The Tech Interactive
Inspiring the Innovator in Everyone
Learn how to support this organization
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
The Tech
The Tech Interactive is a hands-on technology and science center for people of all ages and backgrounds. Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, The Tech is an experiential learning resource established to engage people in exploring applied technologies affecting their lives. Approximately 100 exhibits, divided among themed galleries, offer interactive experiences in Internet security, earth sciences, genetics, alternative energy, virtual design, robotics and much more. The Tech also features an IMAX Dome Theater, Northern California's only domed IMAX screen. Each year, thousands of students watch an educational IMAX film as part of their field trip experience. Most of these films have downloadable Teacher’s Resource Guides.
The Tech Challenge
The Tech Challenge is an annual student engineering design program for students in grades 4-12. The program introduces and reinforces the engineering design process with a hands-on project aimed at solving a real-world problem. Its ultimate goal is to spark students’ interest in STEM learning and, eventually, STEM careers. To track the success of this goal, all participants are asked to fill out a survey. These questionnaires allow us to report on quantitative measures — demographic information such as gender and ethnicity — and qualitative measures such as whether The Tech Challenge experience helped students to learn new things about science and engineering, or whether they would be more interested in a job in those fields.
The Tech Academies of Innovation
The Tech Academies of Innovation is a partnership with schools in underserved communities to build model programs for teaching STEM. Formally launched in 2015 after a successful pilot year in 2014-15, schools and afterschool programs have partnered to work closely with The Tech for the next two to three years to build a STEM program that will serve thousands of students in grades 4-8. Findings from an external evaluation on student and teacher outcomes of the pilot year found that participation in the program had a positive professional and personal impact on educators, as well as a positive impact on students attitudinally, academically and in their collaborative skills.
Title 1 Field Trip Program
This program annually underwrites field trips to The Tech for about 60,000 low-income boys and girls, aiming for year-over-year increases in student participation. In addition to a qualitative survey taken for The Tech’s Hands-on Science Labs, we also track the success of our IMAX educational films via a qualitative survey. Teachers are asked to rate the films' educational value and whether they would recommend the movie to colleagues. We expect to exceed 90% approval ratings among those surveyed.
Hands-on Science Labs for Title 1 Schools
Through this program nearly 17,000 low-income students each year immerse in science/technology learning at one of seven themed labs. We conduct qualitative measures of The Tech’s lab offerings through a survey that teachers fill out in every lab session. The results are used to measure the value of the lessons and instructors; adjustments are made as needed.
The Tech for Global Good
The Tech for Global Good is a year-round program designed to create the next generation of innovators ready to tackle the toughest challenges facing our planet. Learning to think like a social innovator encourages young people to consider the ethical and empathic aspects of making things.
Where we work
Awards
National Medal for Museums and Library Service 2015
IMLS
Interpretive Interactive Installations 2016
The American Alliance of Museums
Interpretive Interactive Installations 2017
The American Alliance of Museums
Museum in Education Award for Innovation in Museum Education 2020
American Alliance of Museums
Leading Edge Award for Visitor Experience 2019
The Association of Science and Technology Centers
Gold Winner: Museums & Galleries- Non-Broadcast: Tech for Global Good | Blue Ocean Barns 2023
The Telly Awards
Gold Winner: Museums & Galleries- Non-Broadcast: Tech for Global Good | Strawcture Eco 2023
The Telly Awards
External reviews
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Evaluation documents
Download evaluation reportsNet promoter score
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of unique website visitors
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Active Member Profile
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
The Tech
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Number of Active Members
Educator Professional Development
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
The Tech Academies of Innovation
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
We are training teachers in underserved communities to build model programs for teaching STEM, not only in their own classrooms, but also passing on what they learned to their fellow educators.
School Field Trips
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
The Tech
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Number of students that experienced in-depth science and innovation labs and our interactive exhibits. Our donors paid to give 58,493 students from underserved schools, free field trips.
Key Programs
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
The Tech Challenge
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Number of students that participated in our 30th Annual Tech Challenge, our engineering and design signature program.
Total number of volunteer hours contributed to the organization
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
The Tech
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Number of hours our 425 volunteers volunteered. Our youngest being 15 years old and our oldest being 83 years old.
Number of free participants on field trips
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people, Adolescents, Children, Preteens
Related Program
Title 1 Field Trip Program
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
The Tech aims to inspire the innovator in everyone. We embrace the idea that all people—regardless of age, gender, ethnicity or socio-economic status—are born with the ability to solve problems. Our exhibits and programming engage visitors by presenting them with difficult problems, by giving them the tools to innovate and solve those problems, and providing the guidance they need to develop their own creative potential. For example, our Social Robots exhibit is a hands-on design challenge in which visitors take a robot base and add components using inputs and outputs to make the robot perform various functions. The task is less about tinkering with parts and more about building a robot to meet a specific social need, such as helping a family at home.
The Tech also aims to give young people, especially those from underserved communities, the opportunity to engage deeply in STEM learning. That is our short-term goal. We want to inspire boys and girls to think big and dream big. They spark their imaginations through hands-on design challenges in our galleries, workshops and labs, and discover new worlds through an educational IMAX film. Our interactive experiences help budding innovators build confidence in their ability to pursue a STEM-related career someday. That is our long-term goal.
Over the next several years, The Tech will continue upgrading current exhibitions and designing unique new interactive ones. Success will be measured by the volume of visitors, in addition to regular visitor surveys that will measure both the appeal of and the lasting imprint that visitors take away from The Tech's exhibitions, labs and programs.
In 2016, The Tech aims to fulfill these key strategic goals:
1. Inspire and equip low-income young people to succeed in a world driven by technology.
2. Inspire and equip girls to succeed in a world driven by technology.
3. Become a meaningful community resource for innovation.
4. Raise the funds we need to make these things happen.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
The Tech's primary strategy for achieving its short- and long-terms goals is Tech 3.0, a $100 million capital campaign (revised from the original $50 million) that will fund museum exhibitions, staffing and programs for the next decade. Tech 3.0 will allow the museum to achieve its ultimate goal of becoming an even more relevant resource in Silicon Valley. The campaign is already supporting:
· Custom interactive exhibitions. Social Robots was unveiled in 2013, followed in 2014 by Body Metrics, where wearable technology combined with data collection and analysis gives visitors a window into their physical and emotional selves. Two exhibitions debuted in 2015: Cyber Detectives, the nation's first interactive exhibit designed to help visitors learn about Internet safety, and Innovations in Health Care, which explores advances in health care technology. In Spring 2016 we opened BioDesign Studio, a place where people of all ages can play, tinker and design with biology.
· Bowers Institute. In 2015, The Tech opened this flexible learning space to provide top-notch professional development in STEM to educators who are teaching underserved Bay Area students.
· The Tech Academies of Innovation, a partnership with schools in underserved communities to build model programs for teaching STEM (science, technology, engineering and math).
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
The Tech has seen significant staffing changes in our Education, Marketing and Exhibits departments. All are aimed at bolstering and sustaining our mission. Our new Vice President of Education oversees all of The Tech's education efforts, as well as manages The Tech's gallery staff. She has retrained staff to become experts in Design Challenge Learning so they will be able to identify whether visitors are doing real engineering and can facilitate deeper learning. Marketing also added several key positions and reorganized to reflect The Tech's new emphasis on achieving relevance and impact as a vital community learning resource. This team is also working to rebrand The Tech as a leading community resource for developing innovators.
Partnerships have always been, and will always be, a key component to The Tech's ability to work efficiently and effectively. A key message the staff has adopted is “do less, partner more." Our numerous partners include local schools; the County Offices of Education for Santa Clara San Mateo and Monterey counties; Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula; Boys & Girls Clubs of Silicon Valley; Campbell Union School District; Catholic Charities CORAL of San Jose; Franklin McKinley School District; Girl Scouts of America; Maker Faire; MESA; NASA; RAFT; San Jose Parks and Rec Afterschool Programs; San Jose State University; Third Street Community Center; and YMCA of Silicon Valley, among others.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
The Tech 3.0 campaign continues to reap results that show strong community confidence in The Tech's plans. If fundraising goals are not achieved, we will need to scale back plans, but there are contingency plans in place should some areas of funding not be met. Confidence is high that, with the community's continued support and encouragement, The Tech will indeed achieve its short- and long-term goals.
Program success examples
· Recipient in 2015 of the National Medal for Museum and Library Service, the highest U.S. honor for these institutions.
· The Tech has welcomed more than 8 million visitors, including nearly 2 million students on a field trip, since the museum's opening in 1998.
· Approximately 225,000 students have taken part in a Hands-on Science Lab since the program's debut in 2005.
· Participation in The Tech Challenge continues to increase year over year. Founded in 1988, the program attracts more than 2,500 youth every year from all over the Bay Area.
· The Tech for Global Good is a year-round program designed to create the next generation of innovators ready to tackle the toughest challenges facing our planet. Learning to think like a social innovator encourages young people to consider the ethical and empathic aspects of making things.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We share the feedback we received with the people we serve, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time, we need support/training to upskill staff in analyzing data
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
The Tech Interactive
Board of directorsas of 02/12/2024
Gerald Held
The Held Group
Gerald D Held
The Held Group
Daniel Perez
Clover Wireless
James C Deichen
SunTrust Robinson Humphrey (ret.)
Christopher S DiGiorgio
Accenture (ret.)
William W Heil, Jr.
Steve Young
HGGC
Joe Kava
Randy Krenzin
Morgan Stanley
Omkaram Nalamasu
Applied Materials
Gloria Chen
Adobe Systems
Raquel Gonzalez
Bank of America
Matthew Sapp
EY
Mala Anand
Microsoft
Marimo Berk
The Creekside School
Mohana Dissanayake
Deloitte
Aymeric Gisselbrecht
Atomica
John Heinlein
Sonatus
Shannon Hunt-Scott
The Scott Foundation
Somesh Dash
IVP
Carl Eschenbach
Workday
Janine Pelosi
Zoom (ret.)
Katrina Stevens
The Tech Interactive
Cindy Chavez
County of Santa Clara
Juan Cruz
Franklin-McKinley School District
Kate Hogan
Accenture
Michele Janes
Cisco
Tina Knauss
Patrick McGovern
Patrick J. McGovern Foundation
Lisa Millora
San Jos State University
Jody Mortimore
KPMG
Lindo St. Angel
Amazon Devices and Services
Sean White
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as: