Girls Who Code
Annual Report 2017
Letter from
Reshma
When I started Girls Who Code, I never would have imagined that we would grow to become a movement reaching almost 90,000 girls of all backgrounds in all 50 states.
And now, just six years into our work, we’ve reached a tipping point.
We are on track to achieve gender parity in entry level computer science jobs by 2027. And we know why: because our work is as much about quantity, as it is about quality. We scale our programs to reach more girls in more places, and give them the chance to forge lifelong bonds so they may persist in computer science.
It’s incredible. But for us, parity is really just the beginning.
We’ve reached a moment unmatched in our history, a moment as full of anger and anguish as it is promise and potential. Women and girls across the country are coming together to correct centuries-long power imbalances across lines of gender, race, sexuality, and more.
Girls Who Code is proud to be a part of this movement, and even prouder because our girls - girls of all races and ethnicities and abilities and zip codes - are leading it.
They are solving problems in their communities, empowering their friends, and defining the future of our world.
We’re thrilled to be giving them the tools they need to get there.
I hope you’ll join us and make sure every girl has the chance to change her world - our world - for the better. Thank you for your support.
Our Approach:
More Than Code
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 our 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.
Impact and Growth
CUMULATIVE GIRLS SERVED BY GIRLS WHO CODE
CUMULATIVE PROGRAMS
PROGRAM MARKETS
GIRLS WHO CODE HAS REACHED NEARLY
Based on people reached through our book series, website, videos and social media.
Clubs
Our Clubs Girls
Our after school clubs, run by volunteer facilitators in communities across the country, give 6-12th grade girls the chance to explore coding in a fun and friendly environment.
Tatiana, Worcester, MA, 12 years old
Girls Who Code makes me feel brave because I’m confident in myself; I know that I can do it. I’m a 12-year-old, and usually I have to listen to an adult—but now I know that girls can be inspired to try new things and know they can be engineers.
”
Ruby, Kansas City, MO, 17 years old
I started two Clubs last year. I’ve found that I get the most satisfaction from making sure other girls know that these doors are open to them and helping them to find opportunities to succeed themselves in STEM.
”Our Clubs Facilitators
Girls Who Code launched a Facilitator training program so that anyone can start and run a Club.
Darius, Boca Raton, FL
Center for Autism and Related Disabilities at Florida Atlantic University (FAU CARD)
Girls Who Code provides an inclusive computer science club for creative and intellectually curious girls, who have a strong interest in art and computers and a diagnosis of autism. The Club provides a unique approach to building social skills and independence during key developmental stages of social and emotional growth.
”
Danielle, Cabot, AR
High school engineering teacher
I hear the girls say things like, 'We were trying to pick our impact project,' and the project they picked was to develop an app or a website to help people find a local psychiatrist or psychologist for mental health. [Girls Who Code] helps the girls with their confidence, but it will also help society.
”
Summer
Immersion
Programs
Our 7-week Summer Immersion Programs (SIPs) teach 11th and 12th grade girls computer science skills, provide them with exposure to tech jobs, and offer them a supportive sisterhood of thousands of girls across the U.S.
Dea, New York, NY
2017 SIP hosted by AT&T
My group made Roadmap, a checklist that helps refugees come to the United States. It’s very difficult for a refugee to even know how to come to the United States... I was like, 'I have to do this. People need this.'
”
Edie, Burlingame, CA
2017 SIP hosted by Twitter
At Twitter, I realized I actually love to code and am darn good at it! I had amazing female black and Latina mentors who are engineers and showed me that I can be a successful woman of color in the tech world.
”
Fleurianne, Decatur, GA
2017 SIP hosted by State Farm
I felt like I needed to introduce myself to the world of technology. I was tired of being the user behind the scene and my brother always showing me how to do things. I wanted to be independent, to be able to show him how to code for once.
”2017 New Initiatives
BEST SELLING BOOKS
The first four books in our series with Penguin are out now! Two New York Times Best Sellers. Nine books to come in 2018.
CAMPUS
With the launch of our newest program, Campus, girls aged 10-18 can dive even deeper into coding with courses including Introduction to Computer Science, Website Design & Development, Wearable Tech & Fashion Design, and iPhone App Development.
Campus condenses our award-winning curriculum into an accelerated 10-day summer course.
WEBSITE DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT
INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER SCIENCE
WEARABLE TECH & FASHION DESIGN
IPHONE APP DEVELOPMENT
ADVOCACY
Girls Who Code is working with state and federal lawmakers to advocate for policies that track and report computer science classroom diversity and increase the participation of girls, especially those from underrepresented groups, in computer science classes.
This year, we convened the Girls Who Code Female Governors’ Summit with Sheryl Sandberg at Facebook, held a hackathon at the National Governors' Association Conference, and announced a partnership with Governor Hogan of Maryland for the nation's first Governor's Club challenge.
Our Commitment
to Diversity
Girls Who Code values diversity, equity, and inclusion as essential to our mission. We focus our work not only on gender diversity but also on young women who are historically underrepresented in computer science fields.
SEE FULL DIVERSITY STATEMENT
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
50%
50% of girls served come from Historically Underrepresented Groups
*This includes girls who are Black, Latina, and from low-income households.
Our Alumni
Our alumni are entering college and declaring majors in large numbers for the first time in our six-year history. We have approximately 5,000 college-aged alumni.
Our alumni who have already declared their majors are choosing to major in CS, or related fields, at a rate 15 times the national average.
Our outreach to historically underrepresented groups - particularly girls who are Black, Latino, or from low-income households - is paying off, too.
Our Black and Latina alumni are choosing to major in CS or related fields at a rate 16 times the national average.
STUDENTS AND ALUMNI BY SCHOOL YEAR
Served To Date!
#HireMe
In 2017, our partners received 500+ applications for positions they posted on #HireMe, our job and internship platform.
Karen, 2014 SIP hosted by eBay
Internship with Adobe
It didn’t take me long to fall in love with the atmosphere of working in tech. I was actually hired at Adobe through the Girls Who Code #HireMe portal. I loved my internship experience the first summer and knew I wanted to return.
”
Michelle, 2016 SIP hosted by IBM
Internship at IBM Silicon Valley Labs
Learning how to code turned out to be simple and it gave me a way to show my versatility in the world of STEM. I'm a lot more confident than I used to be!
”
Shaina, 2016 SIP hosted by Pivotal
Internship at Pivotal
At the start of 2017, Pivotal reached out to its Girls Who Code alumni and offered me a paid summer internship opportunity to write software. I wasn’t sure, but I applied anyway. Before I knew it, I was offered a job!
”
Vision:
Our Five Year
Strategy
In our next five years, Girls Who Code will launch initiatives that bring us closer to our goal of achieving gender parity in computer science by 2027, while also reinforcing our organization as a clear leader in the global movement for equality.
EXPAND OUR SISTERHOOD
We know just how important it is to give girls access to computer science at a young age, so we're launching 3rd to 5th grade Clubs!
And we're learning from our alumni about how important it is for them to stay connected to one another so we're piloting College Loops - an easy way for alumni to engage with one another and persist through CS in college.
GROW OUR FOOTPRINT
We plan to expand our Summer Immersion Programs, launch Campus in new markets, double the number of after-school Clubs in cities across the U.S., and develop our international presence.
BUILD OUR MOVEMENT
We are committed to building our movement through our books, merchandising, and forthcoming Global Girls Summit.
And our advocacy efforts, a new component of our work, will help us guarantee that states are working to attract girls to and retain them in computer science.
Corporate and
Individual Giving
CORPORATE PARTNERS
Our Partners
Clubs
SIP
Alumni
$500K+
- Adobe and the Adobe Foundation
- AppNexus*
- AT&T
- The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
- News Corp
- Pivotal Ventures
- Prudential Financial
- Turner
- Uber
*home to GWC office
$250K — $499,999
- Accenture
- Amazon
- Blizzard Entertainment
- Dell
- Deloitte
- Eileen Fisher
- General Electric
- General Motors Foundation
- Google.org
- JPMorgan Chase & Co.
- Kate Spade & Company Foundation
- Lyft
- Oath Foundation
- Synchrony Financial
- Walmart
$150K — $249,999
- Anonymous
- Cotton Bureau
- Goldman Sachs
- IBM
- Lockheed Martin
- Moody's and The Moody's Foundation
- Microsoft
- Salesforce.org
- Pfizer Inc.
- Verizon
- The Walt Disney Company
$75K — $149,999
- AIG
- Akamai
- Bank of America
- Benevity Community Impact Fund
- Best Buy Foundation
- BlackRock
- CA Technologies
- Cadence
- Capital One
- Cheryl Saban Self-Worth Foundation for Women & Girls
- Citrix
- Coca-Cola Foundation
- craigslist Charitable Fund
- Electronic Arts
- First Data
- Ford Motor Company
- GoDaddy
- IAC
- Intuit
- LifeLock
- Pivotal
- Pixar Animation Studios
- Riot Games, Inc
- RBC Capital Markets
- Sephora
- Sergey Brin Family Foundation
- Software.org : the BSA Foundation
- State Farm
- The Broder Family Foundation
- Viacom
- Warner Bros. Technology
- Workday Foundation
$25K — $74,999
- Amazon Web Services
- Autodesk
- Clarkston Consulting
- Cornerstone Research
- CSRA
- DaRin Butz Foundation
- Dolby
- Estée Lauder Companies
- Ford Fund
- Guardian
- Humble Bundle
- Theory
- McEvoy Spero Family Charitable Fund
- New York Life
- Northwestern Mutual
- Salesforce
- SAP
- Schwab Chartiable
- SRS Acquiom Charitable Escrow Up Fund
- Vertical Knowledge
- Walgreens
- Xsolla
$10K — $24,999
- Anonymous
- Ashley Pogue
- Avanade
- Barclays
- Beth Kobliner Shaw
- Bonobos
- Capterra
- Charles Broderick
- Clark S. Smith Family Foundation
- Economist Charitable Trust
- Elizabeth Morse Genius Charitable Trust
- Georgia Power Foundation
- Henry Kravis
- Infor
- Isobar
- Johnson Charitable Gift Fund
- American Express
- Lenovo
- Lionsgate Entertainment
- Matthew Mullenweg
- Options Group
- Motorola Solutions Foundation
- Newman's Own Foundation
- O'Reilly Media Inc.
- Okta, Inc.
- Pitney Bowes
- Roberts Foundation
- Robin Pitman
- Satya and Rao Remala Foundation
- Silicon Valley Community Foundation
- Tango Card
- Tinder
- Valor Equity Partners
- Vanguard Charitable
- VeriFone Foundation
- Vivek Shah
- Wells Fargo
- West Monroe Partners
$5K — $9,999
- Alexis Maybank
- American Online Giving Foundation
- Arago US
- Arizona Community Foundation
- Brit + Co
- Carol Juel
- Cozen O'Connor Foundation
- Deborah Jackson
- Four-Four Foundation
- Guy Melamed
- Herald Chen
- India Simpson
- InteropITX
- IPsoft
- Jeffrey Smith
- Joseph Floyd
- JPMorgan Chase Foundation
- Kara Sprague
- Katherine O'Neil
- KKR
- Liam McGregor
- McKinsey & Company
- Nancy & Richard Pine Family Foundation
- Network For Good
- Nginx Software
- Rachel Kropa
- Samsung
- Stack Exchange
- Tania Ahuja
- The San Francisco Foundation
- Third Door Media, Inc.
- Urs Hoelzle
UNIVERSITY & HOST PARTNERS (2017)
- Boyle Heights YouthSource Technology Center
- Florida International University
- Foothill College
- Georgetown University
- The Idea Center at Miami Dade College
- New Jersey Institute of Technology
- NYU Tandon School of Engineering
- The Advanced Science Research Center at the Graduate School, CUNY
- University of Illinois at Chicago
- USC Marshall School of Business
Individual Giving
5th Anniversary Celebration Event
In March, we celebrated 5 years working to close the gender gap in tech. Together, we raised $800,000!
to the generosity of our supporters, we raised nearly $400,000 through our end-of-year giving campaign.
