CoderDojo and Raspberry Pi Join Forces

Today I am excited to share the news  that the CoderDojo Foundation will be joining forces with the Raspberry Pi Foundation team in a merger that will give many more young people the opportunity to learn how to code and create. This merger will support the Foundation in becoming a stronger, more sustainable and resilient organisation advancing our mission.

Since our creation more than four years ago, our core function has been to support the global CoderDojo movement and the community. This merger will further enable and accelerate our work, ensuring that the CoderDojo community, Mentors and Ninjas have access to the best possible support, including access to the world’s best educational materials and resources.

The CoderDojo movement is powered by more than 9,000 volunteers all across the world, like you, that are encouraging and supporting young people to learn at their local Dojo. With this extra support we will be able to reach and benefit even more young people globally by investing more time in resource development, community supports and growth strategies to make it easier for our volunteers to start and keep running a Dojo in their community.

 

What does this mean for you, the community?

Firstly, be assured nothing about the core ethos of CoderDojo is changing. That’s what makes the movement so unique and special and we are very protective of this. The Open source element of CoderDojo is a fundamental value of the movement and the main reason why the concept has grown so rapidly. The CoderDojo charter agreed to by all Champions when starting their Dojo and the published statement of values CoderDojo ECHO are not changing. These are in place to maintain that all Dojos remain free for all attendees and are an inclusive and creative environment.  

Does this mean that I have to use everything Raspberry Pi at my Dojo?

Absolutely not! As you know, CoderDojo is and will always remain 100% content, software and hardware neutral! This is a shared value with the Raspberry Pi Foundation, both Code Club and their recently launched educator magazine Hello World are hardware- and platform-agnostic too!

What does this mean for the Foundation?

We will remain an independent charity based in Ireland, but will in future work closely alongside and with the support of the Raspberry Pi Foundation to achieve our goals. Philip, the CEO of the Raspberry Pi Foundation will join the board of the CoderDojo Foundation, while CoderDojo’s Co-Founders, Bill and James,  will become members of the Raspberry Pi Foundation. In practical terms, this merger will see our two organisations working closely together to advance our shared goals. It will enable us to leverage assets and capabilities ultimately driving further value for the CoderDojo Community.

“CoderDojo is one of the most important global movements to help young people learn how to get creative with technology. I’ve seen first hand the enormous impact that CoderDojo has had already, and I am thrilled that we’re joining forces to bring the power of computing and digital making to even more young people.”

Philip Colligan, Chief Executive, Raspberry Pi Foundation.

 

Many Dojos are already familiar with and are also a part of the Raspberry Pi community as educators, tinkerers and enthusiasts. Finding an organisation with which the CoderDojo core values and ethos align so deeply, is a once in lifetime opportunity. We are really excited about working together on this to help further support and spread the CoderDojo movement with our amazing Community members. Together, we will form the world’s leading movement to get kids involved with coding and digital making. Code Club and CoderDojo together will reach 185,000 young people in more than 100 countries all over the planet.

“This merger vastly propels the foundation’s founding vision of supporting CoderDojo how best possible and the mission of providing the opportunity of learning to code to young people. Together we will better serve CoderDojo and the incredible impact it has on young people all around the world”

James Whelton, CoderDojo Co-Founder

“The Raspberry Pi Foundation is 100% aligned with the purpose of getting young people learning to code and CoderDojo has been a partner for many years, we see that together we can rock the world”

Bill Liao CoderDojo Co-founder

 

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