This document summarizes a fundraising appeal for a nonprofit organization that aims to increase gender diversity in the technology sector by establishing a program called Midcareer Internships. The program would provide 20-week paid internships for women who have taken time off work to care for children, helping them transition back into their careers. The organization expects to partner with companies to run the program, become self-sustaining over time, and significantly increase the number of women returning to and staying in the workforce.

1. 2016 Fundraising Appeal

2. Talented women put their careers on hold to care for
children
• In a study of biz school grads, 37% of millennial
women planned to interrupt their career for family
compared with 28% of Generation X women
• The reality is likely to be higher: While 28% of Gen
Xers expected to put their career on hold, in reality
43% did
Source: Life and Leadership after HBS, Harvard Business School, May 2015

3. Women make this choice
willingly and unwillingly
• 80% of mothers would prefer
to work
• Nearly half would like reduced
hours to manage work/life
conflict
• When those options don’t
exist, some choose to take
time off

4. While many of these women plan to return
to work, one study found as many as 30%
never do …
Source: Sylvia Ann Hewlett, Harvard Business Review, Off-Ramps and On-Ramps
Revisited, June 2010

5. Why? The penalty women pay for a gap on
their resume is high
“At every interview there was this awkward pause when
they noticed the gap. They acted like I’d spent the time in
jail.”
– a 2015 Return Path returnee who was out of the
workforce for a little less than two years caring for her
newborn son

6. Meanwhile…

7. Gender diversity is a hot topic that gets
companies in hot water
• “Dropbox Sees Drop in Women in Latest Diversity Report, Slight Gains
For Blacks Hispanics” - International Business Times
• “Inside Pinterest’s Plans To Fix Its Diversity Problem” - Fast Company
• “Twitter Still Has A Major Problem With Employee Diversity” - The Verge
• “Facebook’s New Diversity Numbers Are Still Pathetic” - Wired
• “Intel isn’t Diverse Enough And It Knows” - Wired

8. Percentage of female technical talent at top
tech companies
• Twitter: 13%
• Amazon: 11%
• Google: 18%
• Microsoft: 16.9%
• Apple: 22%
• Facebook: 16%
Note: for many of these companies the % of female engineers is lower

9. Gender diversity improves business
performance
• McKinsey found that companies in the top quartile for
gender diversity were 15% more likely to outperform the
companies in the bottom quartile
• “The unequal performance of companies in the same
industry and the same country implies that diversity is a
competitive differentiator shifting market share toward
more diverse companies.”

10. Getting more women back to work would
increase gender diversity and the overall
talent pool
• Every percentage point increase in women’s participation in the
labor force would add roughly 1.3 million workers to the US
economy

11. Solution: Midcareer Internships
• 20-week paid internships for midcareer professionals
who have been out of the workforce for more than two
years to accommodate caregiving responsibilities
• Provide an on-ramp back to the workforce
• Include onboarding, professional development, feedback
sessions, networking, and off-boarding

12. The Big Idea
• Create a nonprofit to organize groups of companies in
the same geo and train them to run this program
• Recruit participants across the network of partners and
offer them back-to-work training during the program
• Give both partners and participants access to the
network throughout the program, especially during off-
boarding
• The nonprofit becomes self-funding through a fee-for-
service model

13. Network Effect Partners
Participants
Partners
Participants

14. Sources of funding from partners
• Recruiting budget
• Hiring just 2 returnees would cover the cost of the program
compared with traditional recruiting fees
• Diversity budget
• Companies pour money into programs that don’t have immediate
impact – this program can drive measurable change
• Philanthropy budget
• Companies that can’t participate in the program will still be able to
support our efforts

15. Why do we think this will work?
Because we already did it.

16. Return Path, a data solutions provider, faced the
challenges of gender diversity and talent shortages
and piloted midcareer internships …
• 2014: 1 woman; mixed experience but clear that there
was an idea to be explored
• January 2015: 6 women; 80% were hired
• Added structure, HR involvement, building on learning
• Result: Positive experience for managers and returnees, high
success rate

17. And attracted press attention …
This Nonprofit Wants To Put Stay-At-Home Moms
Back to Work
A program for getting moms
back to work in tech
(subscription required)
Silicon Valley To Women Who’ve Left
Tech: Please Come Back
For Professionals Returning
to Work, There’s Power in
the Cohort
Tech Companies Help Women Get Back
to Work (subscription required)

18. Then we expanded it with partnerships

19. And the program is having a huge
impact for partners and participants

20. Partner Testimonials
“Across PayPal, employees are enthusiastic about the Path Forward program and proud to be part of an organization
that is taking a leadership role in welcoming moms into the tech workspace. The team at Path Forward has been
instrumental in helping us launch our program and make it successful. We are excited to see them grow and bring
programs like this to more companies and expand the opportunity for women who want to resume and advance their
careers after taking a pause.” – LaFawn Bailey, Global Head of Culture and Diversity, PayPal
“The Path Forward program has been incredibly valuable for our recruitment strategy and our business. The
opportunity to partner with other top companies, share knowledge, and build community has been invaluable.” --
Courtney Graham, Senior Director of Human Resources, ReadyTalk
“We are thrilled to support Path Forward. It offers a tremendous opportunity to support people who are rejoining the
workforce after an extended absence for caregiving. Through our involvement in the program, we have learned
firsthand about the benefits of adding diverse perspectives and skill sets to our team. We look forward to continuing to
work with Path Forward as our team grows in 2016 and beyond.” --Maureen Schilling, Human Resources, SpotX
“Our participation with Path Forward leveraged a new way of tapping into a diverse talent pool. As it relates to our
diversity and inclusion initiative, it is an evolving growth strategy that specifically targets community and culture. We
love the program and can't wait to bring on another cohort!” --Margho Dunnahoo-Kirsch, Corporate Recruiter,
SendGrid

21. Participant Testimonials
“I feel so honored to be part of this amazing program. It has given me the confidence to know that I’m
not alone in this transition and that I can provide a valuable contribution in today’s workforce. You can
do this!” — Janelle Pelletier, Client Service, Return Path
“The Path Forward program has allowed me to re-engage with a career I assumed had been lost to
earlier choices. Thank you for making it possible for me to test the intellectual waters again.” — Lisa
Souza, QA Engineer, Moz
“Participating in the Path Forward program gave me the opportunity to begin a new career. It has
allowed me to reinvent myself and bring value right away to the company. Feeling appreciated for my
experience is a wonderful way to re-enter the workforce.”— Kim, Content Marketing, Return Path
“The Path Forward program was an amazing opportunity to re-start my career after a long parenting
hiatus. It introduced me to progressive companies on the forefront of people-first cultures and
work/life balance. I now feel confident about my chances for renewed success in technology sales.”
— John Bortscheller, Sales, ReadyTalk

22. Organization Revenue Model Key Clients PF differentiation
iRelaunch: Coaching for women
returning to work
Coaching fees from clients,
event sponsorship, consulting
fees
Goldman Sachs,
Morgan Stanley
Revenue is driven by businesses, not
the women seeking help; nonprofit
GapJumpers: Hosts blind auditions to
eliminate bias
$750 for an assessment that
uncovers bias, designs
challenges; annual
subscription fee for the
platform
Google, Wieden +
Kennedy, Chegg,
Adobe and BBC Digital
GapJumpers is a complement to what
we are doing
OnRamp Fellowship: Gets female
attorneys back to work in one-year
fellowships
Pricing structure is a yearlong
subscription fee per fellow,
includes an assessment
framework to identify most
successful candidates
4 law firms with 32
fellows
Our program is sector and role agnostic
– it can work for any company hiring
into almost any role
Power to Fly: Place technical women in
on-demand, work-from-home jobs..
85% of the placements are
subcontracted so that they are
the employer; 15% is
placement fees
BuzzFeed, Hearst,
Time Inc., The
Washington Post
Nonprofit, network, programming
MomCorps: A staffing firm that
focuses on professional moms who
want nontraditional jobs -- part-time,
flex-time, WFH
Placement fees; also offers
contract employees who they
pay directly.
Doesn’t list them, but
claims Fortune 500
clients
Nonprofit, network, programming
recruitHER: staffing firm focused on Placement fees Pandora, GitHub and Nonprofit, network, programming

23. Board of Directors
• Matt Blumberg, Co-Chair (Chairman & CEO, Return Path)
• Joanne Wilson, Co-Chair (Angel Investor, Founder of the Women’s
Entrepreneur Festival)
• Cathie Black (Former President, Hearst Magazine)
• Brad Feld (Founder, Foundry Group, Chairman of the Board of the
National Center for Women & Information Technology)
• Cathy Hawley (VP People, Return Path)
• Raj Vinnakota (EVP Youth & Engagement Division, Aspen Institute,
Founder of SEED Academy)

24. Income Statement and Impact
2016 2017 2018
Program Revenue 575,000 3,900,000 6,600,000
Fundraising Revenue 500,000 0 0
Expenses 1,000,000 2,800,000 4,200,000
Net Income 75,000 1,100,000 2,400,000
Number of companies in the program 40 240 360
Number of participants 200 1,900 2,970

25. Use of proceeds
• Staffing primarily aimed at recruiting new partners and participants,
marketing push, build out of program and supporting technology
• Technology to enable the creation of an online network of partners
and participants
• Marketing in the form of sponsorships, advertising, branding and PR

26. Staffing
2016 2017 2018
Executive Director 1 1 1
Business Development: Solicits partners to join the consortium 2 5 6
Program Management: Runs the program in market 3 5 5
Curriculum Development: Develops & delivers training content 0 1 2
Coordinators: Admin and event support 0 1 2
Marketing: Support for biz dev and participant recruiting 1 1 2
Product & Technology: Design & implementation of tech 0 4 5
Operations: Back office 0 2 3
Total 7 20 26

27. The Ask
• A first round of $500,000 to fund start-up costs
• Be self-funding by 2017

28. Commitment to early supporters
• Listed as a founding donor
• Open invitation to end-of-program celebration events with returners
• Quarterly updates on the progress of the organization, including
“participant spotlights”
• Can designate someone to serve on our Advisory Board