What is Piece of the Pi?

Piece of the Pi was started by founder Ainsley Ramsey to connect a purpose with her annual personal tradition of reciting the digits of pi (3.14…), adding 100 digits each year to her previous year’s record. What began as an individual annual fundraising effort in 2021 has transformed into a growing fundraising organization made up of volunteers passionate about STEM education. Many volunteers on our fundraising teams are actively studying or pursuing careers in the STEM field themselves.

Each year, the Piece of the Pi fundraiser runs for roughly three weeks and concludes on Pi Day, or March 14th (03/14). As an organization, we strive to advance Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education accessibility in our home state of Arizona by raising funds for underserved and/or underrepresented groups in the STEM field. We accomplish this by partnering each year with Arizona Science Center (ASC).

When states are ranked by quality of public education, Arizona consistently falls in the bottom. In fact, the state of Arizona contains over 1,300 Title I schools, making support from organizations like Piece of the Pi all the more important. Piece of the Pi raised $19,500 in 2024 and $11,500 in 2023 for ASC’s STEM Discovery Initiative; $8,440 for ASC’s School Science Pass Initiative in 2022; and $3,400 for ASC’s CONNECT Scholarship Fund in 2021. The fundraising goal for our 2025 fundraiser, which will begin 02/22/2025 and conclude 03/14/2025, is $20,000. Funds are raised through direct GoFundMe/Venmo donations, merchandise sales (from which all profits are donated), and/or participation in our collaboration events with local businesses.

Each year we apply a new theme to our fundraiser, and our theme is reflected in our merchandise, our social media, our email newsletter, and so on. Our 2025 theme is “STEM Superheroes.” Please consider becoming a STEM Superhero yourself by supporting our fundraising efforts!

Additionally, to keep the annual tradition going, founder Ainsley Ramsey will be reciting 1,200 digits of pi from memory; a recitation video will be posted to our Instagram page on Pi Day, 03/14/25.

Our team is so proud of our commitment and hard work towards this initiative, and we are driven to provide the opportunity for Arizona children to discover and deepen their passions for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. We are grateful for those in our community who support our organization and look forward to all that we accomplish in the future!

You can stay up to date with Piece of the Pi on Instagram (@piece.of.the.pi), LinkedIn, and by sending us an email.

Past media coverage of Piece of the Pi is linked below: