What hackNY does

hackNY is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN: 27-3758609) founded in 2010 and headquartered in New York City, operating a community-led fellowship program that links student technologists with NYC startups. Its core offering is the annual hackNY Fellows Program, a summer co-living fellowship that places 13-20 competitively selected Fellows from a global university applicant pool at NYC-based tech companies, supplemented by Speaker Series, mixers, hackathons, and a Demo Day. In 2025 the organization added the hackNY Spring Conference, a 250-attendee professional development event for early-career developers, and in March 2026 announced the launch of the hackNY Public Interest Lab (PIL) for Summer 2026, a pro bono fellowship pairing technologists with civic and nonprofit organizations. The underlying technology stack is minimal: a Squarespace-hosted website and standard event ticketing via ti.to, with no proprietary software, APIs, or AI/ML capabilities. Revenue is generated through charitable donations solicited via the Support Us page, fiscal sponsorship fees (5% of pass-through grants, e.g., $4,500 retained on a $90,000 Orbital grant in December 2023), and ancillary event-related income. The organization is structured around volunteer hackNY alumni plus faculty from NYU and Columbia, with a small administrative team led by Director Shy Ruparel and co-founder Chris Wiggins (also Chief Data Scientist at The New York Times and Columbia professor), alongside co-founder Evan Korth and advisor Hilary Mason.

Name

hackNY

Legal name

hackNY

Website

https://hackny.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

hackNY is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit running a summer co-living fellowship that places selected student technologists at NYC tech companies, supported by Speaker Series, hackathons, and a public interest tech lab launching in 2026.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Nonprofit Technology Fellowship Programs

NAICS

Professional and Management Development Training (61143), Professional Organizations (81392)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Technical Bootcamps & Accelerated Reskilling (Full-time/Part-time) (BPAEANAE)

Keywords

• Summer fellowship program
• Nonprofit tech community
• Student technology internship
• Public interest technology
• Developer professional development

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Donations and Support: As a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization (EIN: 27-3758609), hackNY operates primarily through donations and support from the community. They accept donations through their Support Us page and receive fiscal sponsorship fees (5% on grants they sponsor).

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

hackNY is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that runs an annual summer co-living fellowship placing talented student technologists at NYC tech companies for internships, complemented by a Speaker Series, mixers, hackathons, a Spring Conference for emerging tech leaders, and a forthcoming Public Interest Lab (PIL) that pairs technologists with civic and nonprofit organizations on pro bono technical projects. The program is free for fellows, with community housing in Brooklyn and mentorship from a 300+ alumni network (AlumNY).

Product overview

hackNY is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that operates as a community and fellowship program, not a software product company. The organization's core offerings consist of the hackNY Fellows Program (summer co-living fellowship placing student technologists at NYC companies), the hackNY Public Interest Lab (pro bono tech-for-good initiative launching Summer 2026), hackNY Spring Conference (professional development event), and the Speaker Series and Demo Day events that support these programs. The organization does not offer commercial software products, APIs, or AI-powered technology services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• hackNY Fellows Program Annual summer co-living fellowship that curates a community of talented, creative student technologists, placing them at NYC tech companies as interns and integrating them into the alumNY network through Speaker Series, mixers, hackathons, and celebrations. Free for fellows, with housing in Brooklyn and mentorship from 300+ alumni.
• hackNY Public Interest Lab (PIL) Pro bono fellowship program pairing early-career technologists with nonprofit and civic organizations to build automations, data infrastructure, dashboards, and websites. The fellowship is true pro bono: nights and weekends, no pay, no cost to the organizations; inspired by the legal pro bono tradition.
• hackNY Spring Conference One-day professional development conference for developers in their first 10 years of careers, covering equipping emerging tech leaders and engineering with intention. Held at NewLab in Brooklyn Navy Yard with capacity for 250 attendees; tickets sold through ti.to.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 300 Fellows have graduated from the program since 2010
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Gary Chou / Orbital (Fiscal Sponsorship)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2024hackNY served as fiscal sponsor for Gary Chou's $90K research grant under a 'Model C' arrangement, receiving a 5% fiscal sponsorship fee ($4,500). Gary's work focuses on building an entrepreneurship pathway and funding model that prioritizes mission-driven outcomes.
• NewLab (Brooklyn Navy Yard)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNewLab in the Brooklyn Navy Yard serves as the venue for hackNY Spring Conference (April 27, 2025), a one-day professional development opportunity for developers in the first 10 years of their careers.
• Bowery CapitalminorGTM or Marketing PartnerBowery Capital provided venue for the hackathon at the end of the first week of the 2024 Fellowship, where teams created fun projects and integrated Fellows with the alumni network.
• ISOC-NY (Historical)minorOthersISOC-NY served as hackNY's fiscal sponsor when they launched in 2010, enabling them to receive a Kauffman Foundation grant to fund their first class of fellows. hackNY later incorporated independently and obtained their own 501(c)(3) status in 2013.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Major League Hacking (MLH): Runs the largest student hackathon league in North America and operates fellowship-style programs for student technologists. Directly comparable to hackNY in serving the same student-technologist audience through hackathons and community-driven events, though MLH is national while hackNY is NYC-focused.
• Code for America: Civic-tech nonprofit that pairs technologists with government and community organizations. Closely comparable to hackNY's newly launching Public Interest Lab in mission, structure, and target audience of mission-driven technologists.
• Code2040: Runs fellowship and community programs placing Black and Latinx technologists into internships at top tech companies. Comparable in the student-technologist fellowship model, network-driven alumni community, and emphasis on diversity in NYC/SF tech.
• Insight Data Science Fellows: Fellowship program placing PhD-level scientists into industry data science roles. Comparable as a selective, cohort-based tech fellowship that uses alumni and host-company networks to place Fellows, though focused on data science PhDs rather than student technologists.
• Rewriting the Code: Community and fellowship organization supporting college women in tech through mentorship, events, and internship placement. Directly comparable to hackNY's fellowship-plus-community model targeting student technologists.
• All Star Code: NYC-based nonprofit running summer fellowship programs placing young men of color into tech internships. Comparable in NYC base, summer-fellowship structure, and host-company placement model.

Broad incumbents

• NYU Tandon Future Labs / NYU Center for Data Science: Academic institution with embedded faculty who co-organize hackNY (NYU, Columbia). Comparable as an established NYC institution shaping the same student-technologist talent pool and tech-community programming.
• Civic Innovation Corps (formerly USDS / AmeriCorps VISTA tech programs): Federal civic-tech service programs that place technologists with public-interest organizations. Comparable to hackNY's PIL program as a larger-scale, established civic-tech pipeline.

Emerging players

• Flatiron School / General Assembly: Tech training providers offering bootcamps and courses to students and career changers. Comparable in the NYC tech-education space, though their model is paid immersive training rather than nonprofit fellowship placement.

Others

• Newlab: Brooklyn-based innovation hub and venue partner for hackNY's Spring Conference. Comparable as a NYC tech-community institution that convenes founders, technologists, and capital — adjacent rather than competitive.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/hackNY
• Instagraminstagram.com/hacknewyork
• Xx.com/hackNY

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

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

M&A

Investments1 record

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

Frequently asked questions about hackNY