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Whips like Girls in Tech and Women who Code, they're closing up sure, while other not for profits are trying to rebrand their efforts to just stay afloat. Adriana Gascoyne, founder of Girls in Tech, joins us now to discuss Adriana, you've had to unwind then not for profit that you built.
Why it's a tragedy. I built it seventeen years ago, and it was a huge need then, it's still a huge need now. I truly believe diversity is crucial. Having diverse workforces is crucial in developing the most optimal, amazing innovative technology products and services. And in two thousand and seven, there was such a disparity of our gender in the tech space, and so I wanted to launch an organization that would encourage and power women to take risks and
enter into the field. It's an amazing, amazing field. I learned so much. I feel like we were growing and building such so many amazing products and services. I wanted women to be a part of that.
Right.
I was one of thirty five employees back in two thousand and seven, and I was the only woman and I was the only woman person of color, and so I knew that when I launched the organization, the goal was to get to create awareness, get more women involved and talk to them, meet them, see them, hear their stories, encourage people to sort of reach for the stars and launch their own businesses. Move to the ladder b CEOs. So you know, seventeen years later, we're in thirty five countries.
But Adriana, you got the scale. But why you then closed because money turned off? Why are people no longer funding your business? Your company are not for profit?
Money turned off? I would say twenty twenty three was probably the hardest fundraising year for US in record over the last seventeen years. And I think it started with COVID issues, people closing their doors, businesses closing their doors. Then it turned into high tech layoffs, budget cuts, reorgs, and then it turned into the BLM movement. Believe it
or not. Even though we support people of all backgrounds and races and genders, we want to make sure we needed funding and a lot of the corporate funders ended up going to organizations that focus on the black population, and so we lost out on some of that funding. And then it turned into sort of the d and I backlash. So during the high tech layoff issue and reorgs where companies were freezing their dollars, they were also realizing that in many cases, DEE and I policies, training programs,
initiatives were not working. And so there was a huge group of D and I executives at Fortune five hundred companies that were getting laid off and then as a result, the budgets closed as well, which hurt us.
Adriana Gascoigne, founders of Girls in Tech, Thank You,