GOLD2024

Adroit

Unlocking Potential. One Student at a Time

Nashville, TN   |  https://www.adroitstart.org/

Mission

To connect diverse communities and provide every student with the practical, emotional, and critical intelligence necessary to prepare them for future industries, ensure a lifetime of success, and positively impact their communities.

Ruling year info

2022

Principal Officer

Benjamin Nadolsky

Main address

705 Vosswood Dr

Nashville, TN 37205 USA

Show more contact info

EIN

88-2038792

NTEE code info

Student Services and Organizations (B80)

IRS filing requirement

This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990-N.

Communication

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

STEM access and equity in the United States face significant challenges, as evidenced by the fact that only 25% of low-income students enroll in STEM majors compared to 41% of high-income students, and underrepresented minorities make up just 21.7% of STEM enrollees. Additionally, women earn a mere 21% of engineering and 19% of computer science degrees. Only 45% of U.S. high schools offered computer science courses in 2019, and limited extracurricular activities and career guidance further impede students' engagement in STEM, with only 30% participating in STEM-related afterschool programs and 37% having access to STEM-focused career counseling. With underrepresentation across the board, we must address the growing need for STEM access without continuing to place the burden solely on schools and instead look toward partnering with corporations and industry experts that can directly give our students the skills and connections that they need to succeed in the future workforce.

Our programs

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?

Pioneers Robotics

The Pioneers Robotics Team is the only FIRST Robotics Competition team for high school students in Davidson County. Each year, high school students work alongside industry mentors to design, build, program, and compete with robots that weigh 125lb and are up to 8ft tall. Learn more about FRC here: https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/frc. This year, we serve 50 students from 6 different high schools (up from 16 students from 3 schools in 2022).

The Pioneers teach students valuable 21st-century STEM skills that will help them in their universities and careers, as well as important teamwork, entrepreneurship, collaboration, and sportsmanship concepts as they navigate through life. The Pioneers also provides full-coverage one-on-one college counseling services for students on the team.

Population(s) Served
Adolescents

We provide a LEGO Robotics curriculum once a week at no cost to local Aventura charter school - prioritizing providing this curriculum in a bilingual environment, allowing us to build confidence and trust in these students to become engineers, scientists, or whatever they dream of doing. As of the 2024-2025 school year - they have three teams who competes and one team who explores their ideas only during their club time (a LEGO Challenge and LEGO Explore team). Currently, we are working with 30+ students annually with the hope that at least 80% of them leave having a newfound interest in STEAM or design. Additionally, with our competing teams, we hope we can have them return back to school with awards and recognitions for the work they do.

Population(s) Served
Children and youth

The Frontier Robotics Team is the second FIRST Robotics Competition team for high school students in Davidson County. Each year, high school students work alongside industry mentors to design, build, program, and compete with robots that weigh 125lb and are up to 8ft tall. Learn more about FRC here: https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/frc. This year, we serve 55 students from 7 different high schools

Acting as an intermediary to our Pioneers Robotics Team program, Frontier serves as a stepping stone for introducing students to valuable STEM concepts. Throughout the program, students learn basic manufacturing and programming concepts to prepare them to take their STEM knowledge to the next level with the Pioneers

Population(s) Served
Adolescents

Adroit provides both direct and indirect support to local FIRST Tech Challenge teams. By providing access to professional mentors and engineers, self-guided learning curriculums, and additional machining resources, students are given access to the tools necessary for them to compete in the FIRST Tech Challenge.

Through our FTC Mentorship program, we expand our reach to areas without local Adroit mentors by offering virtual workshops, one-on-one mentoring, and access to online resources. Adroit partners with schools and community organizations to establish and support new teams, providing guidance in robotics, coding, and design. This program equips students with technical skills and fosters leadership, communication, and problem-solving abilities, preparing them for success in competitions and beyond. Currently, we are working with ~ 40 youth in this endeavor.

Population(s) Served
Children and youth
Adolescents

Where we work

Our Sustainable Development Goals

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.

Goals & Strategy

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.

Charting impact

Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.

Our mission is to connect diverse communities and provide every student with the practical, emotional, and critical intelligence necessary to prepare them for future industries, ensure a lifetime of success, and positively impact their communities.

With a variety of studies finding that hands-on STEM learning experiences and mentorship help students develop essential skills – such as critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, and creativity – and improve a student’s likelihood of pursuing and persisting in STEM fields, ADROIT solves this problem through its six core focus areas, providing K-12 students with access to professional STEM mentorship, opportunities, and challenges by directly engaging them in work-based learning alongside professional mentors through a curriculum based on FIRST Robotics and facilitating the connection between graduates and community stakeholders, including corporations, non-profit organizations, and governmental entities.

How we listen

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.

done We shared information about our current feedback practices.
  • How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?

    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

  • 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 aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, 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

  • What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

    We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback

Financials

Adroit
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Operations

The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.

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lock

Connect with nonprofit leaders

Subscribe

Build 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.

Adroit

Board of directors
as of 11/03/2024
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board chair

Benjamin Nadolsky

Nadolsky Consulting Group

Christopher Masuo

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Ryan Mack

Cisco

Josh Peterson

Hollywood Woodwork

Bryce Hanson

Mastercard

Board leadership practices

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.

  • Board orientation and education
    Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes
  • CEO oversight
    Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes
  • Ethics and transparency
    Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes
  • Board composition
    Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes
  • Board performance
    Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes

Organizational demographics

SOURCE: Self-reported; last updated 10/24/2024

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:

Race & ethnicity
White/Caucasian/European
Gender identity
Male, Not transgender
Sexual orientation
Decline to state
Disability status
Person with a disability

Race & ethnicity

Gender identity

Transgender Identity

Sexual orientation

No data

Disability

We do not display disability information for organizations with fewer than 15 staff.

Equity strategies

Last updated: 10/27/2023

GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more

Data
  • We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
  • We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
  • We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
  • We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
  • We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
  • We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
  • We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
Policies and processes
  • We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
  • We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
  • We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
  • We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
  • We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
  • We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
  • We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.