Raspberry Pi Foundation. The Raspberry Pi Foundation is a registered charity in England and Wales, as well as an England and Wales company limited by guarantee.  It was founded in 2009 to promote the study of computer science. It is part of a group that comprises legal entities in India, Ireland, and the United States, which carry out educational activities in those jurisdictions; and Raspberry Pi Ltd, a commercial subsidiary that develops Raspberry Pi computers and other hardware. The foundation’s charitable activities are funded through a combination of Gift Aid from the profits of Raspberry Pi Ltd, contracts for the delivery of educational services e.g. professional development for teachers, and donations from individuals, foundations, and other organisations.

Foundation

The Raspberry Pi Foundation is a charitable organisation registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales. The board of trustees was assembled by 2008, and the Raspberry Pi Foundation was founded as a registered charity in May 2009 in Caldecote, England. In 2016, The foundation moved its headquarters to Station Road, Cambridge, moving again in 2018, to Hills Road, Cambridge.

The foundation is supported by the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory and Broadcom.
Its aim is to "promote the study of computer science and related topics, especially at the school level, and to put the fun back into learning computing." Project co-founder Eben Upton is a former academic, currently employed by Broadcom as a system-on-chip architect and associate technical director. Components, albeit in small numbers, were able to be sourced from suppliers, due to the charitable status of the organisation.

History
When the decline in numbers and skills of students applying for Computer Science became a concern for a team that included Eben Upton, Rob Mullins, Jack Lang and Alan Mycroft at the University of Cambridge’s Computer Laboratory in 2006, a need for a tiny and affordable computer came to their minds. Several versions of the early Raspberry Pi prototypes were designed but were very limited by the high cost and low power processors for mobile devices at that time.

In 2008, the team started a collaboration with Pete Lomas, MD of Norcott Technologies and David Braben, the co-author of the seminal BBC Micro game Elite, and formed the Raspberry Pi Foundation. Three years later, the Raspberry Pi Model B was born and it had sold over two million units within two years of mass production.

Founders and leadership

The founders of the organisation were:

 Eben Upton
 Rob Mullins, senior lecturer in the Computer Laboratory at the University of Cambridge
 Jack Lang, affiliated lecturer in the Computer Laboratory at the University of Cambridge and the founder of Electronic Share Information Ltd
 Alan Mycroft, professor of computing in the Computer Laboratory at the University of Cambridge
 David Braben, CEO of Frontier Developments and co-writer of the 1984 game Elite
 Pete Lomas, MD of Norcott Technologies

In early 2013, the organisation split into two parts: Raspberry Pi Foundation, which is responsible for the charitable and educational activities; and Raspberry Pi (Trading) Ltd, responsible for the engineering and trading activities. Raspberry Pi (Trading) Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of Raspberry Pi Foundation, with the money earned from sales of Raspberry Pi products being used to fund the charitable work of the Foundation. Eben Upton was initially CEO of both divisions, but in September 2013 Lance Howarth became CEO of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, with Eben Upton remaining as CEO of Raspberry Pi (Trading) Ltd. Philip Colligan took over from Lance Howarth as CEO of Raspberry Pi Foundation in July 2015.

In 2021 Raspberry Pi (Trading) Ltd changed its name to Raspberry Pi Ltd. Its newly-formed holding company, Raspberry Pi Holdings, was the subject of an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange in June 2024.

Logo
In October 2011, the foundation's logo was selected from a number submitted from open competition. A shortlist of six was drawn up, with the final judging taking several days. The chosen design was created by Paul Beech and depicts a raspberry, in the style of a buckminsterfullerene molecule.

Education fund
In April 2014, the foundation announced a £1million education fund to support projects that enhance the understanding of computing and to promote the use of technology in other subjects, particularly STEM and creative arts for children. They offered to provide up to 50% of the total projected costs to successful applicants. Carrie Anne Philbin was the Director of Education.

Mergers
In 2015, the Raspberry Pi Foundation merged with Code Club. In 2017, it merged with CoderDojo.

Bebras 
The Raspberry Foundation is an active sponsor of the British edition of the International Bebras Computing competition, together with the University of Oxford.

Magazine

The foundation publishes Hello World, a "computing and digital making" magazine. From 2018 to early 2023, the foundation published Wireframe, a video game development magazine.

References

External links

 

Foundations based in the United Kingdom
Charities based in Cambridgeshire
Computer science organizations
Education advocacy groups
Educational charities based in the United Kingdom
Educational technology non-profits
organizations established in 2009
Raspberry Pi