This story was submitted as part of the #Pledge1Gives GivingTuesday campaign, which celebrates the many ways our member companies are having an impact around the world.
LaunchDarkly has joined Pledge 1%, a global movement to create a new normal for companies of all sizes and stages to have a positive social impact through their businessLaunchDarkly is conscious of the impact it has as a tech company locally and globally. We created the LaunchDarkly Foundation to tackle problems at a local and global scale by partnering with several non-profits through donations and/or staff time. We are committed to supporting education for the underserved, homelessness relief, and moving towards having a net-zero carbon footprint.
Our current programs include donations and group employee volunteering engagements. Donations go towards two non-profits – one in Oakland and one with a global impact. Group volunteering engagements will focus on Oakland nonprofits that address homelessness and poverty.
As the company grows, the LaunchDarkly Foundation will expand its programs to include donation matching and a carbon off-set system/partner.
What we have been up to with our Oakland partner – CodeNation
This fall will be LaunchDarkly’s third year partnering with CodeNation.
Code Nation is a not-for-profit organization operating in NYC, the Bay Area, and Chicago. They explain their mission best: We equip students in under-resourced high schools with the skills, experiences, and connections that together create access to careers in technology.
LaunchDarkly teaches the Foundations Course, where our volunteers go to schools in Oakland and teach introductions to HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. We also host the Fellowship Course at LaunchDarkly’s HQ office, where students from an Oakland highschool review and build upon what they learned in Foundations and complete numerous projects over the school year.
LaunchDarkly participates in CodeNation’s professional development day. Students spend the entire day practicing their networking skills, working on their resumes, thinking about their personal story and brand, practicing their interviewing dos and don’ts, and having professional headshots taken for their portfolios.
LaunchDarkly sponsored CodeNations Bay Area Hackathon 2019, which was hosted at GitHub HQ and judged by our very own CEO Edith Harbaugh. The 2020 hackathon will be judged by our CTO John Kodumal.
In the summers, LaunchDarkly welcomes two interns from CodeNation for five weeks. We are proud to hear the news that the 2018 interns are both in community college, and the 2019 interns are finishing up high school.
CodeNation Volunteer Spotlight:
“I feel it is our responsibility to share the things we’ve learned with students whose path into the industry may not be clearly defined. Each student should be able to decide whether they want to join the industry or not. They should not be locked out.”
– Alexis Georges, LaunchDarkly Engineering Manager
LaunchDarkly is proud to join the Pledge 1% community and encourages other companies to take the pledge and leverage their business as a force for good.
