The 2008 Nonprofit Software Development Summit was the second annual convening of people and organizations developing software tools, web applications and other technology to support social justice causes. Bringing together a diverse range of developers, technologists, managers, eRiders, integrators, users and other practitioners who self-identify under the umbrella of roles around “developing nonprofit software”, the 2008 DevSummit provided an opportunity both to gather as a community and to take stock of the field, while building connections and capacity.
The event targeted a range of audiences, including developers writing code to support nonprofit needs, nonprofit users with strong opinions about what software you need developed to empower your programs and operations, integrators deploying tools for nonprofit and social justice organizations, and individuals who just care about seeing better technology developed to address the broad range of issues we face as a global community.
The event was supported by the generosity of 2008 Dev Summit sponsors Sun, NetSquared, Google, Open Source Matters, and CiviCRM, as well as anonymous donors.
To learn more about what went down...
Check out the Event Schedule and Sessions List.
Feel free to join the Event Mailing List to participate in discussions about this and the next Summit!
Send any outstanding questions or comments you have to info@aspirationtech.org.
Goals of the Summit
The Summit had as its primary goals the following:
- To convene and strengthen connections between the networks of stakeholders in the nonprofit software ecosystem, providing a fun and creative environment for celebrating successes and leadership in the field.
- To share skills and knowledge in a highly collaborative, peer-to-peer fashion.
- To map and discuss what is available and what is missing across the nonprofit software landscape in specific software “verticals”, and to posit solutions for addressing the gaps.
- To offer a point of entry for software developers interested in offering their skills to nonprofit sector.
The agenda took a concrete and hands-on approach to topics and challenges, focusing on transferring skills and process knowledge in interactive and fun ways. Panels and slideware were in short supply as with any Aspiration event, supplanted by participant-driven collaborations and small-group formats.
Event partners working with Aspiration to design the agenda and sessions included Blue Oxen Associates, Brattleboro Technology Collective, Chandler, Change.org, Chicago Technology Cooperative, CITI, CiviCRM, Craigslist Foundation, DemocracyInAction, Drupal, EarthJustice, Floatleft, FLOSSManuals.net, Gotham Gazette, Jacob Appelbaum, Joomla!, MAPLight, MobileVoter, Nonprofit Open Source Initiative (NOSI), NetSquared, Newscloud, OpenMRS, The Open Planning Project, PICnet, protest.net, Radical Designs, Salesforce.com Foundation, SFCCP, SproutBuilder, TechCafeteria, Tim Bishop, United States Institute of Peace and WiredForChange.
As with all Aspiration events, the agenda was extremely participant-driven, developed in collaboration with participants and session facilitators. Sessions for the event included:
- Open Source CMS Mini-Summit
- Listening to Users and Designing Appropriate Tools
- eAdvocacy Platform and API survey
- Open Source Case Management
- The State of Nonprofit CRM
- API Review: Where Are We At With Tool and Platform Integration?
- Business Models for Nonprofit Software Development
- Building Usability into Nonprofit Tools
- Software Project Management
- Engineering for Accessibility and Inclusion
- Helping Non-Techies and Techies Build Successful Software Projects
- Going Green: Serving Sites on Less Carbon
We thank everyone who helped to make the 2008 Nonprofit Software Development Summit a huge success!