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Tech-Related Volunteer Gigs
jeffomatic writes "Here's a question for Service Day: what kind of volunteer opportunities are available out there for the technologically-inclined? I'm a software developer and I'm wondering if there's anyone in the field engaged in pro-bono work, like IT or teaching or web design or whatnot. I'm not at all above rolling my sleeves up and working at shelters or the local park, but it occurs to me that my professional skills might be usefully applied in the service context as well. I'd like to hear about what other people are doing, in terms of projects, time commitments, organizations, etc." Or just commit a patch to your favorite project.
...i bet could really use some simple PHP+xSQL database for scheduling and stuff.
Most small non-profits keep records in a smattering of paper and undocumented excel sheets, they could really use your IT expertise.
THL phish sticks
haxors without borders.
THL phish sticks
A few things come to mind. You could volunteer and show a few elderly individuals how to use a computer. That sort of thing can be very frustrating or very rewarding depending on who you teach and how patient you are. You could also work on open source projects that aid the disabled. Then there is things like helping an old lady sell her stuff on ebay instead of say a garage sale. I know a lot of elderly folks have many things just laying around collecting dust and could use the extra income. Just a few ideas, I'm sure others will come up with some more inventive things.
So called "volunteers" don't even get paid
All small non profits (women's shelters, food banks, volunteer fire departments, etc) always need someone who can do basic PC maintenance, install software, generally help them USE their computers with a little bit of training, and fix things. I used to do the service work on the PCs, network, and copier at a local woman's shelter when I was in the repair business. It was one of my freebies that I did simply because I was asked.
Do not fold, spindle or mutilate.
Since when do you need a specific day to perform community service/volunteer work? It's not really volunteering then is it? What's next, "Charity Day"? Oh wait, the feds have that one too, it's some time in the middle of April if I recall correctly.
Women are like electronics: you don't know how damaged they are until you try to turn them on.
CmdrTaco gave you the answer.
If you want to work pro-bono, why don't you just start working on an open source project, that's not big enough to pay you yet?
Simple question. Simple answer.
Depends. I prefer education so it is volunteering for a regional science fair as a judge and giving classroom presentations for National Engineering and Technitians Month (NET Month)out here.
I actually prefer donating labor to the environment through the local park & rec. department. Gives me a chance to get out in the big blue room and move some dirt around through tree planting, landscape maintenance and other things I don't do on a regular basis but are actually kinda fun for a day project.
I have mod points and I am not afraid to use them
I believe that the best thing by far would be to teach computers to underprivileged children. I have to believe that if you take kids that have not had the chance to even see what's out there, once you put some of today's technology in their hands, their imaginations would take off. Nothing is more powerful than establishing hope and instilling a simple sense of accomplishment.
Volunteer dev in Toronto
you had me at #!
I do have a web related project (that I haven't found time for) for someone to work on for a Charity providing free education to brilliant kids in Haiti. Basically the web site is always out of date, because I'm pretty busy. But if it were to be converted to drupal/joomla/wordpress or some other content management system we could train existing staff to update it. Let me know if your interested. If someone is interested, just reply then we'll explore it min more detail.
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
Perhaps not directly relevent to your career background, but amateur radio operators (HAMs) have played a time honored role in coordinating communication for marathons and other very spread out public events. If you happen to have some back ground in anything related to communication technology, I'm sure the local HAM club would be glad to have you, regardless of your morse coding speed (or lack thereof).
Stay sentient. Don't drink bad milk.
...is to volunteer to do tech for local theatres and music venues.
But if you want to actually do computer work, all your local non-profits could stand to have someone come in and work on their computers. Seriously. Half their security software will be expired, their systems will be loaded with spyware, it's a mess, even worse than a random individual computer's. They have no IT, they do not train their workers, and they have a large amount of people using each computer. It's a recipe for disaster.
They almost always already have someone doing their website, which is usually a local webdesign firm doing it for free for PR and it's always somewhat half-assed because the non-profit isn't a 'real' customer. So it's hard to convince them to use you instead.
As for teaching, contact your local library. They hold classes on basic computer usage, although only do this if you're incredibly patient. These are essentially people with no computer skills at all who want to know how to do 'email'.
If corporations are people, aren't stockholders guilty of slavery?
See if they want websites thrown together, with photo albums and such.
I had a similar urge some years back, so I volunteered at the local Habitat for Humanity office. They had some need for simple IT work, and I probably could have done just fine.
But... then I got busy with other stuff. And I found my passion for helping people wasn't consistent. Before long I handed back my office key. They probably put more effort into getting me up to speed than they ever recouped from my help.
I think this makes it hard to do good volunteer IT work. Much IT work benefits greatly from low turnover, as opposed to picking up garbage in a park, where turnover rate probably is irrelevant.
So I guess my advice is to avoid talking up your usefulness to the people you're trying to help, until you're sure you'll have the interest and free time to really stick with it. On the other hand, even IT people can still pick up garbage in the park.
Many library systems run free-to-the-public classes in basic computer usage. From my experience, these tend to be geared toward the elderly and others on the other side of the learning curve who have fallen into possession of a PC and still aren't quite sure what they are doing. Volunteering to teach one of these courses at a local library might be a good place to start.
I should note that some library systems can afford to pay the instructors of these classes and some can't. In the case of where I live, some of the more rural libraries surrounding the city don't have budgets to afford being able to pay an instructor much to come in and teach some classes, so they operate on a largely volunteer basis.
I've posted a number of times on this topic. It's a good way to get tech skills and references if you are in school or just out of school and need experience.
Start googling groups in you community.
No kill animal shelters need people to maintain donor databases and websites. As do public radio stations. Non-profit recycling centers/thrift stores often need people to wipe and reload computers (and make sure they have the right licenses). Low income schools need tech instructors.
I've done the tech instructor gig and the thrift store gig over the years. As far as time goes, volunteers are often given large amounts of flexibility. After all, you are not getting paid.
You should check out the organization carefully, interview them per se. Make sure they are serious and high quality. Don't let them dump all their work on you.
If you are doing it for the resume avoid anything too closely tied with political, religous or controversial topics. As the joke goes, explaining why you did volunteer work for the North American Marlon Brando Look-alikes Association may be embarrassing.
HTH
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
Try joining a list that asks these questions and are looking for volunteers. https://lists.mayfirst.org/mailman/listinfo/nosi-discussion
you would make a great volunteer with that smarts of yours.
Read radical news here
My brother used to collect peoples old and rejected computers, make sure they worked, clean of the hard drives, set up an operating system, and then give them to a kind of "after school help kids with their homework" place. Computers get recycled, Kids get tools they need.
What the crap is service day, and why does it coincide with MLK day?
My local needle exchange (don't start flaming, they're people volunteering their time to improve the health of their fellow citizens, regardless of what you think of drug use or how best to respond to it) has a couple of contracts with City and State health departments that they need to do a lot of data reporting for (how many clients, how many referrals, etc) which they were collecting slowly and tediously using paper records, then wasting even more time on every three months collating the data to send to the funder. I wrote them a simple php frontend to a mysql database to let them enter data as they go, which then automatically generates the quarterly data files they need to submit to funders, freeing them up to concentrate more on service delivery (and giving them a better sense of how their service was running as a nice side effect).
Most non-profits I've seen in the past five years are using woeful data collection methods; almost any of them would be eternally grateful if someone would spend a few days or weeks to set something up and then maintained it on a volunteer basis.
On a shameless plug note, the abovementioned non-profit needs a new home for its 1U server - if you're in the San Francisco bay area and can donate rackspace & connectivity, drop me a line.
I have noticed that a lot of old folks are thrilled with the internet because they can keep in touch with their kids and grand kids - they just love it! Some do have an issue with the technology and some are just intimidated by it. Anyway, volunteering at your local senior center and help them set up an email account or set up a video camera. And maybe instructing them on the hazards: both real and phony.
Check out the HeliOS Project.
You don't even need to deploy the most advanced technology. A medical student I know created an Access database for a clinic in Zambia that brought huge efficiencies and may have saved lives. The staff there learned to use it because he modeled the input screens on the paper forms they were used to.
Also, think about installing (and maintaining!) QuickBooks or some other accounting package. The key to helping them is to always keep in mind that you are not dealing with computer specialists. Keep it simple. Make yourself available to set up new machines, install software, and answer questions. How about volunteering for their board of trustees?
Just be aware that the not-for-profit world is significantly different from one where there is the intention and hope of making money. Things happen slowly and progress takes unanticipated routes. War stories available upon request.
My community operates a Computers For Classrooms program, a recycling effort driven by an all-volunteer force. They're partnered with the Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher program and others, including the IRS (for tax-exempt status). It is a very successful program, providing not only the hardware to schools but it also serves as a revenue stream for the school district by providing a recycling outlet for tech parts. http://www.computersforclassrooms.org/Whatdo.htm I work there a few hours a week, as do many of my peers. I think it is a great model for other communities.
There is a whole world of using tech skills to improve government transparency and civic engagement. See:
http://wiki.opengovdata.org/index.php/OGosh
http://www.impublished.org/wordpress/helptheman/
http://transparencyjobs.com/jobs/
http://sunlightfoundation.com/
I'm volunteering (in between contracts) at my local Citizens Advice Bureau. Mixed Win 2003/SUSE servers, Win XP desktops, 8-10 permanent staff, 50+ volunteers. I recently achieved Linux Professional certification and wanted somewhere to gain rela-life experience. This is working out fine for me - fun, some challenges, and satisfying.
"Cock Up Your Beaver" does not mean what you think. This sig is intended to clog filters and annoy do-gooders
"If your good at something never do it for free." Personally I will freely give my time to things like collecting items for a shelter but I would not do programing for free.
-Ours is the wisdom of Solomon, the magic of Merlyn, the fall of Icaris.
help figure out how to get us out of work IT folk a job? I think that our industry needs its own charity right now.
You can always join the peace corp. They need IT people to help out in other countries:
My company is starting to sponsor 1 to 6 months paid breaks to do your regular work for NGO non-profits. For me that would be IT work. Normally if I donate labor it would be habitat for humanity as a worker drone. But do they or others need volunteer IT support?
Think Deeply.
I helped the local Humane Society get their records modernized using Animal Shelter Manager (http://sheltermanager.sourceforge.net/home.php). The sysadmin there was feeling a bit out of his depth with setting up the SQL database and such. It was easy work, and made a real tangible difference. I love these sort of freebies too, where there is a task with a clear end.
1) I installed the software.
2) Installed and configured the mySQL on their little server.
3) Got the tables setup
4) Trained the sysadmin on what I'd done and how to maintain/backup the system
5) Got the software installed on the desktops with his help
6) Backed out of the picture
7) No Profit
Sheldon
Check out small non-profit organizations. Many would benefit from technology help, but often do not have budget funds to make it happen. Sometimes, there will be funds for hardware or software, but not both. Every little bit helps.
I use irony whenever I can, but my shirts are still wrinkled...
ready, it's got more work than any one human can pull off, and it's located at http://kernel.org/
Trackball users will be first against the wall.
You can use this site to find volunteer needs in your area by zip code and keyword.
http://www.volunteermatch.org/
Error reading device 'Signature'. (A)bort, (R)etry, (F)ail?
If you're in Canada, check out MatchIT. If you're in the UK, try IT4Communities.
I don't know if there are similar sites for other countries.
"You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war." -- Albert Einstein
If you have any time or energy left for volunteer work, then all your non-tech-savvy friends, relatives and neighbors must have Macintoshes. I envy you.
Actually, if you're in another country, why not put your time into organizing something similar to MatchIT and IT4Communities.
"You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war." -- Albert Einstein
I don't know why parent was modded Flamebait. I recall a story a while ago about requiring community service for a passing grade in school or something like that. It was universally criticized because it was corrupting the entire idea of community service. It should be something that you want to do (out of the kindness of your heart or whatever), NOT something that you are compelled or forced to do (otherwise it ceases to be voluntary). Also, if your volunteers don't really want to be there then it will show up in their work; it's best for all involved to only bring in people who truly want to be there.
I'm trying to get old computers for kids in Namibia high schools and a friend and myself bought a kindergarden over there. I should be going back in 2 months to check on them. If you're interested in helping, send me a note.
Here are some photos of the preschool and the computers sent off to the high school.
Kids in preschool:
http://web.mac.com/zav/iWeb/Zav-O-Matic/Namibia%202008/D3A0AB87-8276-4741-8F1B-9225C7F23CF7.html
Computers:
http://web.mac.com/zav/iWeb/Zav-O-Matic/Off%20to%20Africa.html
- Zav - Imagine a Beowulf cluster of insensitive clods...
Not sure about other parts of the country, but I've been able to find lots of community IT projects, most situations are where non-profits cannot afford IT people's hourly rates. There are also code camps around the country where groups of people get together to build a software package over a weekend for organizations. The last one I worked on was some accounting software for a consumer credit counseling service.....it's pretty impressive to see a group of 100-200 programmers crank out an entire full featured accounting app over a few days.
In the same kind of vein, there are plenty of events out there that you could pick up as a project.
World Skills, for instance is coming to North America this year.
http://www.worldskills2009.com/
the services of a pro bono attorney. ;)
Check out the Sahana disaster management system (http://sahana.lk) that came out of volunteer efforts during the 2005 Tsunami. It has now been deployed all around the world and has a very robust volunteer developer community. If you search the web for humanitarian-ict you can also find some great links.
Take a look at Doctors without borders. They have got a new york field office. More info here
I offered to volunteer for web-design work and I got a mail stating that they will get in touch with me if they require one in the future.
On a broader level consider http://www.unv.org/ the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) program.
I am helping lead an initiative for a non-profit to install computer labs in 60 schools in Vietnam starting this year. This will impact about 10,000 kids and 1,200 teachers.
As of two weeks ago, Vietnam has announced that they will be going 100% open source by next year. I am looking for anybody who has interest and experience in Linux/BSD/FOSS who can build machines, train, help develop curricula, build infrastructure (Web, Mail, DNS, VPN, file sharing (NFS, Samba), etc.) and even do some software development for student management.
I also need hardware. We have not been able to get any funds yet for the equipment save the one guy who has donated an entire lab (10 PCs, network printer and server). Anyone who is willing to donate equipment or money for equipment would be a big help.
The sky's the limit. We are hoping to take our first trip out around May or June to install the prototype lab. We have the complete cooperation of the Vietnamese government, and they are waiting for us to do something.
If you are interested in helping, send mail to whataburgermeister@gmail.com.
My fledgling Website Design company recently did free design work for Banana Leaf Project. It's nothing fancy, but a simple website like that can go a long way for a charity organization that's looking for small donations and government sponsorship.
As listed on Slashdot a few days ago, There's FIRST robotics.
You can volunteer with a high school group, it's a semi-short commitment (1 or 2 meetings a week), where you can help high schools get a robot up and running. I'm doing this year, and I've really enjoyed it so far.
They seem to be in great need of software people. (At least the school near me are).
Main Website: http://www.usfirst.org/
Interactive map of local groups: http://www.usfirst.org/whatsgoingon.aspx
I've been working for these guys for a few years now.
Their goal is to redirect Christmas spending towards international development initiatives. They have a strong focus on transparency, and cash throughput. Also they have an open source project called DonorTrust which could eventually be used by other charities to run their donation systems.
http://www.christmasfuture.org
Always looking for more developers :P
There are a bazillion nonprofits who need help -- from writing a web page that doesn't suck, to helping them create a backup system, to cabling a simple network in the office. Most of these gigs will require a longer relationship than one day; you need to build trust with them and really evaluate their needs. But a tiny bit of tech help goes a long way. Just try keep in mind their *actual* needs, and not shove bizarre tech at them that they won't use when you're not there; whatever you give them has to still function and be useful if you never show up again.
Pick a local org whose work you like and ask what they need. Or put an ad on craigslist and offer help. Every nonprofit needs help, and many of them can't even enunciate their problems.
Or just commit a patch to your favorite project. -- oh, how lame. There's so much need out there -- get out and do something.
+ make sure all the ports are closed in the Fibre/Cable/DSL router
+ run Windoze update everywhere, it never seems to happen otherwise, even if you turn on auto update
+ install Firefox everywhere, remove IE shortcut from the desktop
+ install Spybot everywhere and run it periodically
+ install a hosts file everywhere that blackholes known bad domains/sites, update it periodically
+ install a FreeBSD or Linux SAMBA server on a donated PC, configure every desktop to use the share, configure cron backups of the share
+ run Cat5 to the youth center and install a Wireless AP, beat the kids at GH3 as needed
earn undying gratitude of staff, someday maybe even get paying gigs from clued-in members
You make a very valid point. Forcing people to do "volunteer" work is ridiculous. It has the opposite effect that is desired. It makes people hate to help others because it is forced. It is counter-productive to force high-school kids to do menial tasks and call it volunteer work.
However, when you have a certain skill set, such as programming or fixing computers, etc... and you help out people who genuinely need it it is extremely rewarding.
I found this out when tutoring people in college. Of course I did it for money, but I found out that I genuinely enjoyed helping people and now do it for free.
I find this call by Obama and Rahm Emanuel towards "national service" very troubling. His constant call for "sacrifice" and "serving" gets me worried. Instead of holding the people accountable for creating this financial mess we're just expected to become wards of the state. Was Aldous Huxley right when he said people will love their servitude? I sure hope not.
If you have something that you dont want anyone to know, maybe you shouldnt be doing it in the first place -Eric Schmidt
They all have computer hardware and software, which is usually misconfigured. I spend a lot of time there fixing environments since they usually have internet access, so setting up a proxy, and patching, etc. A few hours makes things go a long way.
I hope this doesn't come across as cynical, because it's not meant to be. But one very reasonable strategy is to work hard at your regular job, and donate money to charitable causes.
I've often thought about how to put my software engineering skills to good use, and that's the best I've been able to come up with. If you can't find a great outlet to directly put your skills to use at a charitable organization, this is a pretty reasonable proxy. It lets you do what you do best, for the people that find it most helpful (i.e. a company that's willing to pay you for it), rather than having to shoehorn your skills where there may not be a great match.
If there's an volunteer opportunity that's actually a good fit, that's obviously a good mechanism (and probably more psychically rewarding). But if not, I think this is an efficient alternative.
Hi, This one sees a small software development company in Africa take the next step: www.busylab.com/jobs/ It is a longer term gig with accommodation and spending money included. Its a combination of mentor, hands on senior and process improvement.
I like volunteering. A while back I started a group (friend/friend's friends/etc.) that would go out on Saturdays and help out.
A major problem, though, was finding places to volunteer. Really the only place we found to reliably volunteer was at a couple of foodbanks (always happy to have people sort cans, etc.). Which is great, but quite dull to be doing every weekend.
Obviously, there are lots of other places/people who could use some help, but since they only need it sporadically there is no way to find out about it. We did manage to get a few other jobs by calling well-known charities, like, we did yard work for Ronald McDonald house. Or played baseball with some kids at an orphanage. However, generally speaking, it is hard for an unaffiliated group of people in my city to find somewhere to volunteer on a weekend.
So what I would propose is building a website with these features:
*Let organizations post volunteer opportunities.
*Allow creation of volunteer groups which allow a group of friends/associates/etc. to plan on working together.
*Filter opportunities based on personal preference. (religion/working with homeless/etc.)
When things get complex, multiply by the complex conjugate.
Try idealist.org
Your local public School. Leave your FOOS/Closed Source prejudices at the door and just help.
My son is in elementary school, and let me tell you these people need all the help they can get. Even if is nothing more then cracking open a printer to clear some scotch tape out of the works or making sure some teachers machine is connected to the correct printer, every little bit helps.
If you can commit to even a few hours a week head to the local middle school or high school and be a proctor, trust me the teachers will take all the help they can get.
You have to go through a little BS to be a volunteer, but once you do in your local school district it will come back to you 10 fold, even if that payback is nothing more then the satisfaction that you are contributing to your community.
Hey KID! Yeah you, get the fuck off my lawn!
Why not roll up your sleeves? I work at my desk all day (programming) and sometimes take small manual labor jobs or volunteer where I actually get outside. It's really good for a change sometimes.
I've also volunteered my time developing software for non-profit organizations (closed source) but that's always a never ending story. At some point they need new features, need something changed and you'll be the person to speak to at all times. It really pulls you in. Working on open source is a different story, I appreciate doing that.
That's 100 hours over the span of your education - 4 years for most, that's 25 hours per year, just over 2 per month. And nowhere does it say that service to a church doesn't count, and it doesn't require you to do so - he's just planning to offer a tax credit if you do. This is by no means slavery, and making that comparison is on par with reducto ad Nazium.
Personally I probably do more than that without realizing how many hours I am putting in.
Drop a line to bill at thclinic dot org and I will see what I can do.
Hey KID! Yeah you, get the fuck off my lawn!
If you really want to change things and make technology more accessible, go do some work up at your state capitol. We need technologically-savvy people in the political realm to advocate for systemic change so we don't have pockets of people left behind the technology wave.
Find a local organization already working on social justice issues, whether racial or economic. Organize a campaign to address some need in your area. Perhaps it's affordable access to broadband. Or maybe it's sufficient funding for urban schools to upgrade technology and create computing curricula.
Remember that the real issue is not technology. It's justice. All of the technology in the world will do no good unless people have access to transportation, education and health. Technology is important. Just remind yourself that getting people engaged in and comfortable with technology is going to take a lot more than some tutoring sessions.
Create a public life for yourself. Get involved in politics. You'll find that the relationships you create will allow you to move beyond your initial campaign and into making real change in all sorts of areas.
And recognize that in the work you will be changed as well.
Really basic stuff--certainly far beneath your capabilities and/or interests, but so important:
1) If a group has computers, volunteer to keep them patched, updated, and malware-free. Teach someone to do the same.
2) If a group needs a Web presence, offer to set them up with a blog or simple CMS. Commit to keep it updated and invader-free. Teach someone to do the same. Teach someone to update it/post to it.
3) Teach some office-related skills--word processor, spreadsheet, yadda--in a friendly, non-judgmental way. Consider people trying to find jobs or improve their situations. Your local women's shelter is another possibility.
4) Use your contacts--and you have more than you know--to keep an eye out for reasonably up-to-date hardware that can be slotted in for old, creaky hardware.
5) Find out who in your area is fostering small-scale entrepreneurs. Offer to give a class or two on best practices.
The opportunities are endless. I've done each one of them at some point over a long-ish career. The one I'm into now is #2. It takes about 45 minutes to an hour of my time each week.
"Here's what's happening. You're starting to drive like your Dad..." - Red Green
Find or form a local group around the Nonprofit Technology Network.
I'm all for volunteer work, but today is my birthday, my boss took the day off, and the work is light due to being MLK day. This is a paid vacation for me!
You never expect irony, do you?
Want to be a professional wrestler? Visit www.iyfwrestling.com
@iyfwrestling
People do love servitude because they hate freedom and responsibility.
I'm a satanic clam.
I have volunteered my time with a local volunteer fire department for about 12 years now. I work full time as a systems administrator for a large network and donate my time to them for because their service is very valuable to my community. Fire departments all over the country are required to submit reports to their state and the federal government to be eligible for grants, etc. There is a lot of data collected for that and has to be submitted electronically in most places. If the your local department does not have the IT and database expertise in-house, they could be missing out on a lot of opportunities for funding from the federal government that could save the local taxpayers a lot of money.
I'm retar'd, and i thought that the public agency world wd be looking for programming skills. WrongO! They don't know how to handle that, mostly.
I wound up developing an Open Source PHP application that i thought filled a niche, and that's turned out to be pretty true. In my case, it's a free Computer-Aided-Dispatch app, built on PHP/MySQL/GMaps. Gotten over 3000 dl's from SF so far.
See at http://freshmeat.net/projects/ticketscad/
Contact me re any follow-up.
I'm a member of CouchSurfing.com, and I know that they are always looking for smart techies to volunteer:
http://www.couchsurfing.com/careers.html
I am expected to put in 100 hours of community service,
If you wish to be paid 4000 dollars, yes. Which is 40 dollars an hour, tax free, incidentally. (Which means it's more like 60 dollars an hour.)
You know what's absurd to me? I'm expected to spend 40 hours a week riding around with a garbage truck collecting trash, for very low wages. Or, rather, I would be expected to do that if I decided I wanted to have that job and went and got it.
I.e, you're a moron. Obama is, in theory, offering college students a job that pays an absurd amount, and is anything you like doing as long as it's community service. No one's making anyone do anything.
If there's anything to complain about, it's that this probably won't get set up in time for you to benefit from it.
of which, any hours I contribute at my church or non-government affiliated group, will not count.
This is incorrect. Organizations have always been able to file and make themselves eligible for counting as 'community service'.
Helping a church do religious stuff probably wouldn't count, but helping in their food pantry would.
If corporations are people, aren't stockholders guilty of slavery?
At my old job (a 12 person IT consulting firm) we closed down the entire shop in order to donate all our time to fixing up a local non-profits computer network. Perhaps a phone call to your favorite local charity group to see if they have any computer issues that could use some fixing.
The company I work for does an annual event were we bring developers together to build web sites for non profits. http://www.overnightwebsitechallenge.com/
The problems we are having came about because those who are supposed to be performing national service for pay and benefits (the "Civil Service") AREN'T DOING THEIR JOBS!
Rather than attempting to get everyone to perform voluntary labor, the new administration should be firing those who are failing to perform their well compensated labor.
For what it's worth, most of the inaugural festivities are paid for by Obama's Presidential Inaugural Committee, which is funded by private donations not tax dollars.
http://www.mhall119.com
I work as a volunteer software mentor for the local high school robotics club. It's part of the FIRST robotics program (www.usfirst.org). It inspires kids to careers in science and technology, and makes better use of my 30+ years of software development than, say, picking up litter on the highway or toting 2x4's for Habitat.
I think you are taking this a way too seriously. First, no one is forcing anyone, or even really compelling anyone to volunteer, if you don't want to do it, you don't have to, with no negative effects whatsoever.
I think the goal is just to make a time where it is more socially acceptably and when people are encouraged to do volunteer work. Many people might have a slight interest, or be unsure of how to get involved, so maybe this day will make that easier, and make them realize how to volunteer more often, out of their own free will.
The same goes for requiring some community service in school. In real life no-one can make you volunteer, but they also can't make you write papers or finish assignments. In school, you get grades for learning, and trying out some volunteer work can be educational.
I pay taxes and will continue to pay them to pay for the bail outs, the handouts, the social programs that I'm not entitled to, the paychecks of people who make far more than I do and the new President's inauguration.
Don't equate taxes with sevice. You apparently don't like taxes. Great. It's a weak straw-man argument here. Bring it up when it's appropriate.
Mr. Obama wants my service even though I'm in college 1/2 time, work full time (paying taxes) and a community activist (various websites, church activities) and yet I'm still "called on" to SERVE by the government!
http://change.gov/americaserves/
Your personal invitation to serve wasn't sent in the mail because Vice President-Elect Biden intervened on your behalf after becoming aware of your extreme workload. Problem solved.
I am expected to put in 100 hours of community service, of which, any hours I contribute at my church or non-government affiliated group, will not count.
This is ridiculous. IF you want to fit 100 hours of community service into your schedule, you might get government money (or, as I suspect you like to call it, 'blood money'). I'm not seeing where hours contributed at a church or 'non-government affiliated group' is mentioned at the link you've provided. I suspect it's your paranoia leading you on.
If I have not seen as far as others, it is because giants have stood on my shoulders. -- Hal Abelson or Jeff Goll
My dad, a retired chemistry and comp. sci professor, now does user support work at a local non-profit near his home, teaching the workers how to use office software, and providing one-on-one tutoring (again, for the staff). I have just started trying to work with the faculty at my son's high school to develop simple applications for them to use in their lecture to demonstrate concepts their students have a hard time grasping.
Plenty of possibilities, just find a local group, tell them what you can do, and ask them what they'd like you to do. Most local jurisdictions have umbrella groups that can point you to groups in need.
If you're not prepared to do these other things too, then you must seriously doubt your commitment to the cause.
Remember, half the point of doing volunteer work is to meet and serve to and with a broader range of people and help develop yourself as a more compassionate person. That isn't going to happen if you just do the IT stuff and not the other.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
http://www.accrc.org
Or, if you're not in/near Alameda, there may be a similar program near you.
I began helping community organisations in university and extended afterwards.
I did 6 years very part time.
Some points I noted at the end of it were:
1) The community org themselves provide a service. I found the expectations of those recieving services expected bank level IT infrastucture("Have you got my reciept dated 5 years ago?).
2) Community org = clients often disadvataged due to health issues. Hence, it will become your responsibility to provide strong, secure databases.
3) Political. Once committees get a sniff you exist. They will look to leverage you, often pushing their own wheel barrows. Conflict ensues.
4) Then at the end, they see options and advantages, applications for funding follows, and often, you are left out of the loop to provide the services tendered.
In short I found the importance of a sytem to be as high as any govt dept might require, but without the professional infrasture in place to support your endeavors.
In post Patriot Act America, the library books scan you.
I'm sorry to take exception to a key tennant of open source theory, but I just don't think its so simple to 'just' commit a patch.
I see contributing to a project as involving a significant commitment. In my thinking, high quality patches require the developer to have a fairly high level of understanding of the internals of the project and the local coding conventions. If the contributor doesn't have this, the patch will need significant rework from someone who does, or the codebase will get ugly fast.
If I'm being too much of a perfectionist please tell me.
I'm a software developer who'd love to contribute to some of the major projects, but I see the personal commitment to positive effect ratio as prohibitive.
The opinons expressed are those of the voices in the author's head and are not necessarily those of the author.
My church has quite a few volunteers in all kinds of tech savvy positions from web developers, sound and video mixing, to teaching youth and elderly.
Athiesm is a religion like not collecting stamps is a hobby.
http://openluna.org/ is always looking for tech savvy people to help with their projects. And, as you can see, they need a web developer in a big way. They are also working on several projects that would benefit from technical experience. (Or even non-technical help) They need people who can work in embedded systems, long range communications, machinists, welders, fund raisers, marketing folks, artists. About any useful skill and you can probably help....
Plus, you get to help mankind get back to the moon, and in a more realistic time frame and cost rather than insanely long and expensive plan that the NASA bloatocracy is trying to work...
Your Moon, Your Mission, Get involved! http://www.openluna.org
For what it's worth, most of the inaugural festivities are paid for by Obama's Presidential Inaugural Committee, which is funded by private donations not tax dollars
FWIW, that's not true - the bulk is coming from tax payer dollars.
[Insert pithy quote here]
You may want to check out the I Hack Charities project. It was started by Johnny Long (the No Tech Hacking talk/book). Money was raised for an organization in Kenya and the Columbia Area Linux Users Group is looking to help out by donating some servers and getting some donated rack space/bandwidth to help out.
Some useful sites I've found are:
Using mostly these sites, I've come up with a very useful collection of apps and utilities totalling under 2Gb, which easily fits on a flash drive with room to spare for data. One example is winaudit, which will generate an extensive report when run on a pc. You can save the reports on various pcs to your flash drive in various formats (pdf, html, text, csv), bring them home, and go over them in more detail to see what needs to be fixed or updated on the various pcs you encountered.
FIRST robotics competition is a great way to educate and middle school and high school kids excited about programming, engineering, and robotics.
I'd recommend joining a group at a local school for a year or so before starting your own group, but there's plenty of opportunity out there.
Blessed are the pessimists, for they have made backups.
I do the computers for an organization of group homes for developmentally disabled people (www.wingspanlife.org), basically keep them running and patched.
They have some critical needs to put things that require recurrent paperwork on the net so that administration time can be cut, and to possibly avoid errors. Basically everything from time sheets to medication logs, simple forms that are tallied, reports generated, and the usual light duty stuff.
The problem is HIPPA and related patient privacy laws. It has to be secure, logged, and locked down in addition to being behind their existing firewall. At least that way it saves them the hassle of auditing where it will be posted.
My idea was to make an open source app/database/forms for doing this, but given my lack of security skills and the nuances of HIPPA, I can't do it myself. One missed key or hole, and the whole organization is in a world of governmental hurt.
If anyone wants to take a stab at this, or knows of an existing program/framework that does it, I would be glad to help out with my knowledge of the organization.
Given their recent budget cuts, there is no chance of pay at all, but you would be given a lot of praise, resume backing, and something you can point to that a large organization depends on. I would also be willing (if my editors agree - I write for the Inquirer FWIW) to post a story about it with your name in it.
Nothing hugely technical, just the Is dotted and the Ts crossed, while going back and forth until it is made the way they need it to be made. It will have a userbase of half really bright people, half mouth-breathers (the staff that is).
The idea is to free up time (and by proxy, money) to allow the staff to care for the people, not do repetitive paperwork. If it gets to a usable state, then post it somewhere so others can use it as well. Most of the forms are common to health care providers, or can be easily adapted.
If there is anyone interested, message or mail me. They are a completely legitimate charity, but you can't take a writeoff for time given.
-Charlie
Disclaimer: I spend a lot of time fixing their machines and servers, hours a week, and last I heard, was the single largest non-institutional donor they had. I put my money where my mouth is basically, and don't call for help so I can avoid work.
Call or Google search your local Girl Scout council and volunteer to help with their Girls Go Tech program or to visit local Girl Scout groups to show girls how to build robots and do fun database or computer tricks.
Lighting and sound is geeky enough to be interesting, and easy to apprentice if you know little about the subject. There's likely a children's or community theater group in your area that can use a hand. Bog knows it's absorbed all my free time...
Now I realize that for a variety of reasons, my answer doesn't really work for most people, but here it is anyhow. I move down to Honduras for six months, primarily so I could volunteer with the local ambulance service, but since I've been down here, I've found myself spending an increasing amount of time doing tech support for various educational ventures (Both religious and secular.). They tend to get boxes and pallets of what is termed down here "Junk for Jesus", mostly working, but some not. I spend one or two days a week going through it all and trying to build workable computers out of it, not to mention going back and repairing others by cannibalizing parts out of other donated computers...and, of course, doing software support. As I said, most people can't just up and move somewhere for 6 months, but even if you could go to some third world country for a week and do some hard core technical support, you could make a major difference in the lives of many, many children. Try talking to your church, if you're religious, or to any church, if you're not. The odds are pretty good that somewhere in the organization, there's a mission to a third world country that could use your help...odds are pretty good you'll have to buy your own ticket, but they might be able to provide room and board.
I needed a sig so people would know who I am, but I was too drunk to make something witty, so you get this instead.
Four years ago, I volunteered to fix a balky access-control system for our local YMCA ("access control" as in read-the-id-card-barcode-and-unlock-the-turnstile). Ended up throwing out the commercial package they'd bought, which was inadequate, and writing them a new one. Then it turned out they desperately needed help with their network, so I became the unofficial CIO/sysadmin for several years. I've truly enjoyed this; however, it amounted to a volunteer half-time job. Some weeks it was full-time. And I got lots of 5AM phone calls when the front-desk attendants had computer problems. Couldn't have done it if I weren't self-unemployed at the time. And I've had to leave them hanging more than once when I had paying work. So, you want to volunteer? Go for it! It's rewarding. Just be realistic about how much time you can donate, and try not to make yourself indispensable.
I am willing to bet that your local Public Library would be most welcoming to the concept of pro-bono tech support for their most likely ageing/not updated/not virus protected public computer terminals as well as some TLC for their network infrastructure. Many Public Libraries have been forced drastically scale back their services to the public. Offering up your time to help them keep their systems running/patched/protected and their network functional would be a huge help to them.
I have, over the past ten years, helped the Public Library in my home town, set up 10 new publically accessible internet/work (office and other productivity programs) terminals (Mix of Dells), a youth computing room (Apple Mac Minis), new staff computers (Dells), as well as help educate them on how to maintain, patch, update, and create regular ghost images of the systems to allow for restores. Not only are they grateful, but the people of my home town are happy because they have one of the most technologically sound libraries in the surrounding area. It didn't take a lot of work, but has been immensely rewarding.
http://www.volunteermatch.org/ This site gets volunteers, non-profits, and corporations all together in one site to match everyone up with volunteer opportunities. You can browse by keywork and location.
If you're looking to do volunteer-type work on a wider scale, two free/open-source projects to look into are Sahana, which helps coordinate disaster-relief aid, and OpenMRS, which is an electronic medical records system that's used across Africa.
Check out the volunteer opportunities at http://idealist.org
Hundreds of requests for "computer and technology" volunteers.
Actually a new organization is currently being developed for just such a purpose: http://itvolunteersworldwide.org/
Currently there is a LinkedIn group http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1181337 you can go to for more info.
iRepairIT - iPhone, Mac, & PC Repair
if not, why it has a u.s. flag as icon ?
Read radical news here
Check it out - the availability of gigs definitely varies from area to area. Another place you could check is a local chamber of commerce - they often know of more than just area business development as they assist community development projects as well.
I've been volunteering my professional skills at a local non-profit education institution for the last 6 years, and they always have something for me to do. Between programming a website to writing some kioskware, there is always something they can use. Find one that you're interested in and schedule a meeting with the program director or their technology director, tell them you'd like to volunteer, and they'll put you to work.
If that is your view about national service, don't volunteer. If someone else wants to, why berate them?
Think global, act loco
I spend a morning a month maintaining a classroom of PCs for an Adult Learning Center. It's no effort for me to do and they love it.
I think the key to volunteering is to control how much time you spend doing it. Don't over commit and get sick of it.
The Grameen Foundation, originating in the slums of Bangladesh, provides microloans, and more importantly, the infrastructure to help their borrowers to become financially independent. In many cases, this can be as simple as a few farm animals or providing a day's worth of raw materials, such as wicker for baskets. These workers often get gouged for these raw materials, and would otherwise have only pennies left over at the end of the day.
Many of these loans are provided to the woman of the house (often a cultural challenge), as they are more likely to make prudent decisions regarding the family's finances, such as making sure that there's enough food or fuel to look after the family.
The program has earned its founder a Nobel Prize, and it has been expanded throughout the world.
The branches use open source software, developed and managed as "Mifos." They have other opportunities here and a sourceforge project:
"Mifos is an MIS purpose-built for the microfinance industry. It provides MFIs the key functionality to better serve the poor: client management, loans & savings portfolio tracking, reporting, & social performance measurement. See mifos.org for more info."
And, as a side benefit, you'll likely learn something from them too. Not only will you get trained in various emergency operation skills, you'll likely even learn about new tech. areas that you don't know much about yet as they have a very wide and diverse set of communication equipment.
The next site to slashdot will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and start slashdotting it early!
Moderate Slashdot. :)
Corporate America is always looking for free labor. If you want to work for free, that's the place.
If someone is passing you on the right, you are an asshole for driving in the wrong lane.
(don't start flaming, they're people volunteering their time to improve the health of their fellow citizens, regardless of what you think of drug use or how best to respond to it)
*sigh* Your big argument for why we shouldn't criticize what people are doing is that they mean well? Cripes. This is what moral relativism has gotten us.
That's pretty much the moderation I expected from the tone of my post but you actually articulated the gist of my outrage, so thank you.
Posting anon to dodge further karma burn from vindictive mods. There's no "-1: I Disagree" mod for a reason guys.
-Sheff
The Down's Syndrome Research Foundation: http://www.dsrf.org/ They do Fundraising dinners 4 times a year ( Vancouver / Calgary / Montreal / Toronto ) Along with dinner for about 350-400 professionals in the financial industry, the evenings entertainment is a stock trading simulation program that was originally written 15 years ago in APL, two years ago I converted it to c++ and now attend all the shows to help run it. This program runs on 10 laptops. One is the Game machine, one is the Graphics machine and is connected to the two large screens. The remaining 8 machines are for trade input. The program uses a mysql database to keep track of the transactions and results. Each round consists of printing out order tickets for each table (usually 40-50) then sending these out to the tables. Then the tickets are collected and the trades are input using the 8 input computers. Once all the trades have been input, the the Game machine does the round calculations. There are then two reports generated for each table, an individual results report showing their status and a group report showing all the tables. The Graphics machine then shows multiple results graphs on the big screens. Then the next trading round opens and order tickets are printed for the new round. The game plays for a variable number of rounds, typically 5 or 6 until the winner is declared at the end of the game. Screenshot here: http://www.scale18.com/updown.jpg
Check out Taproot Foundation, they link volunteers with specific professional skills to projects for non profits. IT roles include
Software Developer
Web Developer
Business Analyst
Data Analyst
http://www.taprootfoundation.org/volunteering/
There are many non-profits dedicated to serving youth in various ways. Most are constantly underfunded and, as a result, have inadequate web presence and tech infrastructure.
Personally, I volunteer as the default sysadmin and assistant web guy for a north Georgia summer camp. For the first time this summer, we will also have a summer camp for children whose parents have or have had cancer. More help is always welcome!
How do you go from "sacrifice" to "holding people accountable" to "wards of the state"?
This point of view against service is absurd. Homeless people do NOT CARE who made their sandwich, whether it was the over-privileged kid trying to get into the college or the 'genuine' contributor. People who can't afford a new coat do not care if that coat came from someone looking for a tax deduction or a well-intentioned family trying to teach their kids a lesson. It doesn't matter why you did it. It matters that it was done.
As far as accountability, the people benefiting from the food donations, the shelters, the coat drives, the garbage pickup in the park, the hospital assistance -- they're not the ones at fault. They are not the people on Wall Street who made these bad decisions. They are not the government representatives who gave Wall Street free reign. Those people will either get away with it or go to prison. They'll have everything they need, one way or another.
But the people who have slipped under the poverty line due to the economic crisis? The ones who lost vital jobs? The elderly people swindled into signing reverse mortgages or adjustable mortgages on their homes when they didn't need to? They don't need to be "accountable" insofar as having food, shelter, and warmth withheld. They're being punished already -- with the shame they feel in having to ask for help, the agony of choosing to feed themselves OR their cats, the helplessness of watching their electricity being shut off after 3 months of not paying.
This national call to help others was just a reminder. It is not obligatory. If you don't want to participate, that's absolutely fine; however, I think you are extremely remiss in trying to diminish service itself, the people who benefit, and the people who engage in it.
I ran a small network for homeless Vets at a VA Community Center, back in Syracuse. It was a drop-in place with psych people and all sorts of resources for mostly Vietnam-era vets. First Gulf War guys were beginning to show up, also. The Network was no problem. The rewarding part of it was helping the guys sort things out and giving them search ideas, etc. It was an eye-opener, no question about that.
No, my argument is you shouldn't criticize needle exchange *here*, because it's completely offtopic.
If you want to argue with over thirty years of comprehensive public health research which shows that needle exchange reduces disease transmission (and hence costs to the rest of society) while not increasing drug use, there's any number of appropriate forums in which to do so. Your local department of public health probably has regular public hearings on this and any number of similarly contentious public health programs - if you have criticisms to make, taking them there is probably going to have far more impact than posting anonymous, offtopic, comments on slashdot.
Last I checked, noone was being forced to volunteer. All Obama and team are doing are providing leadership and resources to make it happen.
I think the troubling thing is that you can look at a call for service as a negative thing. I can't think of a better indication of the strength of a society, than the willingness of all its members, from all walks, to pitch in during troubled times.
I own and run a startup. The deeper motivation of my startup is to make the world a better place. Not only by developing user friendly products, or things like providing an intellectual engaging working life to myself and my empolyees, etc. Now my company is still small and there isn't always enough work, so I also spend working time on pro bono basis for good causes for free. It's a little bit harder to run a business that way, but until now I didn't need any financing from banks at all. It's extremely rewarding to help others with talent, much more so than helping others with only money. And there is no bigger party than to change the world with others.
where it is more socially acceptable !? ...are you sure you didn't mean something more like increase the awareness ?
I volunteer at a charity which serves as a referral agency. I moved all the donated computers to Ubuntu, set up a server, and continue to consult with them. As news of the latest MS worm spread, I sent an email reporting it to the staff under the subject "Things that no longer happen in your world".
Nice distro, Ubuntu. It just works.
you should look into the San Francisco Community Colocation project.
If you're in the NYC area, we used to have http://www.voluntech.org/, but I don't know if they're still active.
Why is working for yourself virtuous?
...
...
(answer: "If your charity does not include yourself, it is incomplete." -- Buddha, or someone like that)
The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
Back in high school (~2001) I used to help out with this "Komputers-4-Kids" project sponsored by Junior Achievement.
Basically, we got a bunch of donated old computers (donated by companies, etc) and replaced all the malfunctioning parts until we had a nice group of working, cleaned, usable computers with freshly-installed OSes. Computers were given to low-income families/poor schools, and we volunteers got to learn tons about all the different types of hardware inside computers from that age.
The best part was that it was totally hands-off on the part of the people in charge. They just stacked piles of parts for us to wade through. My boyfriend, my brother, and I (a few other people here and there) organized all the parts and repairs ourselves. All the business end was taken care of, so it was just a nice nerdy Saturday hangout sorta thing.
My brother and I later volunteered at a nearby low-income school near our high school (the principle was a family friend) and completely redid their network/maintained the computer system, etc. They went from 10 computers using Win 95 to ~100 with Windows 2000 by the time I was a senior in high school. All that I learned from those days really helped me later in life--got me many well-paying side jobs and opened my eyes at a young age to the world of technology.
So guys, bring your sisters along to those nerdy volunteering things you find, because you never know... they just might really pick up on it like I did!
Thanks for the suggestion. I tried to contact them a couple of months ago, but got no response. A friend of a friend told me they were at capacity at the time, but after your post I checked their website and they seem to be alive again, so I'll give them another go.
I've worked with the Taproot Foundation and had a really good experience. They need designers and developers to help build websites (typically) for other non-profits.
Not only a service to humanity, you could also have a lot of FUN volunteering for Inveneo. Their mission is to bring cool and useful IT technology to sub-Saharan Africa. Can you set up a multi-kilometer wifi link? Or work on a field hardened Linux distro that runs on 20W desktop machines? They tackle a spectrum of fascinating projects and regularly send team members to perform installations in rural African villages and meet with government ministers. Have a look at their website and get in touch with them! - Jim Wiggins
As EVP of the second PTA board I have been on, I can tell you that the technology knowledge of these two PTA's is abysmal (even though we are in the silicon valley). I know we need help with technology beyond what I have time to provide, and if my experiences are universal, which I have no reason to doubt they are, you can do a lot of good. As an added bonus, if you have kids, or will have kids, being involved (PTA or other involvement) is a proven way to help your children succeed. In fact, if you are willing to help us, we need a simple registration/contact webapp written which would be valuable as an open source project to PTA's across the nation. I would love help from the /. community, and have the time to be a project coordinator, but my development skills are rusty and antiquated.
Someone already mentioned Free Geek Portland but they have chapters in several other cities too.
Visit http://freegeekvancouver.org/ and look at the friends section on the right side of the page. Another slightly different list is at http://www.freegeek.org/family.php .
A description of what they do is at http://freegeekvancouver.org/volunteering_faq
I have been meaning to get out and volunteer at free geek for about a year now. I really need to do that some time soon. :)
Mike
hello all i did a volenteer stint for idep foundation in bali, doing computer server and database stuff and am sure they wouldn't mind a completly self funded system admin for a few months. please not you will have to be completly self funded and able to commit to at least 6 months, any shorter and its not really worth it for them. salamat dagin
You can offer the most precisely doing what you are good at.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
My son's high school has an IT club; it had been loosely organized, with no real goal other than to allow protogeeks to get together and talk geek. I volunteered to be their mentor, and have them working towards learning how to build a network, with a firewall, DNS server, email server, file server, Linux and Windows client PCs, etc. We're signed up for an IT competition sponsored by a state University: http://www.it-adventures.org/itolympics.html
I don't know if any of these kids will go on to a career in IT, but they're having fun...and so am I.
If you would like to help advance public understanding of science, try volunteering at
http://richarddawkins.net/volunteers
There are lots and lots of opportunities to "give back" using one's technical skills. There is everything from Linux User Groups (LUGs) Install fest assistance; open-source projects of all kinds doing programming, documentation, testing, and other activities; developing software and/or IT infrastructure for non-profits, NGOs and QGOs.
I have been involved in this kind of thing for a number of years. In that time I've had mostly good experiences. There have been a few occasions where I felt compelled to withdraw my support from some organizations when, after working with them for a while, I came to believe that what they purported to be or do was not the case, that in whole or in part their existence was based on tax-avoidance schemes or to create sinecure(s) for the operators of the non-profit rather than provide a real cost effective service to their claimed constituency.
In one case, I came to believe that I was personally at risk if there was an IRS compliance audit because I could be seen to have sufficient information about the organization and operation to be complicit in its bad faith dealing. I left them as quickly as I discovered what I believed to be bad behavior. They had me fooled for quite a while in some cases because they talked a good game, had public and local press support: in effect very good self promotion for unquestionably good causes, were they on the up and up. In all cases they had never undergone a critical outside examination of their financials and operations.
Since that point, I have been very cautious about what kinds of organizations I've been willing to work with. Though I still work with some small non-profits that I've had relationships with for years, I mostly turn away requests from these types of organizations because my experience suggests that a disproportionate number are something other than what they purport to be or that their expense ratios far outweigh the good they purport to do. I now confine my volunteer work to QGOs, such as state chartered volunteer fire departments. The regulatory oversight is better, the paid professionals are better at what they do and the financial controls are very public.
Of course, YMMV. Of course, I could be wrong.
I have been volunteering in Science and Math classes for the past year, spending 1-3 hours per week in the classroom working with the students and teachers. The experience was so energizing and gratifying (for all) that I decided to form an education non-profit to get more engineers/scientists (strong math and/or science background) to volunteer in local classrooms either weekly or monthly. You can read more about it here: www.weteachscience.org
himanchal.org or nepalwireless.net for information about volunteering in Nepali countryside. I've been there myself three times. It's really an experience in every possible way, and you can really make a difference.
If you are a web designer (or graphic designer!) looking for volunteer work, Grassroots.org posts opportunities for you to volunteer your skills for one of our 1,100+ member organizations!
To find out more about this successful program, visit: http://www.grassroots.org/services/nonprofit-website-design
Or volunteer now at:
http://volunteer.grassroots.org
I find this call by Obama and Rahm Emanuel towards "national service" very troubling. His constant call for "sacrifice" and "serving" gets me worried.
Especially when the guy calling for "sacrifice" lived in a million dollar house, wears $2k suits (yet tells college graduates not to "chase" these things), went to Harvard and Columbia U, and sends his kids to private school. A little too disengenuous and "do as I say, not as I do" for me.
I agree with charitable work and contributions -- just not through coersion. The conservative Republicans may need to learn that you can't legislate morality, but apparantly so do the liberal Democrats.
I recently spent two DAYS looking for software to manage information for a startup school. There are several packages out there, some free, that are targeted at non-profits, but most are limited to communication and fund raising.
The closest fit is a package called to Metrix (city of new york) but that will operate with a non-windows back end. (Who wants to expose windows to the internet...)
Partial list of requirements.
Multi-user.
Record level locking.
MS Access or similarly flexible front end. (Ideally an OSS front end, but so far I've not seen anything that allows such quick layout of forms and reports as Access. I'm open, no begging for correction on this issue. But it can run access inside windows inside virtualbox for linux users.
Full contact info.
Preferred contact mode.
Contact history.
Subscription preferences. (Quarterly Printed newsletter, monthly email newsletter, monthly summary with links to web page, visions discussion list...)
Skills both checkable and free form.
Pledges -- monetary.
Pledges -- service -- list of tasks and roles that people are willing to do. E.g. "Will bring truck and trailer for bottle drives. Saturday only."
Pledge history. -- do they come through. Link to notes.
Web interface for users to edit their own relevant information -- e.g. withdraw a pledge, change their contact info.
White Notes field. "Good resource for plumbing parts"
Gray notes field "Triple the amount of time he says it will take."
Black notes field. "Do not trust with money"
Notes fields have settable permissions. E.g. White notes are visible to all database users, gray notes only to project managers who have that person on their project, black notes only to administrators.
Transaction history on certain records. E.g. Keep old records but mark them as superceded, and who changed them.
Keep view history of gray and black notes.
Definable roles:
* Administrator -- can do anything
* Program manager -- E.g. Bake Sale Coordinator, Outdoor
Program manager. Can work with records involving their program , may have editing privleges in contact info
* PR manager -- has read access to nearly everything.
* Data entry person. Can be given a temporary role to enter data for a project.
The system should also be able to handle contacts for non-volunteers -- The local building inspectors both friently and un. The local school board people. The person at the provincial text-book bureau. The reporter that has the education beat at the metro paper. Editor at every small town paper in 100 miles. Our member of the legislative assembly. The education minister. The county snow clearing number. Local service people we deal with on non-volunteer basis. (It's nice to have a volunteer plumber, but it's two in the morning, and you have a broken pipe in the basement, you don't always have time.)
This is off the cuff. It will almost certainly change.
Third Career: Tree Farmer Second Career: Computer Geek First Career: Teacher, Outdoor Instructor, Photographer.
Obama's own website stated that he wanted to require high schools kids to do community service, until the statement was replaced with a "sanitized" version of the text after the election.
Yeah -- let's REQUIRE high schools kids to do menial crap that's approved by the Federal government. Sure sounds like servitude to me.
teach hungry kids in Africa how to program?