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Who we are

Our Team: OpenRockets.com/team

About OpenRockets

OpenRockets is a global nonprofit service provider currently based in New York City, We help nonprofits and young creators bring their ideas to life through free infrastructure, useful technology, and a community that believes good work deserves the chance to grow.

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Our story began one weekend in Colombo. Four young people who had taken part in a Code Jam programming competition started a WhatsApp group so they could keep talking about technology, software, and what they might build together. Those conversations grew into a small project called Open Launch. It was an early experiment, and the name never quite captured what we hoped it could become. Before long, we called it OpenRockets.

Software was where we started, and it remains at the heart of what we do. Open source development, scientific curiosity, and a willingness to experiment continue to shape our projects. OpenRockets later operated as the OpenRockets Foundation in the Asia Pacific region and received fiscal sponsorship from The Hack Foundation in 2025. What started with four people has grown into a community that reaches across continents.

Today, more than seventy independent volunteers in countries around the world contribute to our work. We support nonprofits, community initiatives, and youth events with infrastructure, technical tools, publicity, security, and online safety resources. When funding allows, we also offer financial support. Our aim is to remove the obstacles that prevent small organizations from focusing on the people and causes they care about.

We believe that a nonprofit does not have to be large to make a difference. Paper for Water is one example that inspires us. What began as a small origami project by sisters Katherine and Isabelle Adams grew into an organization helping communities gain access to clean water. Katherine once described those early days in simple terms:

"We had no intention of starting a large nonprofit organization." (Katherine Adams, cofounder of Paper for Water, interview)

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Protecting what people create is just as important to us as helping them create it. This is personal. One of our team members remembers making origami as a child, only to lose the photographs that recorded those creations years later. It is a small story, but it speaks to something larger. The work young people make can be meaningful, original, and worth preserving, even when there is no lasting place to keep it.

That belief helped shape OpenRockets Press. We want young creators to have reliable ways to publish their code, research, art, and other original work while keeping their ownership and recognition. Above all, we want their creations to remain accessible to them as they grow into adulthood.

We also build technology that makes the internet more useful and welcoming for young people. Interkid Browser and Interkid.org focus on a safer browsing experience, while projects such as Scienteen explore new ways to share research and creative ideas. Across all of these efforts, our purpose remains the same: to help good ideas endure and give the people behind them room to do more.

Our Mission

We believe young people can create work of real value when they are trusted, encouraged, and given the right tools. We want OpenRockets to become a dependable part of the infrastructure behind organizations doing good, especially those whose ambitions are much bigger than their resources.

Our work brings together software, science, education, publishing, and nonprofit support. Through it all, we are guided by two commitments: helping nonprofits achieve more, and helping young creators protect and retain access to their intellectual property.

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Learn more about ZeroProfit

ZeroProfit helps nonprofits establish a lasting digital presence. Our core infrastructure services for young creators and youth organizations are free. We may offer optional paid services to other organizations to help sustain our infrastructure, with any surplus directed back into our work or into charitable initiatives. Financial contributions to events, when available, are separate from access to our free services.

Protecting Young Creators

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Young people should be able to take pride in what they create and continue to access that work years later. We want to make it easier for them to document their contributions, receive proper credit, and understand the rights attached to their creations.

Through OpenRockets Press and our work on the Beaver, Kangaroo, and Hummingbird licenses, we are exploring better ways for young creators to publish, share, and preserve their software, research, and other original work. Protecting the intellectual property of minors is a central part of our mission.

Join Us

OpenRockets is built by volunteers from around the world. Whether you are a developer, designer, writer, researcher, educator, or simply curious about what we do, we would love to hear from you.

We care more about curiosity, collaboration, and thoughtful ideas than formal applications. Sometimes a conversation starts with a project. Sometimes it starts with a game of chess. We also welcome experienced adults who can help with guidance, governance, and long term planning as our community grows.

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