Two charity technology hack days coming up

Howard Lake | 24 August 2012 | Blogs

DataKind’s Data Dive and Charity Hack Weekend are two events that should prove useful for charity technology staff, as well as developers keen to improve their skills.

DataKind’s Data Dive

The first London Data Dive from the US-based DataKind takes place from 28-30 September. The event aims to bring together selected charities or non-profit organisation and data experts and enthusiasts who will help them better to understand their data, create analyses and insights, and receive free consultations.
Charities with a data-driven project that could use this kind of help can apply to attend, but the deadline is today,.
Even if your organisation is not selected DataKind say that they are working to establish a system where they can match organisations to “eager data do-gooders”.

Charity Hack Weekend

The next Charity Hack Weekend (“We bring together charities and developers to revolutionise the collection of donations”) takes place on 3-4 November 2012 at at PayPal HQ, Richmond Upon Thames, London. There is no charge to attend but registration is required.
Developers are encouraged to attend to help come up with “new and innovative ways of helping charities promote their causes and garner support” using digital tools. Teams work through 24 hours and deliver results on the Sunday afternoon. They don’t do so in a vacuum: MissionFish, Playmob and JustGiving are some of the sector providers who have joined in and worked on previous Charity Hacks.
The developers have 24 hours to design and create sites, platforms, or apps that will raise money for charity.
Charities can send ideas beforehand to give developers a choice of project, but developers can also choose to work on their own idea. Suggestions already put forward include a national giving game; extending sponsorship to cover training for an event like the London Marathon, not just the event itself; and ‘give as you gamble’ online.
The first Charity Hack took place in 2009, and is now an annual event.
What other hack events for fundraisers like this should we feature? You can list them on events listing at no charge.

About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale. He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.