Nonprofits and web volunteers may apply for next Nerdery Overnight Website Challenge
Registration deadline is January 8 for the needy and the nerdy
Nerdery Interactive Labs (The Nerdery) has opened registration for The Nerdery Overnight Website Challenge (www.overnightwebsitechallenge.com). The application deadline for nonprofits is January 8; volunteer nerds have until January 18 to form development teams.
In the first two years of the web development company's annual 24-hour event, volunteers from The Nerdery and the Twin Cities interactive web development community at-large have donated well over half-a-million dollars worth of professional services to 23 Minnesota nonprofits.
Nonprofits apply by articulating their interactive needs and vision of how ten web pros could - in 24 hours - help them work smarter online, further their mission and better serve their community. To assess the work and needs of nonprofits from multiple sources, selection judges consider testimonials of people whose lives are affected by the nonprofits, as well as donors, board members, volunteers, staff and others.
On January 18, the selection of 12 web development teams will be announced. Qualifying volunteer teams will include programmers, designers and project managers, with preference given to balanced teams with a history of working together.
Nonprofits will be announced February 1, giving them ample time to prep for the March 20-21 all-nighter. Nonprofits and development teams will not know their pairings until moments before spending the next 24 hours getting acquainted/creative.
Rural Renewal Energy Alliance (RREAL), a nonprofit whose mission is making solar energy available to people of all income levels, earned an automatic spot at the Challenge by winning the Social Entrepreneur's Cup. The Nerdery further challenges all developers and nonprofits to implement "green" interactive strategies that will encourage ecologically responsible advocacy and action.
Nonprofits will receive complimentary education in design and web applications, business analysis or project management from event sponsor New Horizons of Minnesota, which will become Benchmark Learning on January 1. They also get one-year complimentary web-hosting subscription on event sponsor VISI's ReliaCloud service. In-kind sponsors include Chipotle, Peace Coffee, Pizza Luce' and Red Bull.
About The Nerdery
A division of Sierra Bravo Corp., The Nerdery (www.nerdery.com) partners with ad design and marketing agencies nationwide to execute their clients' interactive projects, including social media and mobile apps. Founded by three programmers in 2003, The Nerdery has a staff of 90 and has made The Inc. 5000 and Mpls.-St. Paul Biz Journal Fast 50 lists two consecutive years. We developed Fallon's vision for Skimmer, a lifestreaming app pooling users' social media content and winner of a 2009 Cannes Golden Lion. Also in 2009 we won the PhizzPop Design Challenge at SXSW Interactive by developing Zeus Jones's Usemore idea, an application for living green. Follow us on Twitter at the_nerdery and webchallenge. Read our blog at http://blog.nerdery.com.
About ReliaCloud
ReliaCloudTM, a service of VISI, will provide each of the participating non-profits $500 toward cloud servers. ReliaCloudTM Servers are complete computing environments that you can provision 24 hours-a-day, with full administrator access. Once you register for an account, you can begin building new cloud servers immediately. Every ReliaCloud Server account includes features such as high availability, load balancing, unlimited inbound data transfer, and 24×7x365 live support. To learn more about ReliaCloud, follow us on Twitter or Facebook, or visit www.reliacloud.com.
About New Horizons of Minnesota
Nonprofits will receive complimentary education in design and web applications, business analysis or project management from event sponsor New Horizons of Minnesota. New Horizons of Minnesota has been providing innovative education on cutting-edge topics for IT, ITIL, Developer, Business Analysis, Project Management and Business Professionals. On January 1, New Horizons of Minnesota will become Benchmark Learning. The change in name reflects the range of opportunities we will offer as an independent school as we end our affiliation with the New Horizons franchise. Our institution, founded in 1972, will continue to be a member of Globe Education Network (GEN). As such, we work closely with GEN colleges, including Globe University and Minnesota School of Business, to ensure our students receive full recognition for their training. Many certificates issued by Benchmark Learning map to and partially satisfy requirements for business and technology degrees at those colleges. For more information, please call or email your training advisor.
