What Hack Club does

Hack Club (legally The Hack Foundation, EIN 81-2908499) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that operates what it describes as the world's largest network of teenage coding clubs, comprising 1,500+ in-person high school clubs worldwide and a 24/7 Slack community of 104,000+ teen makers aged 13-18. The organization was founded by Zach Latta (sources cite both 2015 and 2016 as the founding year) and serves teenagers through a multi-product ecosystem that includes flagship programs such as Stardance (a NASA-partnered summer STEM event), Outpost (hardware hackathons with up to $1,000 funding per project), Daydream (100 simultaneous global game jams), Undercity (a hardware hackathon held at GitHub HQ), Fallout (a Shenzhen hardware program), and Campfire (a satellite game jam operating in 200+ cities). It is headquartered in West Hollywood, California (registered address 8605 Santa Monica Blvd #86294) with operations run from Vermont, and operates with 1-10 employees supplemented by teen interns under mentors.

The organization's core technology is HCB (Hack Club Bank), an open-source Ruby on Rails-based fiscal sponsorship platform released publicly under the AGPL license in March 2025. HCB provides 501(c)(3) legal status, bank accounts, debit card issuance (powered by Stripe with Celtic Bank as issuing bank), automatic tax filing, and donation acceptance for teen-led nonprofits, and has processed over $100M in transactions across 6,500-12,000 projects. Supporting infrastructure includes a native iOS/Android mobile app for HCB, a public Events JSON API, 500+ open-source GitHub repositories, and a safeguarding framework with designated officers and mandatory reporting protocols. Payments integrate with Apple Pay and Google Pay for Tap to Pay donations.

The business model is hybrid: the teen-facing community (Slack, events, programs, in-person clubs) is free forever, funded entirely by philanthropic donations. Notable donors include the Musk Foundation, Michael Dell, Dr. Lisa Su (AMD CEO), Tobi Lutke (Shopify CEO), Tom Preston-Werner (GitHub co-founder), and MIT. The only direct revenue stream is HCB's 7% transaction fee on revenue processed through the platform, which covers operations staff including teen interns. Growth is entirely community-led via Slack invites, peer referrals, in-person club word-of-mouth, and earned media from high-profile AMAs featuring guests such as Elon Musk, Vitalik Buterin, Gwynne Shotwell, Jack Dorsey, and Sal Khan.

Name

Hack Club

Legal name

The Hack Foundation

Website

https://hackclub.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Hack Club (The Hack Foundation) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit operating 1,500+ high school coding clubs and a 104,000-member teen maker community, supported by HCB, an open-source fiscal sponsorship platform that has processed over $100 million for student-led nonprofits.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Youth STEM Coding Education

NAICS

Child and Youth Services (62411), Civic and Social Organizations (813410)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Youth Mentoring & Positive Youth Development Nonprofits (BPAGADAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Student Organizations & Club Administration (EDALAHAB), Youth/Student Neobanks (FSABAFAD)

Keywords

• Nonprofit coding education
• Fiscal sponsorship platform
• Teen maker community
• Youth STEM programs
• Open source education

Headquarters

HQ city

Shelburne

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Others, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Donations and Philanthropy: Hack Club is funded entirely by donations from individuals and foundations. The website explicitly states 'Hack Club is free for every teenager, forever.' The organization is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit (EIN: 81-2908499) and publishes full open finances. Notable donors include the Musk Foundation, Michael Dell, Dr. Lisa Su (AMD CEO), Tobi Lutke (Shopify CEO), and Tom Preston-Werner (GitHub co-founder).
2. HCB Fiscal Sponsorship Fee: HCB charges a single transparent fee of 7% of revenue processed through the platform. This fee covers operations staff including teen interns under mentors, and funds Hack Club's sustainable operations. No legal fees, startup fees, transaction fees, card issuing fees, subscription fees, or credit card processing fees are charged.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Hack Club is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that runs a global network of programming clubs, an online Slack community of 104k+ teenage makers, and a portfolio of STEM programs (in-person clubs, hackathons, AMAs, hardware projects). Its financial arm, HCB (Hack Club Bank), provides 501(c)(3) status, banking, and debit-card issuance for teen-led nonprofits, charging a transparent 7% fee on revenue processed. All teen-facing programs are free; the organization is funded primarily by philanthropic donations.

Product overview

Hack Club is a nonprofit movement of teenage makers offering a multi-product ecosystem centered around learning to code through building real projects. The core offerings include: (1) the Hack Club Community on Slack — a 24/7 online community for 100,000+ teen makers to collaborate, attend AMAs with industry leaders, and participate in workshops; (2) HCB (Hack Club Bank) — a fiscal sponsorship platform providing 501(c)(3) status, banking, debit cards, and financial tools for teen-led organizations, processing over $100M for 6,500+ projects, with an accompanying mobile app; (3) the Hack Club Events Platform — a public events hosting system with a JSON API for community AMAs, workshops, and social gatherings; and (4) an extensive programs portfolio including Stardance (NASA-partnered summer STEM event), Outpost (hardware hackathons), Daydream (global game jams), Undercity (GitHub HQ hackathons), Fallout (Shenzhen hardware trips), and in-person clubs network (1,500+ high school clubs worldwide). Additional offerings include the Hack Club Toolbox (perks like GitHub Education), Sprig (hardware), and Hack Club Magazine (project showcase publication). The platform also maintains open source infrastructure including the HCB codebase on GitHub.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• HCB (Hack Club Bank): Financial tools and fiscal sponsorship platform providing 501(c)(3) status, debit cards, receipt tracking, tax filing, and donation acceptance for nonprofits.
• Sprig
• Stardance
• Summer of Making
• Daydream
• Undercity
• Juice
• Outpost
• Entropy
• Fallout

Products and services

• HCB (Hack Club Bank) A fiscal sponsorship platform providing 501(c)(3) legal status, bank accounts, automatic tax filing, debit card issuance, and financial management tools for teen-led organizations and student-run hackathons. Charges a transparent 7% fee on revenue processed; built on Ruby on Rails and open source under AGPL.
• HCB Mobile The official iOS and Android companion app for HCB, enabling organizations to view balances and transactions, accept Tap to Pay donations via iPhone, issue and manage debit cards, add cards to mobile wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay), and upload receipts.
• Hack Club Community (Slack) A 24/7 Slack-based online community hosting 104k+ teen makers globally, with structured channels for projects, help, AMAs, workshops, show & tells, and social spaces. The central nervous system of the Hack Club community, available free to all teens aged 13-18.
• Hack Club Events Platform Public events website listing AMAs, workshops, show & tells, and social events for the Hack Club community, with a public JSON REST API supporting filtering by tags (ama, workshop, social, stardance) and programmatic discovery of upcoming, monthly, and historical events.
• Hack Club In-Person Clubs Network A global network of 1,500+ in-person coding clubs operating at high schools, providing peer learning environments for building real projects without prerequisites. Each club is started by a teen leader and supported by Hack Club HQ with resources, branding, and event access.
• Hack Club Toolbox A perks platform aggregating free developer benefits for Hack Club members, including GitHub Education access and a Brilliant Premium subscription, unlocking free perks just by being a community member.
• Sprig Game Console A free handheld game console designed to help teenagers learn programming through making games; part of Hack Club's hardware learning initiatives alongside Fallout and Outpost.

Quantifiable outcome

• 100,000+ teens have started their journey with Hack Club
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.

• NASAflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2026NASA partnered with Hack Club for the Stardance Challenge, described as 'the largest free STEM event of the summer.' Students ages 13-18 create projects using real NASA mission data from Artemis and the James Webb Space Telescope, running June 1 through September 30. The challenge invites teens to make anything they want and earn free prizes, with NASA providing data access and legitimacy as a flagship STEM partner.
• StripecoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2018HCB Visa Commercial cards are powered by Stripe and issued by Celtic Bank. Stripe handles all card payment processing, ACH transfers, and the financial infrastructure underpinning HCB's nonprofit neobanking capabilities.
• Celtic BankcoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2018Celtic Bank is the issuing bank for HCB Visa Commercial cards. Combined with Stripe's payment infrastructure, Celtic Bank provides the banking rails that enable HCB to issue physical and virtual debit cards to teen-organized nonprofits.
• AMDcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerAMD is listed as a donor and Stardance Challenge partner alongside NASA and GitHub. AMD's logo appears on the Hack Club homepage under 'Supported by people who believe in teens.' The Stardance event is specifically 'In partnership with NASA, AMD, and GitHub,' positioning AMD as a key sponsor supporting Hack Club's largest summer STEM event.
• GitHubcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerGitHub is listed as a donor and Stardance Challenge partner. Tom Preston-Werner (Co-founder of GitHub) is individually named as a donor. GitHub Education benefits are part of Hack Club's free perks for members. The Undercity hardware hackathon is held at GitHub HQ in San Francisco.
• CampfireflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerCampfire is Hack Club's largest satellite game jam hackathon, running simultaneously in 200+ cities worldwide. As a project under HCB's fiscal sponsorship, it represents a flagship teen-organized event that leverages Hack Club's infrastructure to scale globally.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Major League Hacking (MLH): The dominant student hackathon league, organizing official hackathons at universities and now high schools. Highly comparable to Hack Club on target audience (teen/college student builders), event-driven model, and nonprofit/community orientation, though MLH's primary footprint is collegiate rather than 13–18.
• Girls Who Code: Nonprofit providing free coding programs, clubs, and summer immersion for middle and high school students, with a strong focus on closing gender gaps in tech. Directly comparable on audience (13–18), club model, and nonprofit funding, though narrower in demographic focus.
• FIRST: Nonprofit running FIRST LEGO League, FIRST Tech Challenge, and FIRST Robotics Competition clubs/teams at schools worldwide. Highly comparable on the in-person high school club model, sponsor/partnership model, and youth STEM focus, but oriented around competitive robotics rather than software/making.
• CodePath: Nonprofit delivering free, industry-aligned coding courses and career support to college and high school students from underserved backgrounds. Comparable on donor-funded free technical education for students, but the delivery model is course-based rather than community/club-based.
• Generation Citizen: Nonprofit running action civics programs in high schools, with a club/after-school model and donor funding. Comparable on the in-school youth nonprofit model and target demographic, but focused on civics rather than coding/making.

Broad incumbents

• Code.org: The largest US coding education nonprofit, focused on K–12 CS curriculum and Hour of Code. Comparable as a free, donor-funded coding-education nonprofit serving schools, but operates at a much larger scale and through curriculum rather than peer community/clubs.
• Khan Academy: Large free online education nonprofit serving K–12 and beyond with a self-serve learning model and donor funding. Comparable as a free, donor-funded education platform, though much broader in subject matter and not community/club-driven.

Emerging players

• Recurse Center: Self-directed, community-driven programming retreat and online community for developers. Comparable on the 'community of makers building real things' ethos and free/peer-led culture, though its audience is adult professionals rather than 13–18 year olds.

Others

• Outlier.org: For-profit online education company offering college-level courses for credit at low cost. Comparable as a tech-enabled, donor/impact-aligned education platform serving students, though commercial and higher-ed focused rather than nonprofit teen-making.
• GitHub Education: GitHub's program offering free Student Developer Pack perks (similar to Hack Club's Toolbox). Comparable as a student-developer benefits and community ecosystem, but not a club/network operator and serves a broader university student base.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/hackclub
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@HackClubHQ
• Xx.com/hackclub

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Hack Club