Oct 30, 2023

Hello, friends!

Here’s another five-minute roundup of public good tech news for you, including events, funding opportunities, and other cool research and projects we thought you might want to know about.

But before we dive in, we want to highlight a resource. Please take a minute to check out our Accelerating Makers GitHub Repository. GitHub is often used as a code hosting platform for open-source software projects that enables easy collaboration among Makers. Also, GitHub can be used as an open repository for research — which is what we’re doing.

As our program builds out learning materials and convenes Makers with civil society integrators, we think it’s important to use the tools native to maker communities and make our resources available for further research and development. Recently, we published 16 DWeb Use Cases for Civil Society in the GitHub. The use cases are organized into three separate “bundles”: financial transactions, nonfinancial data verification and securitization, and local community networks. Check out the UseCases folder for the use case bundles and let us know what you think of the use cases themselves and the repository so far.

Thanks for taking a minute, and as always, if there’s anything we can do to support your work building public good technology for civil society, please write and let us know at makerlabs@techsoup.org.

And if you haven’t already, you can get join to the growing Accelerating Makers community.

Stay motivated,

Billy Bicket, on behalf of the Public Good App House team

Maker Events

Blockchain Basics for Nonprofits: Preparing for the Future

Blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and NFTs. We hear these terms every day, but what do they really mean? And, more importantly, how can they open up new opportunities for leaders in nonprofits and civil society?

🗓️ Wednesday, November 1, 12–1 p.m. EDT

🎫 Register now

Democratizing Access to Data

TechSoup partners in Colombia, Mexico, and Nigeria will share how they leveraged TechSoup’s instance of Google's Data Commons to explore distinct topics such as social and economic development, food security, and development.

🗓️ Tuesday, November 7, 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. EST

🎫 Register now

How Web3 Is Giving Power Back to Society (and Your Nonprofit Organization)

Explore what decentralization means and how Web3 technologies are making an impact on society, ownership, and sovereignty.

🗓️ Wednesday, November 15, 12 – 1 p.m. EST

🎫 Register now

Public Good Tech Ecosystem Events

Civic Hacker Summit

The Civic Hacker Summit is just around the corner! This free virtual conference is designed for people interested in using data and technology to transform their communities and address pressing public problems. Summit speakers include representatives from Gitcoin, Exygy, Digital Public Goods, The GovLab, CivicActions, and invited leaders of grassroots organizations and social impact startups.

Participants will be informed and inspired by a global panel of experts speaking about the most pressing issues of our time, including AI ethics, conflict resolution, DEIA, and gender equity.

🗓️ November 2–3

🎫 Register now.

The 2023 Democracy Forum: Presented by the Obama Foundation, this year's Democracy Forum will join activists, thought leaders, and changemakers to discuss the challenges that innovations like AI pose to economic and social inclusion and what we can do about it.

🗓️ November 3

🎫 Register now.

2023 Nonprofit Software Development Summit: Aspiration is a global leader in the design and delivery of innovative gatherings for nonprofit and non-governmental audiences. Over the past 15 years, it has convened and co-organized almost 700 highly interactive events in over 50 countries across the globe. This event will take place in Preservation Park, Oakland, California.

🗓️ November 15–17

🎫 Register now.

Build Peace 2023: Build Peace is a global conference and community of practice that examines emergent ethical challenges and solutions to peace building in the digital age. This year, the conference is scheduled for December 1–3 in Nairobi, Kenya. Registration for the 2023 Build Peace conference is now open.

🗓️ December 1–3

🎫 Register now.

Funding and Grant Opportunities

💰Catalyst Fund by the Green Screen Coalition

Supporting the burgeoning ecosystem of actors working on the intersection of digital rights and climate justice to build cross-territorial strategies and weave thematic threads across movements. Grants range from $10k to $40k. To apply, submit a concept note before November 15.

💰 Live Your Dream: Education & Training Awards for Women

The Live Your Dream Awards provide monetary assistance to women who provide the primary source of financial support for their families. Learn more and apply. Application deadline is November 15.

💰TxP Progress Prize

​​A new £5,000 blog prize, in partnership with Civic Future and New Statesman Spotlight, encouraging responses to the question: Britain is stuck. How can we get it moving again? Apply by January 7, 2024. Learn more and apply.

💰 2023 EmpowHer Grant

Boundless Futures Foundation's mission is to provide financial and leadership resources for aspiring female entrepreneurs building businesses to solve today’s biggest social issues so they can have a boundless impact in society. Apply by December 31.

Community Spotlight

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Introducing Azeem Khan

Azeem Khan is a serial entrepreneur, crypto investor, and Head of Impact at Gitcoin. A prominent social impact Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), Gitcoin has distributed over $72 million in grants to open-source software developers working on digital public goods. Azeem is also part of the World Economic Forum's Crypto Sustainability Coalition and has led a variety of Gitcoin’s social impact initiatives.

On Wednesday, October 4, Azeem presented How to Access Web3 Funding Sources for Makers in Civil Society. In his presentation, Azeem taught us about Gitcoin, quadratic funding, and the company’s unique approach to crowdfunding for public goods. He also spoke about a couple of case studies Gitcoin has run with nonprofits to support non-crypto-native, IRL communities such as the Oakland Local Round and UNICEF. Finally, he covered how Makers can utilize funding resources in the DWeb ecosystem, including hackathons, accelerators, grants, venture capital, and token launches. Be sure to watch the recording if you missed it, and follow Gitcoin and Azeem on social media to stay updated on their amazing work!

News and Other Cool Links

💥Gray Area has launched a DWeb for creators curriculum, empowering emerging artists with the knowledge and tools to adopt decentralized technology into their creative practices. Learn more and get involved.

💥Tigerhall is an online hub for thinkers designed to help organizations breathe life into their professional development with handpicked webinars with business leaders who have walked the path and made their wisdom accessible to all. Check out some of their live-streams!

💥Check out New_Public’s Digital Spaces Directory: a database with 200+ of the most interesting digital spaces and pieces of infrastructure we've discovered in the wider ecosystem of digital social products.

💥 All Tech Is Human’s Responsible Tech Guide is here! The people, organizations, and ideas of the Responsible Tech ecosystem and actionable ways to get involved. Download it from their website.

💥 The Civic Tech Field Guide is the world’s largest collection of projects using tech for the common good. Check it out and sign up for civic tech updates.

Support for Nonprofit Developers

If your project is a registered nonprofit, you’re eligible for TechSoup’s discount and donation program. These are among the 100+ products:

Thanks for reading! We hope you have a great day. If you have something that should be in our next newsletter, let us know at MakerLabs@TechSoup.org

Accelerating Makers is supported by an award from the Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web.