Here's How Non-Profits Can Find Free Engineers

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Image: Mashable composite, PR Newswire/Associated Press, Open Clip Art, j4p4n

By Matt Petronzio2014-02-21 04:30:00 UTC

Whether it's spreading awareness on social media or tapping into the power of mobile in developing countries, non-profits understand technology can be a force for good. They just don't always have the means or the know-how to harness it.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a professional organization with more than 400,000 members, is looking to close that gap. On Tuesday it launched App-E-Feat, a website designed to connect non-profits with engineers who can satisfy their tech needs — for free.

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A non-profit can log in to the site and put in a request for a mobile app — whether it's to help collect data, accept donations or even to keep track of the population it hopes to serve. IEEE currently has 400 engineers standing by to take on these projects, and it will continue to bring in additional volunteers.

App-E-Feat is part of IEEE's Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Commitment to Action — a pledge to make 150 useful apps by the end of 2014. The site grew out of an idea that Karen Panetta, IEEE Fellow, VP of communications of IEEE-USA and associate dean at Tufts Graduate School of Engineering, came up with a year ago.

"I was at a session where President Clinton talked about recovery in Haiti, and he was in awe of how smartphones and mobile applications really helped in the face of natural disasters," Panetta tells Mashable. "I thought, 'Wow, [IEEE has] 400,000 engineers around the world to do this for fun. And that's how App-E-Feat was born."

Once an engineer is paired with a non-profit, he or she can discuss the organization's needs, come up with a possible app, and talk about how it will function.

"They'll give them mockup screens, and then they'll go implement it. If the organization likes it, we give them the help and support for deploying it," Panetta says.

An example of a recent app request from a non-profit.

Every app will be open source, allowing non-profits to adapt and evolve the codes in any way they see fit. Reusability is a huge factor, according to Panetta. She expects App-E-Feat's repository of apps that not only help organizations better serve their missions, but also teach less experienced coders about programming.

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App-E-Feat also has a contest, open to technical professionals and students above age 13, that calls for an app or a concept that has a positive impact. This could be for a specific non-profit or addresses an issue somewhere in the world. Younger contestants, who are less likely to know how to develop an app, can draw or write about their ideas. The contest runs through May 19.

"Even if they don't have a clue about the different types of mobile apps that are out there, by seeing the non-profits and learning about them, they're exposed to things they never knew existed," Panetta says. "There's a huge educational component to it, bringing awareness to different societal problems and how people can actually make a difference."

Contest entries to that same repository of open-source apps. "We're really hoping to bring awareness to how simple, everyday technologies can have immediate impact on lives," Panetta says. "And personally, I hope that young people around the world will see that they have the power to make change."

Panetta, who also runs the organization Nerd Girls, will give an outreach presentation on App-E-Feat at the all-girls Brearley School in New York City on Friday.

"They all use cellphones, they're all playing with mobile apps — why not have them create them and learn how to do that?" she says. "[We can] build their confidence level, so they say, 'Hey, I've already worked with technology, why should I be afraid of it?'"

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Topics: app-e-feat, apps, Apps and Software, engineering, ieee, Mobile, Social Good, STEM, Tech