Celebrating 5 years of impact

This year, Develop for Good turns half a decade old. Explore the breadth and depth of our impact on students, nonprofits, and mentors around the world!

Mary Zhu

Founder & Executive Director

Giving every college student real-world, high-impact tech experience

Breaking into the tech world can be tough. Tech roles today require more than a college degree; employers cite prior hands-on experience as a top deciding factor when evaluating candidates. But without a portfolio of projects, under-served and underrepresented college graduates are being overlooked in an increasingly competitive recruiting process.

The digital divide doesn't stop there; at the same time, only 12% of nonprofits are digitally mature, even though 74% of organizations believe technological transformation essential. And so, while studying Computer Science at Stanford, I thought to myself,

"What better way to give college students career-critical tech experience than to have them build solutions for the organizations that needed them the most?"

Impact by the numbers

From tech volunteer applications reviewed to total student and mentor volunteers engaged, these numbers show how our community is powering real change—one nonprofit software project at a time. Dive into our outputs to see the scale of what we’re building together.
13k+

Tech volunteer applications reviewed

3.5k+

Total tech volunteers (students & mentors) engaged

2.8k+

Student volunteers engaged

680+

Industry mentor volunteers engaged

250

Nonprofit software projects worked on

84%

Percentage of student volunteers who are under-served or underrepresented in tech

Transformative outcomes

Explore the long-term outcomes of our program a year after participants complete our 16-week program. From boosting students' resumes to increasing nonprofit capacity, these numbers showcase the impact of our efforts beyond our intervention.
96%

Student volunteers leveraged their project experience professionally (included on resume, described in interview, etc.)

87%

Student volunteers agree that they utilized their career-related skills in a meaningful way.

96%

Nonprofits reported at least one way organization capacity increased.

77%

Nonprofits saved money from our services.

Nonprofit project highlights

These five projects, brought to life by our students and mentors, exemplify the power of skills-based giving. Each one earned recognition at our inaugural Demo Day—celebrating not just technical excellence, but also the tangible impact our tech volunteers have made for nonprofits.

People’s Choice

Designing features for a climate action app

Collaction
Develop for Good students designed features to increase user engagement for a nonprofit engaging users in monthly sustainable challenges to foster collective impact.

Most Heartwarming

Creating a modern and future-proof data stack for insights

pratham books
Our team of data students contributed to a centralized warehouse to support holistic data views, furthering the nonprofit's mission to put "A Book in Every Child’s Hand."

Most Aesthetic

Empowering economic justice for women of color

J*Crow
Our students created a website for economic justice, offering resources for Black women and women of color impacted by the U.S. criminal justice system.

Leadership Choice

Developing a marketplace for refugee-owned businesses

jumpstart refugee talent
The Develop for Good student team redesigned Jumpstart's website with a Shopify integration to make browsing, shopping, and buying products easier.

Leadership Choice

Designing a mobile app for aspiring social entrepreneurs

Social Economy Action Research
Our students designed an app for aspiring social entrepreneurs. It provides consultancy from accomplished entrepreneurs to improve their chances of success.

Stories from our community

Hear directly from students, mentors, and nonprofits as they reflect on their Develop for Good experience. These testimonials reflect the heart of our mission—to further technical education, advance digital equity, and help one another unlock our fullest potential.

"I gained hands-on skills while contributing to meaningful work that aligns with my values. The structured guidance and real-world challenges pushed me to grow in ways I hadn’t expected. I’m grateful for the connections I made and the opportunity to make a difference through tech. It’s been a fantastic learning journey, and I’d highly recommend this program to anyone looking to combine skill-building with social impact!"

Zindzi Griffin

Student
Carnegie Mellon University

"The Develop for Good Team we worked with was amazing. The students added an extra dose of creative energy to our project. They thoroughly researched competitors and came in with a point of view for how best to design our app experience. They shared their perspective, responded to feedback well, and delivered everything we needed on time. We could not have gotten as far as we did without them. I would work with Develop for Good again for future projects. I would also highly recommend the students I worked for job opportunities."

Sheila Collins

Nonprofit client
Senior Advisor, AARP Innovation Labs

"I am truly honored to have been given the opportunity to serve as a mentor for an exceptional group of students...Witnessing their dedication, enthusiasm, and commitment to making a positive impact has been an incredibly rewarding experience."

Senguttuvan Thangaraju

Industry mentor
Data Engineering, Splunk

Explore our global volunteer network

Our student and mentor volunteers bring together diverse experiences, cultures, and skills from dozens of countries around the world. Explore the map below to see where our tech volunteers are from—and how they’re making an impact across the globe.

Utilizing our diverse cultures to achieve our unified mission of doing good.