There can be no question that technology is disrupting our world. For those organizations (we call them social innovators) that work to improve our communities, it’s critical to understand and embrace the ways that technology can improve outcomes, looking beyond typical ROI to the change that ROI enables.

We are rTraction. We always have been. If you’ve been following our journey, you know that we created Ellipsis Digital as our brand to tackle tough social innovation projects and Engine SevenFour to be used in the custom software development marketplace. Over the past couple of years, we’ve had success under both banners.

We have also experienced some changes.  Some have been small, some more drastic (such as the departure of one of our founding partners).  With change comes an opportunity to reflect. During a strategic reflection, we realized that the nexus of work that we are passionate about — work that we are good at and work that further reinforces our values — is the collective work that rTraction has been doing for 16 years.

Looking at the history of our company, our body of work seems broad at first glance.  We have built digital tools that make people’s lives better, help organizations get the word out about their stories, help people in crisis find the resources they need, improve health impact, or help local businesses become better global companies.

Here is where we realized that there only was one rTraction, and that the work we did under Ellipsis Digital and Engine SevenFour fits under one unifying goal: To use technology to improve community outcomes.

All organizations need technology to grow, whether they’re growing their audiences, growing sales (or donations), or increasing capacity to do their work by improving efficiencies between technologies (or turning manual processes digital). For social innovators, growth isn’t just about the bottom line. It’s also about having more funds, more time, or more of both to deliver real change to the communities they serve. The organizations we work with see beyond ROI to the lasting impact that return allows them to make… that’s the difference we make together.

We are starting with a good understanding of technology and social impact today and we are committed to continual learning and study of how technology can improve social innovation.

We believe doing good & doing well can coexist.  

We think that technology can and will advance our ability to improve outcomes in communities.

We use technology to improve those community outcomes. Want to join us? As a team member, work with us on a project, or learn more about technology and help our research.