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Code.org

Code.org builds partnerships to expand computer science education with SalesforceIQ. Learn more.
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Code.org builds partnerships to expand computer science education with SalesforceIQ

Code.org, the nonprofit dedicated to bringing computer science education to all children, grew out of a video that went viral. In 2012, co-founders Ali and Hadi Partovi interviewed top entrepreneurs from Bill Gates to Mark Zuckerberg about their early experiences with computer programming. They then edited the conversations down to a five-minute clip meant to inspire a new generation of coders and teachers. The video, titled “What Most Schools Don’t Teach,” reached #1 on YouTube on its first day, and has amassed 12.9 million views in roughly two and a half years since. Another stat related to the short movie is arguably more important: 15,000 schools reached out to Ali and Hadi for help after the video went live.

Since that first upload in 2013, Code.org has grown into a fully operational nonprofit and Salesforce partner. Code.org’s mission to make quality computer science education available to every child, and increase participation in the field by women and underrepresented students of color, has touched tens of millions of students to date. The stats on Code.org’s website are impressive, and to name a few: 195 million served by the organization’s “Hour of Code” annual campaign (49% of which were female); 8.8 million students enrolled in Code.org’s online courses; and 20,000 new K-12 teachers trained to teach computer science.

“I have never, ever seen my students so excited about learning,” said teacher Michael Clark. Inspiring students with the love of learning is a goal of every teacher. Getting them excited about a field both underrepresented in American schools and crucial to the country’s future is vital to us all.

SalesforceIQ keeps critical details all in one place.

Through partnerships with 100 of the largest school districts in the United States, Code.org reaches almost 15% of Hispanic and African-American students in the nation. A quick scroll through Code.org’s donors and partners pages make it clear how valuable and important external partnerships are to the Code.org’s work. As a nonprofit, donors are essential to financing the organization’s continued work.

Code.org

As head of fundraising and partnerships at Code.org, Maria Choi is in charge of identifying, cultivating, and engaging donors and partners to support Code.org’s mission. Choi needed to develop an easy and efficient process for documenting her team’s work, including capturing information from calls, emails, and meeting notes throughout the relationship building process. She found her answer in SalesforceIQ.

“SalesforceIQ has worked really well for us because it’s efficient at capturing information and making that information easy to share while we build our donor pipeline,” said Choi. SalesforceIQ keeps all mission-critical information about donors — contact information, philanthropic interests, and conversation history — in one place, so the entire team can check in on the status of various donor relationships in seconds. Having a single, shared source of truth has reduced time spent on internal emails and manual data entry for everyone at Code.org. The system also makes it easy for Choi to keep her CEO in the loop by tagging him on important updates.

The time SalesforceIQ saves Code.org is invaluable, and having the entirety of donor conversations in one place is another key benefit of the system. Choi cited the example of a tech executive who was approached for a donation back when Code.org was first launched. He wasn’t interested at the time, but when Choi was reviewing lead activity in SalesforceIQ a year later, she saw an opportunity to reach back to him. Having the entire relationship history for this donor in SalesforceIQ, “helped make prospecting top of mind for me, and enabled me to do my due diligence before chatting with our CEO,” said Choi. That time around, the conversation resulted in a major donation.

The fundraising and partnerships team at Code.org is small (2 people) and does not have time to spare when it comes to managing a large pipeline of relationships. The team leverages SalesforceIQ for boosted insights into their pipeline and uncovering opportunities for donations and organizational growth.

Add to that a tangible savings in time once spent logging relationship data, and the partnership between Code.org and SalesforceIQ adds up to more time helping schools teach computer science. And that’s a code for success.