About Us « Hackers For Charity

What?

Picking on charities is just plain rude. Thankfully, that’s not what we’re about. We’re about proving that hackers have amazing skills that can transform charitable organizations. We’re about stepping into the gap to feed and educate the world’s most vulnerable citizens. We are virtual, geographically diverse and different. We are Hackers for Charity.

The Classroom Initiative

We accept financial donations (or your old gear which we’ll sell) for use in computer classrooms in some of the world’s poorest countries. It may seem odd to deploy computer classrooms to areas where children often go without food, but these classrooms are part of a bigger initiative. AOET (the organization we focus on) supplies food, shelter, medical care, education and training to the world’s most vulnerable citizens. Even in the world’s most remote areas, computer skills (especially word processing) provide an extremely viable source of sustainable income. By providing relevant, marketable skills training, students are empowered, providing them with a bright future in which they can support themselves and their families without the need for charitable “handouts”. To that end, we are dedicated to building computer training centers in East Africa, under the supervision of AOET staff. So far, we have built three classrooms: one in Webuye, Kenya, one at St. John’s Wakitaka in Uganda and and one at the Rehaboth Integrated High School. Click here to learn more about how you can get involved and check out the video below for an overview.

Community Centers

Classrooms have their place, but our vision has expanded to include community centers. These centers allow students and members of the community to participate in computer training. Click here or on the image below to learn more about our community centers.

Technical Services

This is the initiative that raises eyebrows. We employ volunteer hackers (no questions asked) and engage their skills in short “microprojects” designed to help charities that can not afford traditional technical resources. Our industry experts vet all the work to guarantee a high-quality product, and volunteers are rewarded with glowing references from our industry-recognized subject matter experts. With each project, our volunteers move one step closer to that dream job, and a charity is brought one step closer to its technical goals. We’ve designed and built web sites, set up blogs, programmed custom web applications, conducted code reviews, performed security assessments and more, all through our volunteer’s efforts. In addition, thanks to one donor, we provide hosting, bandwidth and support for the final product free of charge.

Food Program

We provide food to children in East Africa children through our food program. All the profits from sales of my No-Tech Hacking book go into this program alongside other with the income from our (upcoming) Informer subscription program. The program begins with $9 per child, which can feed them for an entire month. The donation consists of 16kg of maize (dried corn), cooking fat and spices, but children must agree to participate in a small work program, in which they receive kale (greens) seedlings. The seedlings are planted into the maize bags (filled with dirt) and after watering and tending the plants grow and produce kale, which is very high in nutrients and tastes wonderful. The chutes from the kale plants can also be transplanted to create more kale plants. The gardens last for years and feed many families, regardless of whether they own land. These are called “kitchen gardens”. So far we have fed hundreds of children through this program. Please consider a donation or a subscription to help us continue this work indefinitely. Check out our forums, consider joining one of our subscription services, connect with a personal donation, visit our store, and spread the word. Were glad you’re here.