Ada Initiative fund-raising campaign hits target a week early

The Ada Initiative, a non-profit dedicated to supporting women in open technology and culture, successfully met its first fund-raising target one week before the planned closing date of June 30th. The Seed 100 campaign raised over $80,000 from 102 donors of $512 or more in just 24 days. “This fund-raising campaign was our first real test of community support for the Ada Initiative and it was overwhelmingly positive,” says Mary Gardiner, Director of Operations. Valerie Aurora, Executive Director of the Ada Initiative, says “It’s easy for people to say they support women in open culture and technology, but when they pull out their own wallets, you know they are serious.”

The money raised in the Seed 100 funding round will go towards program development and project planning, spanning the gap between initial angel funding and long-term corporate sponsorships. “Sponsoring the Ada Initiative is an easy way for any organization to make a difference,” says Luke Kanies, CEO of Puppet Labs, an early Ada Initiative corporate sponsor. “We want to help create the kind of culture shift that will make open source development thrive with the participation of all genders,” says Sage Weil, co-founder of Dreamhost, another Ada Initiative corporate sponsor.

The Ada Initiative focuses on scalable, reusable, and effective programs aimed at both recruitment and retention of women in open technology and culture. On-going projects include making community conferences more welcoming to women by adopting written standards for attendee behavior and a survey of women in open technology and culture with nearly 3000 respondents. Planned programs include First Patch Week, partnering with open source companies to mentor university students through their first open source patch, and AdaCamp, a conference focused on women in open technology and culture. For more information, see:

http://adainitiative.org/what-we-do/

The full list of Seed 100 funders is available at:

http://adainitiative.org/support-us/seed-100-funders/

The Ada Initiative thanks its Angel Funders, Linux Australia, Puppet Labs, and Dreamhost for their early support, and its first Venture Philanthropist funder, Google. Contact the Ada Initiative at donors@adainitiative.org to discuss sponsorship at the Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze levels, or donate at the Venture Philanthropist level of sponsorship on our web site at:

http://adainitiative.org/sponsors-and-supporters/support-us/donate-online/