Advancing education · Founded to teach, not to compete

We teach young people to build real machines — and to teach the next ones.

Friends of 1294 is an independent 501(c)(3) public charity in Sammamish, Washington. We pair young people with volunteer mentors for free, hands-on instruction in engineering, fabrication, software, and project management, and we bring in and prepare the adults who make that instruction possible. Participation is open to every young person regardless of ability to pay.

Line drawings of a gear, a bearing, an angle bracket, a timing pulley, a standoff, a hex bolt, and a pinion, laid out in a row above a dimension line reading "one pack of parts".

What we run

Three ways we teach. All of them mentor-led.

Everything we do is delivered by volunteer mentors and costs families nothing. Friends of 1294 has no paid employees.

Instruction

One-to-one and small-group mentorship

Students are paired with volunteer mentors from local industry for hands-on guidance in mechanical design, CAD, machining and fabrication, embedded software, controls, and how to run a build to a deadline. Mentorship is arranged around what a student or a project actually needs rather than a fixed class schedule. Students learn on real tooling and real budgets, and they present and defend their own design decisions.

Outreach

Community camps, demonstrations, and events

Public demonstrations and hands-on activities at libraries, community centers, schools, and civic events across the Sammamish area — aimed at younger children and families who have never had a reason to walk into a shop before.

Capacity

Mentor and coach training

We recruit adults from local industry and bring them up to speed on technical instruction, shop safety, and working with young people, so the teaching outlasts any one volunteer. Mentors who start with us go on to support programs beyond our own.

For funders, donors, and eligibility reviewers

What Friends of 1294 is, and what it is not.

We are frequently mistaken for a school program or a sports club. We are neither, and the distinction matters for how we are funded and governed.

We are

An independent educational charity

A nonprofit corporation recognized as exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code
Governed by our own volunteer board of directors
Funded by individual donations, community grants, and corporate sponsorship
Operating a free, open-enrollment educational program for youth

We are not

A school, a district program, or a sports organization

Not part of, sponsored by, fiscally hosted by, or affiliated with any school, school district, college, or university
Not accredited; we enroll no students and confer no academic credit, degrees, or credentials
Not a professional or semi-professional sports organization, a governing body, or an organizer of tournaments
Not a booster club: competition is one teaching method we use, not our purpose

Governance

How we are run.

Board and staff

Friends of 1294 is directed by a volunteer board of directors that sets the budget, approves programs, and is accountable for the organization's finances. Friends of 1294 has no paid employees; every director, mentor, and coach serves without compensation.

Open participation and non-discrimination

Friends of 1294 does not discriminate in hiring, compensation, promotion, termination, retirement, training, programs, activities, or services on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, gender identity or expression, marital status, pregnancy, sexual orientation, political affiliation, union membership, or veteran status. Our programs are open to all young people in our community regardless of ability to pay.