Hackathons - how can charities benefit from them, and how companies can help

Making the most of hackathons, and learning from big business

It’s Halloween and half-term week, so you get a shortened newsletter this week whilst I’m celebrating my Celtic roots, carving turnips and dressing up in disguise to hide from evil spirits (my poor kids get the authentic Halloween version with lots of scary turnips and hardly any packets of Haribo or Reeses Peanut cups)

Season 2 Episode 3: Getting the most from Hackathons

In the podcast, I delve into the world of hackathons with #Dev4Good hackathon expert, Craig Hogan

We hear a little bit about the differences he’s seen between smaller start-ups and larger technology teams in charities, and we also hear about what he’s learned from running hackathons with charities. We also get into a discussion around around corporate partnerships involving technology, and how to get the most from them.

Less is more?

After complaints from some people that their dog couldn’t handle the long walks aligned to 45minute podcasts, you might notice I’ve been trying to keep them a bit shorter. Please do feed back if I’ve gone too far - and that the shorter podcasts are now meaning you can’t even squeeze in a 5k run.

Check below for links to listen to the podcast.

Stay Tuned for more insights in future episodes

If you haven’t listened to Season 1 yet – have a look back at some great previous episodes, with a particular focus on AI Adoption. In Season 2, we have guests from across the NFP/Charity sector, as well as outside challenging voices, and some guests from international organisations. We also featured an episode recorded live with a panel at this year’s Charity IT Leaders conference. Virtue & Virtuosity comes out fortnightly. If you’re keen for me to feature something going on in your charity, please get in touch - and do comment on anything in here, or in the podcast that you like.

Remember – follow on your favourite podcast platform, today, so that you don’t miss an episode.

https://virtuevirtuosity.com

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0G3vGA98kpk6biZqQVsSVL?si=005d3205859d4668

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/virtue-virtuosity/id1742994475

Podbean: https://www.podbean.com/podcast-detail/ynvth-2fcfed/Virtue—Virtuosity-Podcast

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@VirtueVirtuosity

Castbox: https://castbox.fm/channel/Virtue-%26-Virtuosity-id6126681

RSS feed: https://feeds.alitu.com/63115191

(please ask if you think there is somewhere I else I should be publishing, and I’ll endeavour to add it!)

About our host and guests

Stuart McSkimming, Podcast Host

Stuart is an independent consultant and founder of the sector-specific Technology consultancy, Virtue Chain . He is an award-winning leader with over twenty years’ experience in NFP/Charity leadership roles, predominantly in the technology/digital and transformation space. He is an expert in getting the most from teams and focusing organisations on strategic goals to get the most from Technology & Digital. He is passionate about organisations focusing on inclusion and finding ways to attract a diverse mix of top talent into their teams. He has worked as a CIO for two organisations – Shelter and Royal British Legion, and also a variety of roles for VSO – including a short stint as an Interim International Development Country Director in VSO Nepal. Stuart is extensively networked in the not-for-profit sector both in the UK, and internationally, and is the Vice Chair of top membership organisation, Charity IT Leaders. Stuart enjoys regular public speaking, and also has been known to do stand-up comedy gigs occasionally.

Virtue Chain offers a unique model for charities to access technology advice from experts with relevant experience within the sector across a number of different specialist skillsets. If you or your charity are looking for one-off tech-focused advice, or an ongoing call-off service with our experts, then get in touch with [email protected]

In case its not obvious, views expressed are Stuart’s own view, and don’t represent those of any organisations he is working with or mentions.

Craig Hogan, Dev4Good expert

Craig has held a number of roles leading engineering teams in organisations over the past 20 years