Startups love them some ping pong. Outfitting a tech office with a ping pong table is now so commonplace, it's basically a cliché.
But one Chicago organization wants to put the city's table tennis obsession to good use in hopes of raising over $100,000 for the Chicago Tech Academy, a non-profit that teaches STEM to minority and low income students.
T4Youth, a table tennis tournament that launched in Chicago three years ago, looks to bring the area's technology companies together for a night of ping pong with the goal of raising money to support future generations of technologists.
The event takes place November 17 at AceBounce (230 N. Clark St.) and the tournament starts at 6:00 p.m. Companies can register up until November 4. The cost is $1,000 per team.
In its inaugural year, T4Youth raised $50,000 for the Chicago Tech Academy, and $80,000 last year. This year, the event's organizers are hoping for even more.
"We want to break six figures this year, no doubt about it," said Drew Mauck, principal at 3Points Communications and one of the event's organizers. "Anything less than ($100,000) is going to feel a little hollow."
The other founding event organizers include Objective Paradigm and SPR Consulting.
Tech companies can register by team, but the tournament will also have a C-suite bracket where CEOs and CTOs can compete. Teams that have registered so far include Sprout Social, Google, SAP, United Airlines and year one tournament winner DRW.
Chicago Tech Academy is a 4-year contract school located in University Village that looks to increase the number of minority and low income students in STEM careers. Mauck said partnering with the organization is a great way for the tech community to give back and strengthen the talent pipeline in Chicago.
"We thought, how can we put something together that's both fun and competitive, but also helps bridge what we felt was a very significant gap between the tech community and other parts of the city?" he said.
You can find our more about the table tennis tournament here.
Image via T4Youth
