Our Funders
AI is changing how people train, how they get hired, and what their jobs look like. Our funders invest in Pursuit so every Builder, no matter where they come from, can thrive in an AI economy.
That support goes beyond training. It builds careers, connects Builders with employers, and puts Builders to work helping nonprofits and small businesses adopt AI. And it doesn’t stop there. When one Builder transforms their life, the impact reaches their family, their community, and their industry.
Our funding comes from philanthropy, business, government, and impact capital, all working toward the same transformational outcome.
Our funders do more than write checks. They bring expertise, open their networks, and back new ideas before the rest of the field catches on. Many have been with us for years.
We don’t take that lightly. Our job is to deliver careers that last and build what the next economy needs. Their belief in our community’s potential makes our work possible.
Government
Corporate
Foundations
Long-lasting and layered impact
Seven months. More than 630 hours. Fully in person.
Your funding puts a Builder through the AI-Native Program, where they build AI products for real organizations from the first weeks. They leave with a portfolio, paid experience, and a first job in the AI economy.
Builders enter earning an average of $18,000 and start their careers at more than $94,000, roughly $2 million in lifetime earnings per person. Since 2013, our Builders together have generated an estimated $1 billion in lifetime wage gains.
We stay with Builders through their first years on the job, because getting hired and staying hired are different challenges.
Employers are rebuilding around AI faster than they can hire, while cutting the entry-level roles that once built their pipelines.
Your funding closes that gap. Employers shape our curriculum, sponsor Builder projects, and work with Builders through paid deployments and apprenticeships before hiring. That lowers the risk of a first hire and brings AI capability into the business.
We start where people already are.
Your funding supports free AI literacy workshops in English and Spanish with NYCHA, the New York Public Library, Queens Public Library, and community organizations across the five boroughs. We reached about 2,000 people in 2025 and are on track for more than 5,000 in 2026.
Through AI Build Corps, Builders are embedded in nonprofits and small businesses to build AI-powered tools as forward deployed engineers. They earn income while gaining experience. A Builder’s new income supports a household, and often the next generation.
Some funders support direct service. Others support changing how the whole system works. Pursuit is one of the few places where the same dollar does both.
Pursuit established New York’s first Registered Apprenticeship in Software Engineering, helped the City design its apprenticeship strategy, and was named by Governor Hochul as the State’s partner for AI Prep for Jobs. Our model now reaches across the state. Per Scholas in Buffalo and Le Moyne College in Syracuse deliver our curriculum on our platform, while CenterState CEO and TechBuffalo connect Builders to employers in their regions.