For Nonprofits
Are you a nonprofit who would like to have some quality software developed for free? Well you've come to the right place! Read on for more information...
Nonprofit and project requirements
We have a few requirements for software systems developed by the SLP:
- The software must be for a nonprofit in our community. Formally,
you must be a 501(c)(3) organization. Currently, "our community"
means the Charlottesville/Albemarle area. And the primary goal
of that nonprofit must be charitable in nature (e.g., no athletic
leagues, fraternities or sororities, political organizations, etc.).
- Religious organizations are fine, as long as the purpose of the nonprofit is secular -- separation of church and state prevents us, a state institution, from developing software for religious purposes. However, if a local church runs, say, a soup kitchen which is open to all, then developing software to help the soup kitchen would be perfectly acceptable.
- The software must have sufficient complexity for a group project
of 5-6 computing majors. Thus, designing a pretty website with lots of
content is not really the type of technical challenge needed to make
this a worthwhile project for the SLP, as we need a
year-long project for a group of computing majors. Some examples of
possible software systems include: personnel management,
volunteer-nonprofit communications, asset tracking, etc. While we
expect most of the software to be web-based, that's certainly not a
requirement. We are happy to discuss what constitutes a valid project,
if you are unsure.
- As much as is possible, the software must be free to use. While
we realize that a personnel management system may only be used by
staff members of the nonprofit, any public facing system may not
require financial payment to use.
- The software is free for the nonprofit to use forever (including
augmenting it, modifying it, etc.), but the code is owned by the
development group and the SLP program. Only the development group
and/or the SLP may distribute the software. And we reserve the right
to use the website -- and images thereof -- in our advertisements and
communications (this pertains to the code we develop and not to any
confidential information, obviously). There will be a licensing
agreement to this effect to sign.
- The nonprofit must be willing to dedicate some time to the
development of this system. Typically, this means a regular
bi-weekly meeting with the students, as well as providing
feedback on the site, describing requirements, etc.
Basically, we need to know what you want, how you like what is
being developed, and what we can do better to fulfill you
needs. We do not expect you to have any computing or software
engineering knowledge.
- Any costs incurred by this project must be borne by the nonprofit.
Typically, that means proving the hosting platform for the
final deployed software (although we have leads as to free
hosting services). But this may also include staff time in
support of the project, if that is needed. Basically, we do
not want the students to have to pay for their project.
- And the standard disclaimer whenever something is free: there is no warranty.
As this is a year-long course, the development work begins in September, with expected deployment the following April.
I want some!
Still with us? Not scared off by all the disclaimers? Feel free to send an e-mail to aaron (at) virginia (dot) edu for more information! Selection is made by a process that seems remarkably similar to a Magic 8-ball.
