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Can anybody suggest the best way to go about finding software development jobs within charitable organisations?

This comes from an experienced developer who dreams of working for a company he actually believes in :)

The most obvious answer would be, of course, to check job listings for some of the larger charities. But how about the large number of smaller charities out there? Where would they advertise?

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Do you expect to be paid? – user1249 May 26 '11 at 15:57
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The market is not that big. I would enumerate all charities in places you would not mind living, then checking if they have open jobs, and then apply. I thought of working for a charity but decided against it. I believe that people running charities should be underpaid, to keep the charities efficient. At the same time I deserve that damn raise!!! The only resolution I found is to contribute a certain %-tage of my income to my favorite charities. – Job Dec 15 '11 at 2:08

closed as off topic by Yannis Rizos♦ Feb 22 '12 at 16:43

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4 Answers

up vote 1 down vote

Since they are in business of charity and not making profit, they are surely not having a lot of paid positions, at least not advertised ones.I sincerely hope you find one, but think there is little chance they have real in-house sets of developers.

Having said that, I think the proper way to go here would be to maybe approach one in your area and ask if you can make some software for them to use and do it for free.

Then see if it's possible to get a job or a part time 10hr/week gig for them while you retain your "evil" day-job that pays the bills.

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in the U.S. non-profit is just as much for profit as anything else, some do have a lot of free volunteer labor, but there are tons of paid positions for these companies and they pay well, the "evil" day job is collecting 6 figures from the red cross – Ryathal Dec 14 '11 at 21:54
@Ryathal: They're still non-profit, but they frequently pay their people. There's a difference between employee salaries and corporate profit. – David Thornley Dec 14 '11 at 22:12
up vote 2 down vote

Many charities simply contract their work out to local companies. Many of these companies provide them with reduced rate/free services. My company has done this for a few around here and I have 120 billable hours this year that were donated to a nonprofit that our CEO believes in.

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up vote 4 down vote

Why not start that website that you are looking for? I'm thinking "where charity ideas and programmers meet".

If you start that site, advertise it, and get successful with tons of charity coders meeting tons of charity software projects, you are done. :)

I googled for a site like this and it seems like the field is open. I would have loved to find one, though.

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And I would love to help making this kind of website ;) – Romain Piel Feb 21 '12 at 16:48
up vote 1 down vote

Why not just simply work for a commercial organisation as your main income stream and offer your services pro bono to charities in your spare time. Best of both worlds!

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That wouldn't work unless you have a part-time job with enough time left to dedicate to the charity job. If you work 40 hours a week on a normal job, do the shopping, clean the house, meet some friends, ... how much time is left to have an extra work? – Giorgio Dec 14 '11 at 22:15
If you have nothing positive to contribute, I would suggest staying out of the debate. Only the OP would know if he has enough time. I would therefore confidently think only he could categorically state if my suggestion would or would not work for his circumstance. How do you know he works 40 hours p/w, or does not do his weekly shopping via a simple 5 minute internet browse? Thanks for the input though, we don't have enough positivity around here! – Darren Young Dec 14 '11 at 22:42
Sorry if I sounded more negative than I wanted to. I considered working for a charity myself while keeping my current job. I soon realized that I wouldn't have been able to do it in my spare time after working full time: it is just that 40 hours per week in front of a computer is enough for me. But you are right that the OP might find the idea both good and feasible. So, I formulate my observation again: this idea would not be feasible for me with a full-time job; maybe it is feasible for the OP. – Giorgio Dec 14 '11 at 22:56

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