Wellington hackathon helps local non-profits create digital tools

BizDojo Wellington played host to a charity hackathon last month, which brought together four non-profit organisations (NPOs) to help them build digital solutions for their businesses.

The impactNPO Wellington Hackathon participants included the Wellington Rowing Club, The New Zealand Drugs Foundation, Crafty Volunteers of New Zealand and Vulnerable Support Charitable Trust.

As part of the hackathon, the teams created digital solutions including websites, processes automation systems, digital content and strategies.

The teams also shared and learned from each other as they developed soft and technical skills in a real-life scenario.

"It doesn't feel like work. Is really good to interact with other people and learn new technical and soft skills in a non-competitive environment," one of the participants from the event said.

Kiwi-based software firm emhTrade sponsored the event. It also sent a team of software developers, marketers, and its CEO to support the participating organisations.

"The experience and the opportunity are amazing for our team. These guys had the opportunity to learn, share and implement with professionals in the industry while giving back and having fun," comments emhTrade CEO Stu Innes.

"The return on investment in social good is amazing. The value of professional work put into this weekend is up to ten times the sponsorship. It also gives us a fantastic opportunity to create brand awareness in the industry and the opportunity to engage with professionals if opportunities for recruitment arrive.

The impactNPO Hackathon was also supported by the Collider Wellington programme and BizDojo.

impactNPO trustee and sponsor steward Luis Duenas says it was amazing to see how volunteers come forward to be the heroes that help local organisations.

"We know many people want to volunteer their skills and we offer the space and the best experience possible to make it valuable for them, the Non-profits and our supporters," Duenas says.

Members of emhTrade and local professionals agree the value of participating of an event like this can help them grow their careers. They also say they were more than happy to be able to support local NPOs, work in new projects and see results at the end that will be used in real life by organisations that really need them.

impactNPO is a 100% non-profit New Zealand charity run by professional volunteers who support the community with the help of volunteers and private organisations.

impactNPO is running two more events this year: One will be held in Christchurch in September; and one will be held in Dunedin in November. The team will also run more events in 2019.