

Ask YC: Where to find coders for non-profits? - will_phipps

I am trying to get a non-profit off the ground, with the aim of raising money for starving people in less developed countries. I need a few tech. people willing to work a few hours a week to help me get it off the ground.<p>Anyone here interested in helping or have any ideas on where I might find suitable volunteers?<p>Ping my email in my profile if you'd prefer to get in touch direct.<p>Thanks!
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joshstrange
I can't tell you how much I wish there existed a site that allowed for
programmers to work for non-profits easily. There are often times when I have
downtime but I am too burnt out to work on my own projects and I just want a
change of pace. I feel like most non-profits could greatly benefit from
developers and designers helping them either with their web presence or to
help with efficiency.

Recently I helped a national Fraternity, not my own, with tracking and
recording tweets using a certain hashtag over the span of 40 days. Their
method prior to me was copy + pasting the tweets that they liked from twitter
(Using twitter search) in a word document. Using open source tools like
phirehose I was able to help them record and track 5K+ tweets and export the
data into something they could use. Helping out with this was very rewarding
and I had a ton of fun. I wish their were more opportunities like this. The
problem was I had to contact them, they had no idea that there were people
even out their that could do that let alone do it for free.

I hope that in a few days I see a "Show HN: Weekend project-
NonProfitCoding.com" (The domain is open, I just don't have the time to work
on something like that right now) on the front page because I would defiantly
join.

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zackzackzack
Maybe try to make it happen yourself first.

Technical people will probably think most of what you are trying to do is
easy: "That's just wordpress with some ecommerce plugins and a customized
wootheme."

If you can get to the point where technical people realize that you need
technical people to make your project happen, instead of "Why is this guy so
dumb he can't even install wordpress", then you will have a much better chance
of attracting help.

Worse comes to worse, you figure out your idea isn't that special or
complicated yet and that you don't actually need any outside help to make it
happen yourself.

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wallflower
Try a startup weekend event. Pitch your idea with passion. Random Hacks of
Kindness was held recently. <http://rhok.org>

All the rules for attracting talent to a VC-funded startup apply. If you are
not technical, become the Pied Piper. If you are technical, learn to lead, to
take charge.

The short answer is your potential team members are out there. And it is your
job to find them. Talk about this with everyone you meet, the idea. Make it
less broad, more targeted.

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leeHS
So that said, what specifically is your idea? Imagine it's up and running
right now. How does it work? How do you raise money? How are you getting it to
the starving people? How are you ensuring it is being used effectively?
Congrats for wanting to take this on. I tip my cap in your general direction!

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will_phipps
In the UK we have a few major financial comparison sites - gocompare,
comparethemarkets, moneysupermarket, confused.com to name a few. So, I would
like to establish a similar entity, who's profits are directed to charities
focussed on feeding hungry kids!

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dholowiski
Interesting idea. Seperate from the code and design, have you thought about
the financial logistical details (getting and distributing money) as well as
the 'deal making' requirements of getting such a project up and running?

