Inspiring a New Generation of App Developers
App Camp For Girls is on a mission: we encourage girls to pursue app development as a career by teaching them how to make iPhone apps in a fun, creative summer camp program under the mentorship of women developers. We are shifting the gender balance in our industry. App Camp 3.0 is the next stage in bringing the program to more girls in more locations!
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Why We Are Committed
If you've ever been to a tech conference, you might ask yourself, "Where are all the women?" It is estimated that only 20% of software engineers are female; that percentage is even lower among mobile app developers.
The same is true of technology classes in schools. There are few opportunities for girls to explore high-tech fields that aren't already dominated by boys.
Apps are rapidly becoming an important part the world's economy and culture. If women are left on the sidelines of this phenomenon, everyone suffers.
Our Funding Goal: Time to Level Up!
With the incredible support of this community, we launched our first camp in Portland, Oregon, in Summer 2013. The next summer, we met our goal of establishing a camp in a second location: Seattle, Washington. In 2015, we’ll launch the first Canadian camp in Vancouver, British Columbia.
App Camp 3.0 is our vision for a sustainable organization that can expand throughout the U.S. and around the world:
- Recruit and train new volunteer organizers to launch new locations.
- Build out App Camp Kit, a collection of equipment, curriculum tools, and camp procedures that is essential to successfully launching a new App Camp location.
- Establish our first paid staff positions for administration, operations, and curriculum development, along with a fundraising plan that will support our ambitious plans for expansion and outreach.
We have 4 potential new locations identified for 2016. We share equipment between locations, so we estimate that we'll need two more sets of MacBook Pros and iPod touches to meet the needs of the additional locations. We'll also need to recruit and train organizers and volunteers. Each camp needs to rent a location, order supplies, food, and other necessities.
We also provide camp fee waivers based on financial need. We are committed to making App Camp For Girls affordable for any girl who wants to come.
How We Do It (With Your Support!)
App Camp For Girls is a one week, full-time day camp program for middle school girls. Campers get the full experience of being an app developer, from brainstorming and designing to coding and marketing. They use Xcode and MacBook Pros, the same tools that professional app developers use.
We even released The Quiz Compendium, a collection of all the apps our campers have created, on the iOS App Store. (It was #1 in Paid Apps in Entertainment!) Thanks to the support of our community, the campers get that sense of accomplishment that all software developers experience when they step back from a finished product and say, "Hey, I made that!"
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Your support earns you our undying gratitude, and some pretty cool perks!
For donations of $25 or more, you get the awesome Unstoppable Force mixtape, curated by The Doubleclicks and featuring awesome songs from Amanda Palmer, Danielle Ate the Sandwich, Jonathan Mann, Lucia Fasano, and Sammus.
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For donations of $50 or more, you'll get the Unstoppable Force mixtape AND a cool pack of 4 mini-App Camp For Girls buttons, designed by the campers.
At the $100 level, you get a choice! Be one of the first to get the new Felicia Day memoir, You're Never Weird On The Internet (Almost) -- only 50 copies available, so hurry!-- OR you can choose the cool "vintage" App Camp t-shirt, designed exclusively for our backers by Julie Mills of Design Pony, creator of the fabulous AC4G logo. (And you'll also get the Unstoppable Force mixtape!)
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At the $150 level, your perk is an
App Camp For Girls iPhone case, available for 5/5S, 6, and 6+.
For $250, you'll be the owner of our exclusive signed and numbered Grace Hopper art block print created by artist Rosie Augustine.
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New perk! CocoaConf, our favorite touring training conference for iPhone, iPad, and Mac developers has offered four tickets to their 2015 conferences. Come to Columbus, Boston or San Jose and experience the magic of this small dedicated conference with some of the best speakers, authors and trainers in the industry. Get your ticket as a perk for a donation of $750.![]()
If you donate $1000 or more, you or your company will be recognized as an App Camp For Girls Community Supporter with a link on our website. (If you are interested in corporate sponsorship, please contact our fundraising team for a prospectus of higher levels of sponsorship available.)
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Grassroots + Corporate Support = Win!
We are proud that App Camp for Girls was launched and sustained for three summers with the support of our amazing community. In 2013, over one thousand people contributed to our inaugural fundraiser!
We know the program works. We know we can establish new locations. But every session of camp has had a waiting list. Girls who want to experience the App Camp program are not able to because we don't have the capacity or locations to serve them.
In conjunction with this crowdfunding campaign, we are also soliciting corporate support. Generous donors will match the first $100,000 we raise here. And if we make our goal, we are asking the corporate sponsors to double their initial commitment. That would total $300,000, the budget to cover our ambitious goals for the next year.
Here are some of the major corporate sponsors who have signed on for this fundraising goal:
Silver Sponsors:
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Bronze Sponsors:
Accidental Tech Podcast
Smile
Simple
We also thank our Community Sponsors:
Brad Feld, The Foundry Group
Nick Harris, Clifton Garage
Katrina Dickson
Walter Tyree, Tyree Apps
Mac Power Users listeners
Steamclock Software
Daring Fireball
Overcast
360|iDev
Mapbox
Radical I/O Technology
Instrument
(If you are interested in becoming an official corporate sponsor of App Camp, please contact our fundraising team for a prospectus.)
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Your Help Is Crucial
Money isn't everything...
- Even a small donation to the campaign is a big help. The more supporters we have will make it easier to persuade large donors that they are supporting a popular and worthwhile cause.
- Follow App Camp For Girls on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram; tell your friends on social networks why you support the App Camp For Girls mission.
- Share your story of why our mission is important to you in the comments section of this campaign. We know the statistics; let us hear about the real personal impact technology and gender has made on your life.
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Thanks ♥
A campaign like this relies on the help of many awesome Friends Of App Camp! Our thanks go to:
Josh Barrett of Create|Legal for the advice, wisdom, and support that got App Camp launched and keeps us going
Curtis Settino of Canoofle, who makes us look good on video
Shonna Lemke of LemkeCreative, who redesigned the App Camp For Girls website
David Falk at Simon & Schuster for donating the new book by Felicia Day
Our Vancouver angels: McMillan Law Firm, British Columbia Technology and Industry Association, and Radical I/O for making our first camp in Canada possible.
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Please note: when you donate, your receipt will say "TECHSTART". TechStart Education Foundation, a registered 501(c)(3) organization, is the fiscal sponsor of App Camp For Girls, a non-profit corporation in the State of Oregon. Donations to App Camp For Girls via TechStart are tax-deductible in the U.S.
