Finding and helping a local nonprofit for geeks and others
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This document discusses how individuals can help local nonprofits through volunteering their technical skills and expertise. It provides examples of roles like tech support, tools development, and event assistance. It also outlines strategies for finding organizations in need, such as using dedicated volunteer matching sites, employer programs, or considering local charities. The document emphasizes learning each organization's specific needs and processes before assisting to ensure the most effective help.
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Finding and helping a local nonprofit for geeks and others
- 1. Finding and Helping a Local Nonprofit For Geeks And others
- 3. Tech Support
- 7. It’s Kind Of Awesome
- 8. Small Non-Profits • Homeless shelters • Food banks • Community outreach programs • Animal rescue • Home care assistance
- 9. They Need Everything • Money • Supplies • Extra hands • Dependable tech support • Custom software tools
- 10. Like Startups • Big ambitions • Tiny budgets • Creative solutions • You can help
- 11. Finding Them • Hang out? • Dedicated Search Engines • Employer Volunteer Programs • Search as if
- 12. Dedicated Search Engines • idealist.org • volunteermatch.org • flashvolunteer.org • craigslist.org
- 13. Employer Volunteer Programs • www.google.org • www.microsoft.com/about/corporatecitizenship • www.amazon.com/b?id=UTF8&node=13786411
- 14. Search As If • What if you needed it? • BTW – post it
- 15. No Code!
- 16. Every Org Is Different • Legal requirements • Communities served • Mission philosophies
- 17. Learn How They Do Things
- 18. Don’t Disrupt! • If it’s too different they won’t use it • Focus on one thing that makes you itch
- 19. Incentive Point Store (I made up these points. No idea how much they really would have been.)
- 20. What They Had
- 21. A Small Idea • Excel worksheet with macros • See if they use it
- 22. The Web App • 78,000 Entries • 3,800 Client Members • Three Locations
- 23. Tax Time? • “But the points are make believe!” • Points are exchanged for goods. • Therefore points have tax value. • “Worst pretend store ever.”
- 24. What’s In It For Me? • Fun code • Only fish in a small pond • Immediate feedback • Plain old fun
- 25. Go Have Fun!
Editor's Notes
- Do you have some free time? Would you like to use that free time to do some good? I have a suggestion. Find a small nonprofit organization in your area. Volunteer.
- For a few years, I have been helping out at Mary’s Place – a Seattle non-profit that assists homeless women, children, and families.
- I provide tech support, and answer technical questions.
- I write tools to make their day easier.
- I stomp on garbage so it fits in the dumpster.
- I distract small children.
- I enjoy helping out. Staff and client members appreciate my efforts. It rules. Try it.
- Most towns have some small non-profit operations.
- Compared to larger well-known non-profits, these small shops are starving. They need everything.
- Small non-profits are a bit like startups. They’re always looking for ways to serve their mission better. They’re often only a few failed fundraisers away from closing their doors, and need creative solutions One person with a lot of energy can make a huge difference.
- Finding those local services can be challenging. They rarely have funding for a large awareness campaign. I took the easy way. If you have a friend or family member that works at a non-profit, hang out until they ask you to do something. There are other ways.
- Sites like idealist.org provide dedicated search engines for volunteer opportunities with large and small organizations. Non-profits do post to Craigslist, but spend a little time on due diligence before you get too deep into anything posted there – or anywhere else for that matter.
- Many employers coordinate their own volunteer programs. If you have friends that work for such an employer, ask them where the volunteer programs have been serving recently
- If nothing else, search as if you needed resources yourself. For example: where could *you* go if you were homeless or hungry? BTW: Making a blog post with the results of your search could help others in need.
- So you found a non-profit. The geeks will want to code or design something immediately. No. Wait. Because Every organization is distinct.
- They have different legal requirements They serve different communities Their missions are driven by different philosophies, which shape their practices.
- Learn how this organization operates. You do that with regular volunteer activities. Serve food. Empty garbage. Find the network drive. Do whatever they ask that you can do. Learn their domain. When you start absorbing terms and practices of your organization, look for ways to improve their daily workflow.
- Don’t disrupt anything. It’s not *that* much like a startup. Disruptive solutions that profoundly change how things work will never be used. Look for one thing that makes you itch. What’s the smallest thing you could do that would actually help? Talk to the staff – or write your small thing knowing that they might not use it.
- Example: Mary’s Place has a chore-tracking incentive point system Client members earn points by performing chores. Then they spend those points on non-essential items at an incentive store.
- They were using hand-filled signup forms for chores and punch cards to track points earned and spent for each client member.
- I made an Excel worksheet with macros to simplify recording chores. The worksheet was a hit, so I wrote the Web application. The Web application tracks chores, incentive points, and member information.
- It has evolved to include a flagging system, multiple locations, and anonymization for demonstrations. They don’t care that I can’t design. Since November 2012, the it recorded 78,000 entries for 3,800 client members while Mary’s Place has expanded to three locations. It’s not big data but it helps. It helps their daily routine and it helps them at tax time.
- Yes, tax time. Did you know an incentive point store can be audited? Yes. Clean, accessible records made that process painless.
- Writing this application was the most fun I’ve had writing code in years. I doubt I could introduce such a major project in a larger organization, where procedures have become more rigidly defined. Working with a local service let me learn what was needed, and to quickly see the results of my efforts. Jumping up and down in garbage dumpsters and being a jungle gym for kids is pretty awesome too.
- Look for similar opportunities. Somebody out there needs your help. It’s going to be fun!