After soaring past our first milestone of $10,000 by July 4th (we actually hit $16,500 by July 4th), we are now moving forward to our next milestone of $30,000 by Labor Day. Help keep the momentum building!

What if NSS Hadn’t Been Here?

For 14 years, NSS has been creating opportunities for adults to convert their latent potential into a career in tech. To do so, we found a creative way to strike a balance between the desire and financial ability of motivated adults to acquire the skills to secure an entry-level job and local employers’ need to hire entry-level talent.

Whether you’re a graduate, know or have hired a graduate, volunteered at NSS, or took a professional development class from us, you’ve seen the impact NSS can have on individuals and the community. So what if NSS hadn’t been here?

Starting roughly three years ago, it became impossible to maintain the balance as the opportunities for entry-level jobs became increasingly scarce and as the financial challenges facing career changers became more severe. Then, as we recently shared, a dramatic drop in enrollments for our 2026 bootcamps further undercut our primary source of operational funding, creating a serious financial gap.

In order to survive, NSS must pivot to a new business model that allows us to reestablish financial sustainability.

What does that pivot look like?

Helping motivated adults gain access to new careers through our bootcamps and career support will remain foundational to NSS. And not just current programs - we’re opening the Data Engineering bootcamp to the public starting in January. But being solely dependent upon training entry-level talent isn’t enough to sustain NSS anymore.

Over the next few months, and helped by input from our alumni, we’ll launch a series of professional development classes aimed at those already working in our tech community. With generative AI, coding agents, and the rapid evolution of individual and team workflows, there’s never been a time when so many of us have needed such extensive continuing education in order to remain productive and valuable.

We’re also going to use our proven ability to explain complex technologies to non-technical people to address a new audience. NSS will show solopreneurs, entrepreneurs, small businesses, and other non-technical professionals how to safely and effectively go “beyond the prompt” and use agentic AI to partially or completely automate operations.

More details on both of these new initiatives soon.

Our Next Target: $30,000 by Labor Day

We have clear plans to pivot, but transitioning our business model while maintaining our core team to implement this takes time, money, and community support. We set a goal to raise $50,000 by the end of the year to bridge the operational gap. To stay on track, we need to raise $30,000 by Labor Day. We have $12,100 remaining to reach this milestone.

Your gift today directly supports:

Operational Runway: Preserving our dedicated team while we build and test new professional development courses for 2027.
Current Grads & Job Seekers: Continuous career coaching, mock technical interviews, and resume reviews for alumni navigating today’s market.

Keeping local tech education alive in Nashville takes all of us. Thank you for standing with our grads, our team, and our mission.

Ability Is Nothing Without Opportunity

Donating to Nashville Software School (NSS) is more than just a financial contribution; it's an investment in empowering individuals on their journey to a tech career. By supporting NSS, you are providing opportunities for aspiring tech professionals from diverse backgrounds to gain the skills and knowledge they need to start a successful career in the tech industry.

Nashville Software School provided me with so much more than an education. I am now a lifetime member of a community that helps each other, especially in times of crisis. Supporting NSS is the best way to ensure that others experience the joy and benefits of finding a new and rewarding career." - Sarah Fleming, Donor and Graduate of Web Development Cohort 34

Secure NSS's Future

The job market changed. Our commitment hasn’t.