Announcing the 2015 True Impact Prize

At True University last year, we announced a new initiative to extend the power of True’s creative platform, our people and our brand to nonprofit organizations improving the communities that are nourishing our Founders and their companies. We called this effort True Impact, and we were honored to present the first True Impact Prize to GLIDE, a radically inclusive, just and loving community in San Francisco’s Tenderloin. GLIDE works through a series of programs to alleviate suffering and break the cycles of poverty and marginalization. Over the past year, our team at True and teams from the True portfolio have visited GLIDE not only to serve meals, but also to offer training in technology, interview skills and communications. It has been a rewarding partnership in every way, and we look forward to continuing our relationship with this inspirational organization.

We plan to award the True Impact Prize annually, and thus, we are excited to announce this year’s recipient: ChickTech. ChickTech is dedicated to retaining women in the technology workforce and increasing the number of women and girls pursuing technology-based careers. It does this in two ways: First, ChickTech facilitates hands-on, technology-centric events to empower, support and increase the confidence of women and girls. Through these events, ChickTech builds community, empowers participants to see themselves as leaders, and provides networking and mentoring opportunities in the high-tech industry. Second, the organization works to change the culture of the technology industry to ensure a welcoming and equal environment for all people. We believe that the strongest teams and most successful companies are those that embrace diversity of every sort, gender and otherwise, and hope that the work ChickTech is doing will inspire the next generation of girls and women to create and scale the startups of tomorrow.

ChickTech is headquartered in Portland, Oregon and currently operates chapters in Portland, the Bay Area, Chicago, Seattle, New York and Corvallis, OR. It is continuing to expand to bring opportunity to people throughout the U.S. and beyond. We are thrilled to be partnering with ChickTech, and look forward to welcoming the organization’s Founder and Executive Director, Janice Levenhagen-Seeley, to True University next week.

To Janice and all those involved with ChickTech: thank you for all you have done to encourage women pursuing careers in technology, and we hope that the support that the True Ventures community can provide will help you and your team have a stronger impact on an even broader group of people. Congratulations!