Nonprofit Technology Conference People Donated Our Money. But to Whom?

The Nonprofit Technology Conference (NTC) is the annual gathering of people who want to make the world a better place through the skillful and equitable use of technology. We sponsored the event and hosted an exhibition booth where, instead of giving away schwag, we invited NTC-ers to adorn our booth with the name of a charity they support, with the promise that we’d donate to them. And those donations are on their way. See how the community told us to spend the funds, and get a little background on how this charity donation booth came to be.

Why a donation booth?

Whether we’re in the office or dialing in remotely, we often talk about the news and what’s going on in our respective cities. At one point and in one way or another, each of us has acknowledged that current events around the world invite us, as individuals and as a company, to take a stand for what we believe in. We wanted to do something that would help us—and others—concretely act on our values.

NTC-ers’ beneficiaries

Overall, we are set to shepherd 61 charitable donations from our booth, supporting nonprofits around the country. Check out these pictures of NTC-ers with their donation proclamations.

Yes to empowering youth. Thanks Kelly Delaney from the Drupal Association for giving to Friends of the Children Portland. They guide, support, and mentor hundreds of youth across the Portland metropolitan area.

Yes to healing and violence prevention. Thanks Elisha Feliciano from Pantheon for donating to Rape Trauma Services. RTS aims to eliminate all forms of violence, with a special focus on sexual assault and abuse.

Thanks Aimee Giroux for giving to Greater Springfield Habitat for Humanity, whose goal is to build strength, stability, and self-reliance through shelter. 

Yes to alleviating poverty. Thanks Liya Warren for supporting One Day’s Wages, whose goal is to alleviate extreme global poverty in our lifetime.

Thank you, Emily Harden, for giving to GLAAD. Founded in 1985, GLAAD focuses on LGBTQ advocacy and cultural change. 

Thank you to Michelle Shen for donating to Humanity & Inclusion. They work alongside people with disabilities to deliver life-changing aid in 60 countries during times of peace, conflict and disaster.

Most popular types of beneficiaries

NTC 2024 attendees identified a wide array of beneficiaries. Notably, seven out 61 donations aim to bring emergency relief to Gaza. 11 out of 61 will go to support kids in some way (including 3 for kids in Palestine.) The chart below breaks down who NTC-ers named as beneficiaries by cause type. 

Data Table:

Putting our money where our mouth is

Somehow, years of using our events to help nonprofits, in various ways, hasn’t lost its shine. So, we keep doing it. But here’s how we came up with the idea:

2017 was an extremely politically turbulent post-election year in the US. In all of the ways we were to show up that year, we wanted to urge people around us to act on their values. We came up with the “Be a Force” campaign umbrella for BADCamp in Berkeley, CA, and in thinking about how to execute it at our sponsor booth, we first imagined an interactive set of drawers visitors would open to discover unique prompts on how to do good. But after recognizing the production hassle of a bulky, 3D installation, we pared it back to a 2D wall. This direction got us to the notion of giving much of our sponsorship budget to charity. And then one of us asked, “maybe there are charity gift cards online.” And so, our first donation wall encouraged visitors to take a charity gift card off of our wall and replace it with the name of the organization to which they’d donate. 

By the end of BADCamp 2017, we’d made a big beautiful wall with lots of colors.

Outcomes

As technologists, designers, and business leaders, we attend conferences to network and hone our skills – skills we put to the service of causes. Conversation in the web design and development space are typically about the How, not the Why. Our new 2024 booth got people talking about causes individuals at The Nonprofit Technology Conference care deeply about, and in so doing created a portrait of the community.

Thank you to everyone who helped donate to nonprofits at our booth. Special thanks to NTC for providing a forum for this to happen. We hope our action inspires folks to keep doing work for causes that matter to them.

A special shout-out to everyone who participated at NTC! It was so lovely to see you all!

Gallery of images from NTC 2024 

Check out all the photos from NTC 2024 on Flickr  or by using the embedded carousel gallery widget below (hover over the image or tap to activate).