URL

https://www.facebook.com/HackforDemocracy/

What

An event dedicated to bringing together people of diverse backgrounds and skill sets to help tackle the immediate challenges facing U.S. organizations in the world today.

Why

There are a lot of very talented people in the world with unique skill sets. There are also a lot of amazing organizations out there trying to help the people most in need. Unfortunately, due to the lack of funds and/or capacity, organizations don’t have the means of hiring large numbers of talented people. This event was created in an effort to help address this problem. Many talented people want to help these organizations and many organizations need the help. Hack for Democracy brings these two sides together in one event and structures it in a way that projects aren’t just abandoned once the event is over.

Learnings

• Hackathons work best when there is more structure around how teams should be formed, what they should work on, and who should make up the team. The upfront planning maximizes people’s time and helps foster the best output.
• Half the battle of short events is getting people to meet and share ideas efficiently.
• Despite being sprints, hackathons are still long events. People need to given things to do or they will end up leaving.