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I love the hypothetical and how you've asked it. But to be serious, your programming skills are going to be of almost no use to them. Hell, go look at the Zim

I love the hypothetical and how you've asked it. But to be serious, your programming skills are going to be of almost no use to them. Hell, go look at the Zimbabwe government's website to see how much they care - http://www.gta.gov.zw/ http://www.gta.gov.zw/ (prepare to cringe). What skills you DO have are compassion, finances, and the ability to get awareness up HERE. Tons of charities need better and more functional websites that come up more often in SEO. They need more prominent donation tabs, they need websites that better explain their mission and better recruit. You can create a site to promote a cause, you can team up with someone and start your own charity (I intend to). There's tons you can do. Just because you're not on location doesn't mean you're not making an impact.

Tichy 18y ago
What is a good way to find an appropriate organization to help, with an office where I live?
- Mystalic 18y ago
  Charity Guide (http://www.charity-charities.org http://www.charity-charities.org) is a place to start, though it mostly lists local branches of larger charities.
  - Tichy 18y ago
    Thanks. What I would most like is some organization that really looks into the economics side of things. That is, I would like to be able to help with my maths skills, and, perhaps selfishly, pick up some knowledge about economics along the way. Still, helping with web sites would be a start.
  - LogicHoleFlaw 18y ago
    Not to discourage you, but pick wisely if you go the charity route. I've worked with some great charities, and with utterly incompetent ones rife with cronyism, bureaucracy, and flagrant wasting of donation money. It can be hard to tell which will be which before you actually work with it.
    - khafra 18y ago
      It's not a panacea, but if you can get ahold of the Combined Federal Campaign's big book o' charities, it tells what percentage of donated funds goes to administrative and other expenses, and which goes directly to the cause. http://www.opm.gov/cfc/html/qfd.asp http://www.opm.gov/cfc/html/qfd.asp
radu_floricica 18y ago
You slashdotted it. Or something. I'm in Romania, which right now is a proud member of the European Union and thoroughly civilized. Well, it's in EU, anyways. I'm talking about an ex comunist country with an literacy percent of 99 and university free education all the way. And still, every time I went into a public institution for the last 15 years I wished they'd let me write software for them for free. The problem is, they don't (i asked). There are more software companies here then mushrooms after a rain (my own startup included) and still the main clients are foreign. Both the private sector and the government are very very oblivious to any advantages software could bring. It pains me, but what developing countries need are not hackers, but evangelists, and damn good ones at that. More like missionaries, actually.
Agathos 18y ago
Software that could be useful to Zimbabwe's government... that's an interesting challenge. How about a Google Maps mashup that allows government goons to share notes on where opposition leaders are hiding?

Tichy 18y ago

What is a good way to find an appropriate organization to help, with an office where I live?

Mystalic 18y ago
Charity Guide (http://www.charity-charities.org http://www.charity-charities.org) is a place to start, though it mostly lists local branches of larger charities.
- Tichy 18y ago
  Thanks. What I would most like is some organization that really looks into the economics side of things. That is, I would like to be able to help with my maths skills, and, perhaps selfishly, pick up some knowledge about economics along the way. Still, helping with web sites would be a start.
- LogicHoleFlaw 18y ago
  Not to discourage you, but pick wisely if you go the charity route. I've worked with some great charities, and with utterly incompetent ones rife with cronyism, bureaucracy, and flagrant wasting of donation money. It can be hard to tell which will be which before you actually work with it.
  - khafra 18y ago
    It's not a panacea, but if you can get ahold of the Combined Federal Campaign's big book o' charities, it tells what percentage of donated funds goes to administrative and other expenses, and which goes directly to the cause. http://www.opm.gov/cfc/html/qfd.asp http://www.opm.gov/cfc/html/qfd.asp

radu_floricica 18y ago

You slashdotted it. Or something. I'm in Romania, which right now is a proud member of the European Union and thoroughly civilized. Well, it's in EU, anyways. I'm talking about an ex comunist country with an literacy percent of 99 and university free education all the way. And still, every time I went into a public institution for the last 15 years I wished they'd let me write software for them for free. The problem is, they don't (i asked). There are more software companies here then mushrooms after a rain (my own startup included) and still the main clients are foreign. Both the private sector and the government are very very oblivious to any advantages software could bring. It pains me, but what developing countries need are not hackers, but evangelists, and damn good ones at that. More like missionaries, actually.

Agathos 18y ago

Software that could be useful to Zimbabwe's government... that's an interesting challenge. How about a Google Maps mashup that allows government goons to share notes on where opposition leaders are hiding?