Any Hackers work for Nonprofits?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9313352

by bbissoon • 11 years ago

6 8 11 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Hi All, I'm looking to reach out to a few hacker's who've worked for - or currently work with, nonprofits.

We're trying to get a better grasp on the diverse workflow nonprofits use when making decisions that rely on tech. I.E. Building a Website, Making Changes, Adding Code for Google Analytics, PayPal etc.

What have been your experiences and what would you change?

LarryMade2• 11 years ago

Define non-profit, a foundation, a private - public funded service, etc?

bbissoon3• 11 years ago

Hi LarryMade2, I'm talking about charities, nonprofits organizations that survive on grants and donations.

dsacco• 11 years ago

I've done pro bono consulting work for nonprofits in the past. If you have specific questions you're welcome to email me (check my profile).

If I had to sum up my experiences in general, I'd say they were fairly disorganized - you really aren't sure what to expect when you dive into a nonprofit company's tech stack. Smaller companies and nonprofits in particular don't usually have the same regimented structure of larger companies, and you really see this when you're exposed to it. More importantly, all of the nonprofits I worked with had really shoddy IT because it's frankly an afterthought for most of them. They just outsource to whoever markets to them the most aggressively for the best price.

bbissoon3• 11 years ago

This has been our general findings as well and we've been doing some research on the best way to market. Clearly banking on the technological advantages will be ineffective.

I'll hit you via email because your response brought to mind other things we're curious about. Thanks for taking the time to answer dsacco

Bahamut2• 11 years ago

I worked for a non-profit for my first job - it was nice in a lot of ways, it was a zero pressure environment, no crunch time and a lot of spend time learning at your speed.

The decision making was experiment with different technologies, figure out how to get them to work, and determining whether it was scalable.

bbissoon3• 11 years ago

Thanks Bahamut - Did you bring ideas to the decision makers based on a need you saw at the nonprofit or did they approach you with something to look into?

Bahamut2• 11 years ago

I experimented more - I was very junior back then, so I had a lot to learn. I didn't really have anything to do with the decision making.

scmoore• 11 years ago

I work for a research institution funded by a DOE grant, not sure if that qualifies.

Technical decision-making is messy here. The folks making the decisions are academics whose expertise is in their research areas, not in software development. I will refrain from the horror stories. I have made suggestions for improvements to workflow, technology, etc. but they must always be routed through someone with at least a Master's degree. Usually it's easier to make the changes myself and hope for the best. It can be frustrating that no one cares, but OTOH there's very little pressure, as Bahamut noted. At this stage in my career it's not a great fit, but if I were <10 years from retirement, I might feel differently.

Part of the problem, I think, is that we're grant-funded. In a business setting, I can make the case for process improvements in terms of the bottom line. Here, it doesn't really matter if, for example, we have no bug tracker, because that doesn't really affect the grant-writing process that keeps our lights on.

Our research goal is to discover best practices for improving employment options for people with disabilities. Therefore, if I could change anything, I'd have my boss approach our software development efforts in the same spirit as the research, that is, with an eye to measuring more of it and implementing processes to improve those metrics.

Any Hackers work for Nonprofits?

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