At the beginning of this year, junior Natty Gove launched his own nonprofit, the Tech4Youth Foundation, which works to provide technology access to underfunded schools across the Bay Area. Gove’s first project was an attempt to raise $11,000 in order to buy 30 Chromebooks for students in the Sausalito Marin City School District (SMCSD).
The project began last February, after he and his father volunteered at the Martin Luther King (MLK) Academy School Gardens in Marin City and had a great conversation with faculty members.
“[The SMCSD] said they had 30 students that didn’t have computers at home, and they also had in-school computer needs,” Gove said.
As a student at a tech-reliant high school, Gove has seen firsthand how not being able to work online at home drastically sets back students in their classes. Hearing about this lack of resources in local schools motivated him to start the foundation. Following the visit, Gove stayed in touch with SMCSD’s information technology (IT) team and superintendent as he began building his nonprofit foundation from the ground up.
Gove began his fundraising efforts by sending emails to major tech companies like Google, asking for donations, which ultimately proved unsuccessful. Determined to continue, his next step was to go door-to-door around the county, explaining the goal of his nonprofit, which was a key step towards success. Ultimately, Marin newspapers served as the biggest aid to the effort as they were able to spread the news at a much more efficient rate.
“I reached out to The Ark and the Marin Independent Journal (Marin IJ) initially for advertisements, and they said they would write a story about [the foundation],” Gove said.
After being published by The Ark at the start of May, donations began to flow in as more people in the county talked about the local tech startup. The article helped him surpass his original goal of $11,000, instead raising over $15,000 from more than 65 donors.
Despite the Bay Area being a predominantly wealthy region, many school districts in low-income areas don’t have the same access to technology as others.
“I’m planning to continue [my foundation] as long as I can within the Bay Area, and I want to set up more initiatives with schools that have students without computers at home,” Gove said.
Gove’s mother, Constance Gove, said that she’s seen a philanthropic side to him from a young age.
“He has always had an empathy for other people,” Constance Gove said. “When he was little, [his] teachers would comment on how much he enjoyed helping younger students in other grades.”
Furthermore, Constance Gove stated that she remembered Natty Gove coming home from the MLK Academy School Gardens feeling really energized and motivated to help the kids in need.
“He came home and almost immediately [asked] the question, ‘how can I help this school district?’” Constance Gove said.
On Sept. 11, 2025, Natty Gove officially presented the $15,000 check to the SMCSD board to fund the purchase of new Chromebooks, a huge milestone for him and the foundation. The board officially accepted the check on Nov. 13, when the district finally put a seal on the rigorous yet rewarding efforts made by Natty Gove and his donors.
“Now, with [this] momentum, it would be great to carry this [work] on to another school and help them [supply their students with technology],” Natty Gove said.
