Full Circle Fund’s Rising Leaders Program

Peter Kuperman
Aug 9, 2017 · 2 min read

Every day, I am inspired by the work of the Khan Academy. I find it amazing that the organization is able to reach millions of students world-wide because education is the source of hope and a promise of a future. By bringing learning opportunities to students and making them free, the Khan Academy is changing the world.

I was so inspired by Sal Khan’s passion for education that I volunteered over 1,200 hours to help build the Khan Academy’s first curriculum. I organized and oversaw a team of dedicated volunteers who were equally inspired by his vision of a world-class education, free to everyone.

In my own professional life, I am hoping to make a difference in children’s lives by helping them learn how to code. Coding changed by life. I learned how to program a computer on a Commodore 64 — because I wanted to be able to tell the computer what to do. This was before the internet, and honestly, if I wasn’t creating computer programs, there wasn’t very much to do with a computer besides word processing.

While the education that Hatch Coding offers isn’t free, I really hope that in the years to come we will be able to make the cost affordable to everyone by making the software available to schools at a low per-student cost. In doing so, I hope that the computing immersion approach learning programming that I’ve developed is sustained for years to come.

So — while Hatch Coding isn’t a not-for-profit, it’s vital that it remain a social good company. That’s why, in addition to trying to keep the cost of the service low, we always have subsidized seats for students. I’m also very proud of the fact that we have nearly equal numbers of women and men working for us. In fact, at the moment, 52% of our instructors are women.

A network of professionals, Full Circle Fund helps nonprofits expand their impact and create new initiatives. The organization accomplishes this through various programs and engagements, including the Rising Leaders Program, which is designed for Full Circle Fund members who are passionate about improving their community and early in their career. Thanks to a grant from the Koret Foundation, it was launched in 2012 and involves a limited number of Full Circle Fund members.

Through the program, members are given the opportunity to participate in various leadership development programs. These activities are designed to help participants improve their brainstorming and team management skills. Furthermore, participants find and recruit speakers who can present various issues to young audiences. Both of these aspects are funded by the Koret Foundation’s grant. The grant also provides participants with additional funds as needed.

-Peter Kuperman

Peter Kuperman

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