CompTIA Spark
Unlocking people's potential though technology
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
7 million Americans are unemployed. Many struggle to get by in part-time jobs that don't offer career growth. They could be filling the 500,000+ open tech jobs today if they had the right skills. The major contributors to this gap between the tech industry and potential talent are: 1. Lack of diversity in recruiting. 2. Lack of effective on-ramps to educate & introduce candidates to viable tech careers. 3. A focus on expensive college education.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
CompTIA Tech Career Academy
The CompTIA Tech Career Academy is the newest adaptation of our IT-Ready Technical Support classroom training program. For many years, this widely successful program has aimed to open doors for those underrepresented in the technology industry, with a goal toward bringing them into IT careers.
Students who enroll in our IT-Ready Technical Support classes learn
technical skills to help them successfully pass both parts of the CompTIA
A+ certification exam. All students also receive targeted professional
development to refine critical business skills, such as communication and
presentation, conflict management, teamwork and collaboration, and critical
thinking and problem solving.
CompTIA CyberPrep
The CompTIA CyperPrep curriculum program allows middle schools and high
schools to bring tech education directly to their students – regardless of teacher
experience in technology. Our goal is to enable schools to offer tech education,
training, and certification opportunities to students, opening their eyes to tech
careers beyond the classroom. Using a rich mixture of fun lessons available for
use in the classroom, online, or a hybrid of both, students learn the way they want
to learn so that they can relate IT to their lives.
CompTIA Apprenticeships for Tech
Highly skilled tech talent is needed to accelerate growth in every industry. It’s
critical that the tech talent pool better reflects the growing diversity of today’s
workforce. CompTIA Apprenticeships for Tech allow businesses to diversify
their tech teams, which benefits both employers and employees alike.
Registered apprenticeships for tech also offer businesses the opportunity
to upskill and reskill workers, while connecting people to promising careers
in IT. These paid apprenticeships not only offer an opportunity for participants to
“learn while they earn;” they also provide a pathway to permanent employment
and a promising career.
CompTIA Custom Training
Our training solutions provide traditional accelerated courses and fully
customized training to meet business needs. With job-focused training that
mirrors the workplace, learners have greater employment and advancement
opportunities. Our custom offerings include access to the entire CompTIA
certification catalog with labs and hands-on training, as well as soft, employability
skills training.
WITS (Women in Tech Summit)
WITS is a technical conference whose focus is on women who work in, or
with, tech in technical and non-technical roles. We want anyone who finds our
programming educational or inspirational or who is looking to make connections
with women working in a diverse variety of fields in tech to feel welcome to attend
WITS. WITS connects women working on the business and technical sides of
the industry.
The conference brings together women at every level, from students to senior
executives, to connect, educate and inspire through events across the United States.
TechGirlz
TechGirlz is a nonprofit program of Creating IT Futures, a 501(c)3 nonprofit of CompTIA, that inspires middle school girls to explore the possibilities of technology to empower their future careers. TechGirlz is accomplishing its mission through the creation of free, fun, interactive “TechShopz” led by industry professionals, leaders and students. We share our free workshop curriculum with companies, organizations, schools and community groups so they can inspire girls around the world with technology. Our vision is to create a world where girls have a lifelong passion and confidence in their use of technology throughout their careers.
See more info here: https://www.guidestar.org/profile/27-4622350
Where we work
Awards
TEKNE Finalist 2016
Minnesota High Tech Association
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of participants attending course/session/workshop
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
TechGirlz
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Number of students per teacher during the reporting period
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
TechGirlz
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of students per classroom during the reporting period
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
TechGirlz
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Percentage of girls who are more interested in pursuing a career in tech after taking a workshop.
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
TechGirlz
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn 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 IT industry needs more workers — and more workers need more opportunities. We reach motivated people with an aptitude for technology from multiple under-served populations, including low-income, long-term unemployed, multiple ethnic and racial groups, individuals without college degrees, women, and veterans. Our goal by 2022 is to serve 1,000 students per year across the US, and help them gain family-sustaining wages, which will boost their local economies.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
We create on-ramps for more people to prepare for, secure, and succeed in IT careers. We particularly encourage an IT path for populations that traditionally have been under-represented in the information technology workforce, such as women and people of color. Our IT-Ready program is an in-person 8-week program that assesses, trains, certifies, and provides placement assistance to our students, free of charge to them. We also work with middle schoolers and high schoolers to get them interested in a tech career by having them participate in hands-on tech activities.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Creating IT Futures is the largest charity of CompTIA, and as such, CompTIA covers overhead costs. This is especially meaningful to our donors, in that their donations go directly to programmatic costs that help unemployed, underemployed, and/or underrepresented demographics gain employment in the IT field. Through CompTIA, we have a truly global reach, including:
1. 168 member communities and councils committed to diversifying & growing the tech industry
2. 139,000 members & registered users
3. 1,600,000 certified IT pros in 150 countries
4. 4,200 schools and education partners with their own STEM efforts
Additionally, our partnerships provide us with invaluable capabilities. Our growing list of corporate donors (available here: https://www.creatingitfutures.org/donate/our-donors) provide us with much needed programmatic support. We also have alliances with other nonprofits to bolster adult tech training, including Genesys Works, Goodwill, Jewish Family & Children's Services, Per Scholas, Stride Center, and Year Up.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
We spent five years developing our IT-Ready training program in collaboration with Per Scholas. Since its launch in 2012, IT-Ready has posted strong metrics in graduation rates, certification rates, placement rates, job retention rates, and salary.
Up until 2019, we've had permanent locations in Minneapolis, Charlotte, and Portland. In 2019, we've partnered with Cognizant and Wounded Warrior Project to open up new locations in Phoenix, San Diego, and San Antonio. We've also partnered with Boeing to launch our presence in Chicago as well. Our goal by 2022 is to serve 1,000 students per year across the US, and help them gain family-sustaining wages, which will boost their local economies.
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 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 act on the feedback we receive
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback
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
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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.
CompTIA Spark
Board of directorsas of 09/21/2023
Mr. John Malonson
Raytheon
Term: 2021 - 2024
Guy Fruda
Deloitte Services
John Malonson
Raytheon
Tracey Welson-Rossman
Chariot Solutions
Paul Cronin
Cronin Corp.
Todd Thibodeaux
CompTIA
Brian Laffey
CompTIA
Courtney Fong
CompTIA
Charles Eaton
CompTIA
Neelan Choksi
Masha Sedova
Elevate Security
Terry West
TekSystems
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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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
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
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
Equity strategies
Last updated: 08/19/2019GuideStar 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
- 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.
- 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.