2023 Recap
Wevise had its first full year as an organization and made significant progress in achieving our mission to make careers in the technology industry more accessible to everyone. We did this by offering our mentorship platform to those entering the industry, regardless of whether they were learning independently, attending university, or changing careers. Our platform is open to all, but we focus on supporting underserved and disadvantaged individuals. Unlike other mentorship platforms, we offer custom tags that enable mentors and mentees to match with people who have overcome similar barriers, such as LGBTQIA+ individuals, veterans, first-generation students, persons of color, persons with disabilities, and single parents. Wevise began 2023 by building our team, planning the mentorship platform, and considering a longer-term vision. Wevise achieved significant progress in just twelve months and are excited to continue working towards our 2024 goals.
2023 Technology Progress
We launched our MVP platform at the end of June, which provides curated mentor/mentee matches with a focus on similar lived experiences. Since launching, we’ve continued improving and preparing for our beta features. We also added functionality to allow nonprofit partners to use our platform!
2023 Social Impact
We had 692 mentees registered and 485 mentorship requests. On the mentor side, it was undoubtedly less, but still a considerable amount at 72! Mentors sent out 113 mentorship offers.
2023 Partnership Program
While most of our mentors and mentees in 2023 came in individually, as we move forward, we’d like to build more partnerships with nonprofit organizations serving people who are disadvantaged to support their missions and beneficiaries. In November, we launched our first partnership with Ada Developers Academy in Seattle (see the press release here). Twenty-five mentees and twenty mentors signed up through Ada to give/get mentorship.
We are also incredibly thankful to Code Your Dreams, who agreed to be our fiscal sponsor while waiting for our 501(c)3 status. We applied for our 501(c)3 status in early August but expect it to be another several months before it is granted based on the IRS timeline. We expect to receive our 501(c)3 status in Q2.
2023 Organization Growth
At the end of 2022, CEO Janice Levenhagen had just come on to launch the organization. We initially had only a few people involved, but they were enthusiastic and committed! By the end of 2023, we had twenty-nine volunteer team members, and we’re excited to continue to bring on skilled and passionate people to help us grow. In addition, we brought on five founding board members in December, who are currently in their trial month.
Looking Ahead to 2024
In 2024, Wevise aims to achieve aggressive goals by securing donations from generous corporate sponsors, partnering with nonprofits, and expanding our fantastic team of volunteers.
2024 Technology Progress
We’ll be working on launching both Beta and V1 of our full production version. While last year’s MVP (Minimum Viable Product) focused on solving challenge #1 of mentor matching (finding the right mentor/mentee, our key differentiator), Beta will focus on challenge #2: the tactical struggle of meeting. Beta will include scheduling support (think built-in Calendly), video meetings, and chat. Production V1 will tackle challenge #3 of guided mentorship (what do we do now that we’re meeting?) with flexible templates and modules and goal setting to track progress and get feedback. Think Asana templates and OKRs, but for your mentoring and career journey!
2024 Social Impact
We plan to grow our mentee base to 2,500, with 40% struggling with additional barriers or from a disadvantaged background/population, and our mentor base to 1,000. Wevise will offer both a curated mentorship platform and tangential training, workshops, and webinars supporting the needs of our mentees in the areas they are struggling with the most. We’ll also add mentor and leadership training for our mentors and build a sense of community and support.
2024 Partnership Program
Our 2024 goal is to partner with at least eight nonprofit organizations through our platform and other programs. We’ll also build partnerships with corporations around mentors, funding, and other support to further our mission of leveling the playing field in tech.
2024 Organization Growth
Depending on funding, we plan to add a couple of part-time paid staff to support our growing volunteer team. We’ll add four to five more board members to reach our full planned board size.
2024 will be a Big Year for Wevise!
In 2024, Wevise aims to achieve aggressive goals by securing donations from generous corporate sponsors, partnering with nonprofits, and expanding our fantastic team of volunteers.
Interested in Partnering with Us?
Interested in becoming a corporate sponsor or nonprofit partner? Please get in touch with us at info@wevise.org. Thank you for supporting our critical mission!
