7 ways to support IT diversity this holiday season

After Black Friday and Cyber Monday comes Giving Tuesday — this year it was November 29. And in the interest of putting my money where my mouth is this holiday season, I’ve been researching nonprofits and organizations that help girls and women, people of color and other underrepresented groups explore careers in STEM. Obviously this isn’t a comprehensive list, by any stretch of the imagination, so I apologize if I’ve missed anyone.

If you would rather support an organization local to you, that’s fantastic — there are so many organizations like these that aren’t as well-known but continue to make a huge difference in their local communities. Many of these nonprofits I’ve listed have chapters in different geographies across the country and even around the world. And if they don’t, why not start your own?

1. Code2040: https://www.code2040.org Code2040’s mission is to create access, awareness and opportunities for Black and Latino/a engineering talent.

2. Black Girls Code: http://www.blackgirlscode.com/ Black Girls Code is a not-for-profit that provides technology education to girls aged 7 to 17.

3. Women Who Code: https://www.womenwhocode.com/ Women Who Code is a global non-profit that offers programs to help women achieve and excel in technology careers.

4. Lesbians Who Tech: http://lesbianswhotech.org/codingscholarship/ Lesbians Who Tech is a community of queer women in the technology industry with chapters nationwide. LWT sponsors the Edie Windsor Coding Scholarship, which aims to send ten queer women to coding bootcamps or code schools. You can donate to the scholarship Kickstarter here.

5. Girls Who Code: https://girlswhocode.com/ A national non-profit, Girls Who Code is dedicated to closing the gender gap in technology by sparking and supporting girls’ interest in tech careers.

6. TechGirlz: https://www.techgirlz.org/ TechGirlz offers both workshops and summer camps aimed at getting middle school girls interested in tech through interactions with current women tech leaders.

7. Catalyst: https://www.catalyst.org Founded in 1962, Catalyst is an organization dedicated to furthering women’s success in the workplace and foster inclusive leadership across all industries.