for organizations looking to deepen their understanding of digital dynamics and the socio-economic implications of technology. His contributions resonate in academic circles and practical initiatives, ensuring that the conversations around digital empowerment and inclusion remain vibrant and transformative.
In sum, Jonathan’s extensive background, educational achievements, collaboration with leading organizations, and active contributions to literature and research make him a prominent figure in the realms of Digital Inclusion and Socioeconomic Development. As he continues to navigate the evolving landscape of technology and society, his insights and leadership will undoubtedly pave the way for a more inclusive and equitable digital future.
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Clay is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Clay centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Clay is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Clay as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Clay offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Clay takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Clay's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Clay makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Clay's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Clay isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Clay instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Clay is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Clay can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Clay is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.