What type of bootcamps do you support?
Generally most types. However we require that you must serve an underprivileged community, have some sort of pay back mechanic by which the bootcamp can ultimately become self-sustaining such as direct or deferred fees, income sharing agreements etc. Think of our capital as scale capital; it will help you 10x your impact but your core business model must be sound. Both for and non profits.
I'm a tech founder and want to donate. How do I get started?
Great. Ping us and we'll get you setup. We've built the platform for you to donate at scale with 100% of the funds going directly to support students with no overhead. In addition, all the bootcamps provide real time data feeds into how their students are doing and we open source this data to give a level of transparency that's unheard of in the space. Using this data we prioritize better operators that provide the highest impact per dollar invested.
I'm a student, can I apply for a scholarship directly?
Unfortunately not. Please send an intro to your bootcamp and we will work with them to onboard them onto Pledges. Once that is done, we will able to fund you and all your fellow batch mates.
Where does Pledges get its funding from?
From founders of prominent technology companies. These founders usually have taught themselves how to code/design and truly value the long term potential of such skills training.
What is this open source data? How is it used?
Each bootcamp provides real time data feeds into its key metrics. We compile these and publish them openly for anyone to review. These metrics include attendance, drop out, graduation rates, test and assignment scores. We also track students for up to 3 years after graduation with quarterly surveys tracking their income and job status. We normalize this data across all the bootcamps and try and provide a platform where donors can evaluate them objectively with data.
