Annual Report 2023

The Mentoring Club gUG operates online mentoring programs where experts and experienced leaders from various fields can volunteer their time as pro-bono mentors - primarily for students, job seekers, employees of non-profit organizations, and the needy. Access to the mentors is available to all registered mentees for free. The mentors offer video sessions within the mentoring program where they provide advice, coach, or discuss specific questions and issues from the mentees' daily lives.

In the third year since its founding, in 2023, we as a non-profit organization (The Mentoring Club) have continued our commitment to promoting and supporting individuals in their personal and professional development, contributing additionally to the cohesion and exchange of various cultures through our international orientation.

Activities

In 2023, we continued our online mentoring program and introduced a total of 1,223 new mentors and 3,831 new mentees from 109 different countries into our program. Detailed data and statistics for 2022 are provided in the following summary.

• New Mentors: 1,223

• New Mentees: 3,831

• Number of Countries of Origin: 146

Largest Countries of Origin (by number of new members)

• Germany: 929

• United States: 684

• India: 672

• United Kingdom: 453

• Nigeria: 205

• Canada: 129

• Netherlands: 108

• Spain: 85

Number of Mentoring Sessions

• 10,052 booked sessions

  • 6,553 successfully conducted

  • 909 not attended

  • 2,590 canceled

Ratings

The average satisfaction rating of mentees with the sessions in 2022 was 5.78 out of 6 possible points. A total of 2000 reviews were submitted.

Most Common Pairings by Country of Origin

• Germany -> Germany: 18%

• India -> India: 4.5%

• Germany -> India: 4.5%

• Germany -> United Kingdom: 3.5%

• Germany -> USA: 2.8%

• USA -> USA: 2.5%

National and International Sessions

• National: 28%

• International: 72%

Most Common International Pairings Involving Germany

• DE as Mentor

  • India: 23%

  • United Kingdom: 11%

  • USA: 8.2%

  • Spain: 3.8%

  • Netherlands: 3.6%

  • Italy: 3.3%

  • Nigeria: 3.1%

  • UAE: 2.8%

• DE as Mentee

  • United Kingdom: 17%

  • USA: 13%

  • Netherlands: 10.1%

  • Ireland: 7.8%

  • India: 7.6%

  • Italy: 5.1%

  • Spain: 5%

  • Canada: 3.7%

Most Common Professions

Mentors

• Software Engineer: 18.3%

• Product Manager: 13.4%

• Engineering Manager: 6.1%

• Data Scientist: 4.6%

• Consultant: 4.0%

• Founder/Entrepreneur: 3.7%

• Senior Product Manager: 3.0%

• Executive/CEO/CTO: 2.8%

• Coach/Mentor: 2.3%

• Marketing Manager: 2.1%

Mentees

• Student: 19.63%

• Software Engineer: 10.16%

• Product Manager: 7.63%

• Data Analyst: 6.31%

• Founder/Co-Founder: 5.78%

• Data Scientist: 3.85%

• UX/UI Designer: 3.50%

• Business Analyst: 3.42%

• Project Manager: 3.33%

• Engineering Manager: 2.80%

Topics of Mentoring Sessions

1. Career Planning and Development

2. Product Management

3. Data Science and Analysis

4. Software Development and Technologies

5. Project Management

6. Leadership

7. User Experience (UX) and Design

8. Startup Founding and Management

9. Agile Methods and Scrum

10. Career Change and Retraining

Quotes from Mentees (translated)

• "Jen has a clear passion and expertise in UX. I received very honest advice with actionable next steps. I really enjoyed my time with Jen and would like to stay in touch. Thanks, Jen. Please keep it up!"

• "I had a great session with Kasia. She really listened to everything I needed and figured out why and how to get there. She has a gift, and I can only highly recommend her! Thanks again, Kasia, for all your help."

• "Thank you for the great mentoring conversation, Christopher! I am very satisfied with the insights into tools, organizational structures, and processes I was able to learn from our conversation."

• "My session with Polina was very down-to-earth and yet light. She is very easy to talk to and answers your questions with examples from her own life."

• "The session was very useful for me. It's not always about guidance or teaching but about sharing experiences and different approaches. It was useful for me to learn from Alexandru about his experiences. Thanks to the great questions, I was able to discover my own answers."

• "Wei-Hung provided me with a comprehensive understanding of the various roles in data science and gave me valuable insights into the data science industry in Germany, which significantly expanded my understanding of the opportunities there."

• "Alessandro was an excellent mentor. He listened attentively and answered all my questions thoroughly. He also gave me actionable advice on the main issues I raised and was easy to talk to."

• "My session with Andrei was very insightful. His dedication is truly admirable. I gained some really useful insights from the session. His expertise and skills really helped me gain new perspectives on how to make my practice more successful and reach more people. Thank you, Andrei!"

• "I had a great session with Liliana! I felt fully understood, more empowered to move forward with my ideas, and received some clear tips and next steps."

• "Rishanki is one of the best mentors, which becomes clear in the first 5 minutes. She listened well to my situation and provided excellent resources, advice, and ideas. Her insights are very valuable."

Operational Details

As founders, shareholders, and managing directors of the organization, we (Bastian Buch, Jessica Dewald) managed the operations and the programs, took care of the member community, and ensured appropriate reach of the offering on relevant social media. Together, we invested over 1100 hours voluntarily in the development and organization of the gUG and the community in 2023.

The mentoring program is mainly financed by donations from our members and followers. These funds were used exclusively for operating the software and to expand our reach through multimedia content and create relevant learning materials for our members.

All these activities were made possible in 2023 by 221 donors with a total donation amount of €6,843.83. The equivalent value of the mentors' volunteered time through the platform is approximately €790,000, assuming a market price of €120 per mentoring or coaching hour.

Bastian Buch, Founder and Managing Director