Annual
Report
2016
Girls
Who
Code
Annual Report 2016
Letter from
Reshma
Girls Who Code was founded five years ago with the belief that computing skills are a critical path to security and prosperity in today’s job market. What began with 20 girls in the heart of New York City, Girls Who Code will reach 40,000 girls in all 50 U.S. states by the end of this year.
The demographic of Girls Who Code is the demographic of our nation. From Clubs in rural Oklahoma, to homeless shelters in Massachusetts, to the country’s most prestigious private schools—girls everywhere are united by their passion to use technology to solve problems in their day-to-day lives and make a positive impact on the world.
At Girls Who Code, we believe the gender gap in technology is an issue we must all come together to solve. With your support, we will continue to build a future where our next generation of girls and boys will prosper through creativity, through bravery, and through teamwork.
Thank you for your continued belief in our mission.
RESHMA SAUJANI
FOUNDER AND CEO
Our Mission
Girls Who Code was founded with a single mission: to close the gender gap in technology.
WE BELIEVE —
All girls are creators and able to make a positive impact on the world through computer science.
All girls of varying interests have the ability to be passionate about and interested in computer science.
Graduates of our programs will go on to deepen their CS learning and redefine cultural beliefs around what a computer scientist looks like.
Our Approach
After-school clubs for 6th–12th grade girls to explore coding in a fun & friendly environment
7-week summer programs for 10th–11th grade girls to learn coding & get exposure to tech jobs
CAPABILITIES
We offer learning opportunities for our students and alumni to deepen their computer science skills as well as their confidence.
CAREER
Our programs create clear pathways for Girls Who Code alumni from middle and high school into the computing workforce.
COMMUNITY
We build a supportive sisterhood of peers and role models who help our students and alumni persist and succeed.
Program Growth
STUDENTS YEAR OVER YEAR
GIRLS WHO CODE IS NOW IN
All 50
States!
PROGRAM MARKETS
Our Alumni
We’re building the largest pipeline of future female engineers in the United States.
High School | 55%
Middle School | 37%
College | 8%
30,000+
Girls
Reached To Date!
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
This year, Girls Who Code’s first group of alumni will graduate college. Here’s what Lesley, Maria, and Cora have been up to since graduating from Girls Who Code in the summer of 2012!
-
Lesley Panama
Girls Who Code Class of 2012, AppNexus
Computer Science Major, New York Institute of Technology
Lesley credits Girls Who Code for not only sparking her interest in programming but for teaching her confidence, responsibility, and hard work. Today, Lesley is a computer science major and sociology minor at NYIT, and she plans to get her Master’s in Education after she graduates this year. She hopes to open doors for students who otherwise wouldn’t have access to technology.
-
Maria Gonzalez
Girls Who Code Class of 2012, AppNexus
Political Science Major, University of Albany
In the short term, Maria plans to work in politics so she can make a difference in education policies. Long-term? She wants to be the first female Latina president of the United States! Maria will graduate with a political science degree from University of Albany this year and says Girls Who Code has “opened my eyes to the possibilities of what I am capable of.”
-
Cora Frederick
Girls Who Code Class of 2012, AppNexus
Engineering Major, University of Michigan
Cora enlisted in Girls Who Code’s inaugural Summer Immersion Program in 2012. During the program, she developed a plan to use an algorithm to detect the difference between benign and malignant tumors to bring down the rate of false positives in cancer screenings. Cora is now studying engineering at the University of Michigan.
93%
of Summer Immersion Program participants said that because of the Summer Immersion Program, they now want to major in or are interested in computer science.
65%
of Girls Who Code Clubs participants say they were considering a major/minor in CS because of Girls Who Code.
84%
of Girls Who Code alumni said they were likely to pursue a career in technology.
2016 Highlights
Reshma’s TED Talk, “Teach Girls Bravery, Not Perfection” was one of the fastest-rising talks from the conference in 2016, with millions of views. The talk sparked a movement of women sharing their stories of bravery across the nation.
We released Girls Who Code Loop, the first-ever app for our community. The free app—available on iOS and Android—helps the Girls Who Code sisterhood of students and alumni stay in the loop and support each other.
We released “Cracking the Gender Code” with Accenture, the first report to explore the trajectory of women in computing in the next 10 years. The results of the report uncovered some surprising findings and what companies can do to increase the share of women in computing fields by 2025.
We released a series of videos satirizing ridiculous theories around why girls can’t code. The videos were created to spark conversation and reclaim stereotypes related to gender and appearance that have been used to exclude women from traditionally male-dominated fields like technology.
Our Partners
“Prudential’s support for Girls Who Code is aimed at not only helping solve the gender and skills gaps in STEM, but also solving a real business challenge for our industry. Most people don’t think of a company like Prudential when they consider the impact of the tech skills shortage on the private sector, but the financial services industry is increasingly reliant on technology to deliver the convenient and customized services our customers demand.”
LATA REDDY
VP of Corporate Social Responsibility, President of The Prudential Foundation
“We are thrilled to see how Girls Who Code has expanded since its launch and are proud of AT&T’s continued commitment to hosting girls in six cities as part of the Summer Immersion Programs in 2016 and again in 2017! The girls bring their energy and enthusiasm to our offices, and our employees appreciate the opportunity to engage with these bright young women!”
LAURA LAI
Senior Program Manager, AT&T Philanthropy
“Making a difference in women’s equality means starting early and staying the course. That's why AOL Charitable Foundation strategically decided to continue to support the Summer Immersion Program for year 3, while reaching even more girls by funding the expansion of the Girls Who Code Club program in the Mid Atlantic Region."
SARA LINK
AOL Charitable Foundation President and VP Citizen AOL
“Synchrony Financial competes with emerging FinTech companies and therefore our ability to win in the marketplace is heavily dependent on our technology capabilities and resources. We need to find and attract a diverse group of developers. So we believe that giving back to non-profit groups like GWC is not only the right thing to do for society but also a great way for us to build the technology workforce of the future for Synchrony.”
CAROL JUEL
Chief Information Officer, Synchrony Financial
$250K+
Accenture
Adobe and the Adobe Foundation
AOL Charitable Foundation
AppNexus*
AT&T
Dannon
Dell
Deloitte
* Hosts Girls Who Code NY Office
General Electric
General Motors
Microsoft
News Corp
Prudential Financial, Inc.
Synchrony Financial
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
$150K–$249,999K
Amazon
Amazon Web Services
Anonymous
Capital One
Craig Newmark Foundation
Goldman Sachs
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Kate Spade & Company Foundation
Moody's
Pfizer
Salesforce.org
The Barlovento Foundation
Verizon Foundation
$75K–$149,999K
AIG
Akamai
Autodesk
Bank of America
Benevity Community Impact Fund
Blackrock
Booz Allen Hamilton
BSA | The Software Alliance
Electronic Arts
ESPN
Humble Bundle
IAC
IBM
Indeed
Intuit
Pivotal
Pixar Animation Studios
Sephora
State Farm
The Cheryl Saban Self-Worth Foundation
for Women and Girls
The Walt Disney Company
TripAdvisor
Viacom International, Inc.
Workday Foundation
$25K–$74,999K
20th Century Fox
21st Century Fox
Barry S. Sternlicht
BNY Mellon
CA Technologies
Chanel
Cornerstone Research
DaRin Butz Foundation
DHI Group, Inc.
Expedia
Ford Motor Company Fund
Guardian Life
LifeLock
MIT Lincoln Laboratory
New York Life
New York Times
Sequoia Capital
Target
The DeVry Foundation
$10K–$24,999K
AARP
American Express
Arcadia Data
Beth Kobliner
Black Hat
Charles Broderick
Charles Eaton
Deena Shakir
Diamonds Unleashed
Digitas
Dolby
Goodwin Law
Greenberg Traurig
IEX
Intel
John F. Smiekel Foundation
Juniper Networks
Mike Karp
MongoDB
Motorola Solutions Foundation
NBA
Northern Trust
Northrop Grumman
O'Reilly Media
Pitney Bowes
Razorfish
Sara & Evan Williams Foundation
Tango Card, Inc.
Tania Ahuja
Texas Instruments
Toyota
Tremor Video, Inc.
Vanguard Charitable
Walmart
$5K–$9,999K
24 Seven LLC
Acquia
Colleen Baum
David Moench
EventBrite
Four-Four Foundation
iHangar
International Avaya Users Group
Isobar
Iscol Family Foundation
Jae S. Lim Foundation
Joe Barth
Kara Sprague
Katherine O'Neil
Mikelynn Salthouse
Moira Forbes
Network for Good
Nike
NRF
Oracle
Rackspace
Razoo Foundation
Ted Oberwager
The Clorox Company Foundation
TrueCar
Summer Immersion Program University Partners (2016)
Austin Community College
Boyle Heights Technology YouthSource Center
CUNY Advanced Science Research Center
DePaul University
Fashion Institute of Technology
Florida International University
Georgetown University
Grand Central Tech
Idea Center at Miami Dade College
MIT Lincoln Laboratory
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Texas State University at Round Rock
University of Illinois at Chicago
USC Marshall School of Business
Financials
STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION
STATEMENT OF ACTIVITIES
Vision
For
2017
In 2017, we’ll focus on reaching more girls across the country—both through our existing programs and new initiatives. We’ll continue to scale our after-school Clubs Program to include thousands of clubs and tens of thousands of girls in every state. As part of this growth, we’ll invest in expanding our community partnerships, particularly in school districts reaching low-income students. We’ll also invest in growing our volunteer network and helping thousands of Clubs Facilitators to learn computer science alongside their students. We’ll also debut new initiatives, such as the Girls Who Code book series, a first-of-its-kind 11-book series for girls to learn to code and to join our national movement. The first books come out August 22, 2017 and include a nonfiction book, Girls Who Code: Learn to Code and Change the World, and a fiction book, The Friendship Code, which we like to think of as The Baby-Sitters Club meets coding.
2017 will be a big year for Girls Who Code; join us in making it possible.