Agencies, ad-tech platforms and brands all need entry-level talent who can do the work from day one.
The people who could do it rarely get the chance, because advertising hires through referrals and hands-on platform experience. In our 2026 alumni survey, 98% of participants already held a college degree and still couldn’t get in.
Kepler U closes that gap, free to participants: a working Kepler marketer as a mentor, training on the platforms the industry buys and sells on, and a live campaign for a real nonprofit client. Graduates leave ready to plan, buy and measure media, and they join the agencies and brands your business works with every day.
Every partnership is built around what matters to you.
Sponsors fund the seats, help shape what we teach and meet graduates first through Orbit, our talent network.
Along the way, partners can make a tax-deductible gift, put their brand and platform in front of the next generation of media talent, and build their relationship with with Kepler, all while taking action to demonstrate their values.
It works
680 graduates across eleven cohorts
Of the first 10 cohort graduates, 81% were employed within about six months,
79% of them in the field.
71% of responding alumni moved up at least one income band, and none moved down
(2026 alumni survey, self-reported)
Demand outpaces capacity
Cohorts 4 through 10 drew 1,191 applications for 667 seats.
Your support goes further here
Kepler Group contributes instruction, mentorship and agency infrastructure in kind, so the program runs at about $2,000 per participant. That is a fraction of comparable workforce programs, and every gift goes directly to the people and structure that open the door.
Pay it forward
Someone made room for you once. A gift in any amount keeps Kepler U free for the next person who’s ready to do the work.
Kepler U graduates: you know better than anyone what those weeks are worth. Give at whatever level feels right.
Donate
Ways to give
A gift to Kepler U turns a stated value into action: it opens a seat for someone the industry overlooks. Gifts are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law through Tides Foundation. Sponsors at $2,500 and above also get to know graduates first, a direct line to entry-level talent. Every gift keeps Kepler U free.
The first sponsor level. Your company is thanked by name on the Kepler U website.
Funds two students’ full participation, including one-to-one mentorship.
Official sponsor of one of three named curriculum tracks — Paid Social; Paid Search/SEO; or Strategy — used across cohorts.
Anchors a named yearly cycle with two cohorts — staff, technology, and graduation for roughly 200 students.
Underwrites the launch of Orbit: The Talent Futures Collective, formalizing employer pipelines at scale.
Every sponsorship is shaped around your goals: hiring, platform training, employee mentoring or CSR reporting.
Talk to us
Kepler U is a workforce program of Kepler Group LLC. Philanthropic support is administered through the Kepler U Program Fund, a Single Entity Fund at Tides Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization, EIN 51-0198509.
Thank you to our supporters
Kepler U is possible because of the companies, foundations and people who invest in it.
