My Nonprofit Reviews
Ralph S.
Review for BUILD, Redwood City, CA, USA
I engaged with BUILD over 10 years ago because I felt this group captured the entrepenuerial spirit that built Silicon Valley and was attacking a whole new opportunity. It was the opportunity to take disengaged youth and get them to a place they never saw as possible. It applied this entrepenuerial culture to a group of people that no one else would consider and, it did it right in our backyard. We often fail to see the issues right in front of us. I started as a Venture Capital Advisor which allowed me to see uninterested kids develop into a fully functional teams/business. I was so inspired that I wanted to help more and joined the advisory board in order to get other corporate leaders engaged in tackling local issues. The BUILD staff is an amazing, dedicated group that is constantly innovating and further improving an already outstanding program. They hold themselves to a very high standard, which in the end, becomes the basis of a great role model for the kids they are developing.
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I've personally experienced the results of this organization in...
being an advisor to at least 50 different different students and watched them struggle with their businesses and develop into excellent leaders and attend college. These kids are usually the first of their family to attend college and their motivation often goes "off the charts" due to the support and the development of the BUILD staff.
If I had to make changes to this organization, I would...
continue to find new ways to fund expansion as the model has been proven to work in multiple geographies. The limit to impacting more students comes down to dollars and the ability to properly scale the staff.
