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Ask HN: Best way to “donate” dev hours to charity?

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Re: Ask HN: Best way to “donate” dev hours to charity?

#71
I emailed a non-profit and offered to help with their website.

What I've found is that our skills actually don't do much to improve the world. We're well-suited for generating economic productivity, but coding has marginal impacts on organizations whose goal is to actually help people directly in some way.

I work with them as a volunteer now, but most of what I do is help their designer debug CSS when she adds new things to the site. I did write a Salesforce integration so that a number on their site is automatically updated when people submit their contact info in a form.

But on average, I do maybe 15mins of work for them a month.

There's a few organizations which use technology directly to help people (Ashton Kutcher is involved with an organization called Thorn that uses image recognition to track down the background locations from child sexual abuse material so they can arrest the perpetrators), but most likely the best way you can help an organization is to simply do your regular "not-helping-the-world-in-any-real-way" job and donate a % of your income to people who do

Re: Ask HN: Best way to “donate” dev hours to charity?

#72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Relatedly, but not charity itself, I try to stimulate open source communities by issuing a periodical[0] with easy tasks for beginners to contribute. By getting new people into open source they can hopefully become long term vectors for good work. 0: https://generativereview.substack.com/p/tasks-open-source-em...

Mozilla tags some Firefox (and other Mozilla projects’) bug reports as “good first bug” and adds a mentor to the bug. Volunteer contributors can search these bugs by programming language or product area on https://codetribute.mozilla.org Some volunteer contributors have become Mozilla employees (myself included :)

Very interesting and congratulations for working in the field of ethical software!

Re: Ask HN: Best way to “donate” dev hours to charity?

#73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Relatedly, but not charity itself, I try to stimulate open source communities by issuing a periodical[0] with easy tasks for beginners to contribute. By getting new people into open source they can hopefully become long term vectors for good work. 0: https://generativereview.substack.com/p/tasks-open-source-em...

Very cool, one of our community members does something similar with local technology events: https://www.globalnerdy.com/the-tampa-bay-tech-events-mailin...

Thanks, and very nice mailing list, I’m checking it out!

Re: Ask HN: Best way to “donate” dev hours to charity?

#74
I'd be curious if there are any strong programs where devs can provide mentorship to students interested in potentially becoming developers down the road (especially underrepresented). I find when you're just getting started there's a confidence issue where having a mentor rooting you on makes a huge difference.

Re: Ask HN: Best way to “donate” dev hours to charity?

#75
I am looking for people to help me with my research project. Technically, it is not a charity or an NGO, but it is undoubtedly a negative profit endeavor. If you are an experienced/senior Python or a Kotlin/Android dev who wants to help improve how cognitive impairments are monitored and diagnosed, please reach out to me (email in my profile). You can contribute by writing code, reviewing code, or mentoring/consulting in your area of expertise.

Re: Ask HN: Best way to “donate” dev hours to charity?

#76
I wonder if you have any spare/used/old ThinkPad/laptop that you can give to me for free? It will be life changing!

I'm currently really struggling in life (I barely eat once a day at the moment) but I'm really passionate about Linux/free software. So, a free laptop could really help me get local jobs (sysadmin or web developer for SMEs), put food on the table, & pay rent! Thank you!

Re: Ask HN: Best way to “donate” dev hours to charity?

#77

Personally, I use my spare time towards organizing a group that supports and nurtures developer communities in my area [1]. My organization is itself a 501c3, and our charitable mission is to provide developers with opportunities to learn and network. We do this by organizing monthly technical meetings, networking events, career panels, and hackathons. All at no cost to our members (no fees, tickets, or dues). We als…

I wonder if you have any spare/used ThinkPad/laptop that you can give to me for free? It will be life changing for me!

I'm currently really struggling in life (I barely eat once a day at the moment) but I'm really passionate about Linux/free software. So, a free laptop could really help me get local jobs (sysadmin or web developer for SMEs), put food on the table, & pay rent! Thanks!

Re: Ask HN: Best way to “donate” dev hours to charity?

#78
post #3

When it comes to critical work, well run charities and non-profits typically pay for professional services. It just isn't worth the overhead of dealing with people who believe they are doing a favor when those people are not committed. If you want to use slack time to help charities, rent a van and drive the team down to the soup kitchen. Standing behind the counter in a hair net will build more character than being…

I wonder if you have any spare/used/old ThinkPad/laptop that you can give to me for free? It will be life changing for me!

I'm currently really struggling in life (barely eat once a day at the moment) but I'm really passionate about Linux & free software. So, a free laptop could really help me get local jobs (e.g. sysadmin or web developer for SMEs), put food on the table, & pay rent! Thank you!

Re: Ask HN: Best way to “donate” dev hours to charity?

#79
post #38

In Canada and many other countries the work you do "for free" can actually be looked at as a donation to a charity and reduce your income tax burden.

Any pointers for a fellow Canadian on getting tax credit for volunteer time? Having some trouble finding guidelines from CRA. thx.
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