Nonprofit

Bringing nonprofits into the digital age
Develop for Good matches nonprofits with the next generation of engineers, designers, and leaders to create long-lasting social good.
Propose Project!
Winter 2021 Application TimelineDate
Application opensOctober 11
Application dueOctober 18
Start of project cycleNovember 1
Holiday breakDecember 20 - 24
End of project cycleFebruary 11
Our volunteers can serve nonprofits through projects involving web and mobile app development, data visualizations, website design, and user-facing tools

CARE

Website Redesign
Crowdfunding for ecosystem services prototype for water team

Do For Children

Website Development
Development of a website to enable youth empowerment in Malawi

Amelior8

Website Redesign
Allowing NGOs to share resources and knowledge
We partner with students and recent graduates from the best universities
How it works

Fill out our project application

Meet with us and talk about your project

Pay a small fee to cover our operational costs

Collaborate with your team and keep track of progress

Nonprofit stories

AARP Innovation Labs

"The Develop For Good Team we worked with was amazing. The students added an extra dose of creative energy to our project. They thoroughly researched competitors and came in with a point of view for how best to design our app experience. They shared their perspective, responded to feedback well, and delivered everything we needed on time. We could not have gotten as far as we did without them"
Sheila Collins
Senior Advisor

NARF

“We are so grateful to Develop for Good for their amazing help. There is no way we could have even dreamed to have such capable help available to us without this program, as we are on a very limited budget and our constituencies needs dictate how we use any resources available. It's too difficult to find funding to get the sort of help we really needed, but only were able to receive thanks to this program!”
Brett Lee Shelton
Senior Staff Attorney

Smithsonian

“Develop For Good has been instrumental in helping our team of scientists to share thousands of specimen data with the public. These data will be uploaded to the Smithsonian’s online database for research and educational purposes. Undoubtedly, this important outreach project would not have happened on such a vast scale without this organization’s help”
Natasha Mehdiabadi
Research Associate
Frequently asked questions

Is my organization eligible for Develop for Good's services?

All eligible nonprofits or organizations must be able to present the following if requested:

  • U.S.-based nonprofits: letters of determination indicating 501(c)3 tax-exempt status

  • Non-U.S.-based nonprofits: proof of registered charity/nonprofit status in home country

  • Governing agencies/international organizations: proof of status

Although we resonate with the missions of social good start-ups and companies, we do not match volunteer developers and designers with for-profit organizations. If you are a for-profit group interested in recruiting our university talent, please reach out to maryzhu@developforgood.org to feature your opportunities on our website, newsletter, and our alumni group!

How will Develop for Good ensure a smooth project handover?

At the end of the project, we make sure to document all work before the handover. For nonprofits with their own in-house tech teams, we’ll provide all code to enable smooth integration into existing infrastructure. For nonprofits with non-technical teams, we’ll typically use content management systems and guide you through how to maintain the product and make changes in the future.

What is expected from our nonprofit group during project development?

We usually encourage having a point of contact from our clients to answer any questions the team may have, and keep track of progress through weekly or biweekly check-in meetings.

How does Develop for Good's nonprofit model work?

How much does this service cost?

What is the timeline of a typical project?

We aim for our engagements to last around 14 weeks, depending on the scope of the project. If the project goes beyond this timeline, we’ll make sure to add new volunteers to get things completed during the following cycle(s).

We kick off a new cycle of projects every three months (Spring – March, Summer – July, Winter – November). Regardless, we welcome nonprofits to submit project interest forms year-round. Please submit by the following deadline if you would like to have your nonprofit project included in the upcoming round. Otherwise, we’ll include you in the following round, or whenever works best on your end!

What skills do the volunteers have?

Our student & recent grad volunteers come from a range of backgrounds and experiences. Typically, we most often see these skills and frameworks:​

Product Manager ​

  • Responsibilities:​
    • Main point of contact between the team, nonprofit client, and all other stakeholders.

    • Organizes internal team meetings and check-ins with the client.

    • Proposes and maintains a project timeline.

    • Scopes out technical approach and design requirements of project.

    • Organizes resources and ensures documentation of all work.

    • Able and willing to contribute potentially more than a 5-10 hr/wk baseline commitment for at least a full project cycle.

  • Skills desired:

    • Leadership​ and management; strong coordinating/organizational skills and initiative.

    • Strong technical skills required of the specific project.

​Frontend Developer

  • ​Skills desired (any of):​
    • ​HTML, CSS, JavaScript
    • Frameworks like React, Angular, JQuery, Vue, AngularJS
    • Knowledge in responsive design

Backend Developer

  • Skills desired (any of):​

    • Python, Java, Ruby, PHP

    • Express.js, Node.js, Django

    • Databases like MySQL, SQL Server, SQLite

Product/UI/UX Designer

  • Skills desired (any of):

    • User experience investigation with data analytics

    • User research + interviewing

    • User flow diagramming

    • Prototyping with tools like Figma and Sketch

    • Building with content management systems

Data Engineer/Analyst

  • Skills desired (any of):

    • Excel, Python, Java, Scala

    • Knowledge of database systems

    • R, D3, and experience with data visualization tools like Tableau

    • Background in AI/ML

Can our group continue our partnership with Develop for Good?

We would love to stay connected! If there’s anything you would like changed or added to a product, we’d be happy to look into it (however, this may incur additional service fees depending on the scope of the request). Furthermore, if there are any future project opportunities that we can work on within other teams at your organization, please let us know!

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