
Offer HN: I'll build a free app for a non profit - jiblyyyy
So I&#x27;m looking to launch an app dev service focussed around nonprofits (I&#x27;ve been building apps for large co&#x27;s for many years). To kick things of, test a few hypothesis and the viability of that service idea, I&#x27;m looking for a nonprofit that could use a simple app.<p>I&#x27;ll be picking 1 that I can work on and build it for free.<p>All I want is:<p>- Some feedback on the service idea (will have a few questions along the way)<p>- Ability to use it as a case study<p>Extra credit if you&#x27;re connected to other non profits that you can potentially introduce me to later on.<p>-<p>Contact details are in my profile
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smt88
Does "viability of the idea" mean you could make a living? Because then it's
not viable.

I started a non-profit a few years ago that brings processes and technology
from the for-profit sector into the non-profit sector -- moving old NPOs from
listserv to MailChimp, for example. Getting them to use HootSuite instead of
manually posting is another.

It's incredibly time-consuming and difficult just to get non-profits to
redesign a terrible website. There are tons of stakeholders, no budget, and
(most importantly) very little bandwidth among decisionmakers.

The unit economics just don't work out. It would take so long to sell a single
app that you wouldn't profit at all.

If you're doing this just to do something good and not to make money, then
great!!

~~~
jiblyyyy
Hopefully it can just cover some basic costs. The goal isn't to build a $1B
business round it. Just to cover some basics, so it makes sense to allocate
time. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work.

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denalilumma
Hi There,

I would love to schedule a call with you.

My background, I've been working as a software engineering professional for
about 20 years. A few years ago I started volunteering and now sit on the
board of Savage Jazz Dance Company (a non-profit offering dance training to
underprivileged youth in Oakland). I basically manage all of their technical
needs. I rebuilt their website, create a Salesforce account, setup Patreon,
etc.

I've also experimented with free app building services for other groups I see
value in with out-dated technology. Would be happy to share my learnings from
this.

I'm working on a new project myself, designed to run as a non-profit, to
replace formal education, recruiting and bootcamps with a new model of
knowledge training and knowledge work. It is called 'Bloomguild'.

Bloomguild takes an old approach to knowledge work (apprenticeships in guilds)
with cutting edge technology (quantified-self, confidence-based repetition) in
a new market framework. Apprentices are paid from the beginning, contribute to
the creation of products which have value, and spend time doing project-based
learning, as well as topic based learning each session.

More information here:
[https://app.slidebean.com/p/yHMZfkKzOq/BloomGuild](https://app.slidebean.com/p/yHMZfkKzOq/BloomGuild)

My contact details are in my profile.

-Denali

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PCaponetti
I don't have a specific idea or non-profit in mind, but as a developer
(professional, 10+ years experience making web applications and a few on
mobile) that has been working on hobby projects for a long time I have been
looking to use my skills to better the world in some way for quite some time.

I would like to offer my services to help build this app (free of charge of
course).

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teolemon
You might have a look at Open Food Facts
([https://world.openfoodfacts.org](https://world.openfoodfacts.org) and
[https://world.openfoodfacts.org/discover](https://world.openfoodfacts.org/discover)
[https://world.openfoodfacts.org/contribute](https://world.openfoodfacts.org/contribute)
). Crowdsourced Wikipedia for food. We already have apps (Cordova) and we're
doing efforts to redevelop in native on each platform (all is volunteer word).

We've long wanted to create a small game/gamification app to have people make
more complex contributions than taking pictures.

pierre at openfoodfacts dot org

~~~
Tacite
^ this.

Helping OpenFoodFacts also helps a lot of apps and other non profits
organization who use our database.

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speps
Build an actual version of this : [http://www.chorus-
home.org/](http://www.chorus-home.org/)

Longer video : [https://vimeo.com/179904952](https://vimeo.com/179904952)

Why?

It seems it would a lot of use cases that non profits or any other
organisation would have to deal with. I always found it a bit dumb to have to
re-invent everything every time you need to spin up something new.

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thecolorblue
I would suggest look at givecamp (you just missed the event that was this past
weekend, [http://clevelandgivecamp.org/](http://clevelandgivecamp.org/)) or
similar programs. If you are looking for non-profits that need dev services,
they would all be at these events.

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amelius
It's a good idea to ask what people need, rather than just dream up a product
that nobody wants.

I wonder, though, if this approach is efficient, and what the most efficient
way is to figure out what people actually want.

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dvfjsdhgfv
If possible, it would be great if you could make it generic, so that more than
one non-profit could use it.

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sharemywin
Why not build a platform...some kind of app that non-profits could plug into
and use.

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jiblyyyy
that is the goal, but working 1-on-1 with a non profit first allows me to
learn all the needs so that the platform can have all the stuff they want vs
what I _think_ they want.

~~~
newbear
I've wanted to do work like this too and build sites but then I think why
wouldn't they just use Wordpress?

