More than a year after ride-sharing giant Lyft announced its Round Up & Donate program, Girls Who Code, a non-profit organization dedicated to bridging the gender gap in the technology industry, has received $1 million in rider donations, according to TechCrunch.
According to a report by the National Center for Women and Information Technology, 26 percent of the computing workforce was made up of women in 2017. For minority women, the numbers were even lower — only three percent were African American, five percent were Asian and one percent were Hispanic.
Since its creation, Girl Who Code has received donations and recognition from other large tech companies such as Google, Facebook, Twitter and Amazon.
“We couldn’t be more excited to be celebrating the $1 million milestone with our friends at Lyft,” Girls Who Code founder and CEO Reshma Saujani said in a statement. “And the moment is made even more special knowing that this was made possible by the riders themselves.”
Riders can opt-in to Lyft’s Round Up & Donate program through the app. Lyft will round up the price of rides to the nearest dollar, then donate the difference to an organization of the rider’s choice. So far, other non-profit organizations in the program include Black Girls Code, Habitat for Humanity, ACLU and the World Wildlife Fund.
Uber, Lyft’s longtime competitor, previously donated $1.2 million to Girls Who Code as part of a commitment to donate $3 million to companies working to diversify the tech industry.
Interest in coding and computer science among young girls is on the rise. According to a Code.org report, the number of women and minorities in high school taking AP computer science classes rose 39 percent in 2018.
