Business & Tech

Have a Nonprofit? Learn to Build Your Online Presence

A web development firm is looking to help charities create and improve their websites, with a little help from some volunteer engineers.

For a group of self-proclaimed nerds, it will be a long, sleepless night — but well worth it.

The Nerdery, which has offices in both Illinois and Minnesota, is gearing up to host its first Overnight Website Challenge in Chicago. The firm works with advertisers and marketing firms to help build organizations’ digital presence.

Now, the company is looking for Web engineers willing to donate their time and nonprofit groups in need of a new website.

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To be eligible, charitable organizations must have 501(c)3 status in the State of Illinois.

“What we want them to do is kind of lay out their vision,” said Nerdery Communications Manager Mark Malmberg. “What do they want to do better, differently?”

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Malmberg said the Website Challenge was created more than four years ago as a way to reach out to nonprofits while allowing The Nerdery to work with talented Web developers.

“It was a good opportunity to meet a bunch of like-minded nerds,” he said.

A team of judges will choose which nonprofits have been deemed worthy of a free digital overhaul, Malmberg said. The Nerdery will choose engineer/nonprofit teams by July 18.

“They’re really the unsung heroes of the event,” Malmberg said of the judges, who are recruited by The Nerdery to make the call as to which organizations get to take part in the challenge. “They spend hours and hours going over applications from nonprofits.”

The teams will get to meet several weeks before the overnight challenge so developers and nonprofit leaders can share their visions for the project.

“It’s kind of like speed dating, where the Web development teams meet with the nonprofits, so they’re not flying blind,” said Nerdery Chicago Branch Manager David Kam. “They have a pretty good idea of what to expect.”

The event will culminate in the Aug. 20-21 Overnight Website Challenge in Chicago, when the engineers will get to work on their Web creations.

“It’s not just websites,” Kam said. “It’s also mobile apps,” including applications for both iPhone and Android platforms. The teams will compete to see which can create the most impressive digital concept.

A solid online presence is important for businesses as well as nonprofits, Malmberg said.

“It’s just kind of a basic need,” he said.

Once the competition is over, the Web developers often continue to work with nonprofits for several months to ensure that their new online creations are running smoothly, Malmberg said.

The Chicago Overnight Website Challenge will take place at Resolution Digital Studios Continuing Education Conference Center, 2226 W. Walnut St.

According to the company, charitable “nerds” in Minnesota have already donated $1.5 million in Web services, not to mention many sleepless nights, to 57 nonprofit organizations over the last four years.

Now it’s Chicago’s turn.

The application deadline for nonprofits is June 30. “Nerds” can apply online through July 15. The Nerdery will announce which nonprofit groups have been chosen on July 25.

Judges will rate the websites and apps, choosing one team as the winner of the Website Challenge.

But, Kam said, “In the end, everyone wins.

“All the nonprofits walk out with a new website that they didn’t have before.”

For more on the Website Challenge, visit the event page on the Nerdery’s site by clicking HERE. Videos of past Twin Cities Website Challenge events — including an appearance by U.S. Sen. Al Franken — are also on the site.


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