The way nonprofits and social impact organizations do their work has changed dramatically. Today, nearly every aspect of their mission — from advocating for human rights to delivering essential community services — depends on digital systems. This shift has created new opportunities to serve more people, build power, and drive systemic change. But in this moment, when political and social forces are increasingly hostile to those fighting for equity and justice, it also introduces new risks.

Protecting digital systems means rethinking how we approach security. It’s not just about firewalls and encryption or regulatory compliance; it’s about ensuring that technology strengthens the resilience of the people and movements behind it. It means designing systems that protect activists, safeguarding community data from exploitation, and ensuring that digital infrastructure can’t be used to silence or harm those it was meant to support.

At its core, digital resilience is about upholding the values that drive social impact work — justice, equity, and collective care. In this moment, when the stakes are higher than ever, we need to build technology that not only withstands threats but actively strengthens the power of those fighting for a better world.

Digital Resilience in Action

At Software for Good, we believe digital resilience isn’t just about security — it’s about protecting movements, communities, and the ability to keep doing essential work in an increasingly volatile world. We help organizations build resilience in three critical areas:

Safeguarding Community Trust

For many social impact organizations, trust is everything. Communities share sensitive information — health records, legal histories, personal details — because they believe it will be protected. That trust is sacred, and keeping it safe is both a security challenge and a moral responsibility. We build systems that prioritize both privacy and accessibility, ensuring that information is protected while remaining available to those who need it.

When Minnesota needed to rapidly distribute over $70 million in emergency housing assistance during the pandemic, we partnered with HousingLink to create a system designed with dignity and security at its core. Instead of collecting excessive personal details, we built a platform that gathered only what was absolutely necessary — reducing risk while making the process more humane. Every unnecessary data point we didn’t collect was one less vulnerability that could be exploited. The result was a secure, streamlined platform that processed over 70,000 requests and helped more than 63,000 households stay housed in a time of crisis.

Ensuring Essential Services Stay Online

Communities depend on nonprofits and advocacy groups for services they can’t get anywhere else — whether that’s healthcare, housing support, or legal aid. But when digital infrastructure fails, the consequences aren’t just inconvenient; they can be devastating. We help organizations create backup systems, continuity plans, and alternative access points so that when challenges arise, people still get the support they need.

As the legal landscape around reproductive healthcare continues to shift, we’ve worked with abortion funds and reproductive justice organizations to build resilient, independent digital infrastructure. We focus on ensuring these organizations can continue coordinating essential healthcare, even as political attacks escalate. This includes creating systems that are decentralized, adaptable, and resistant to external interference — because no organization fighting for human rights should be at the mercy of a tech platform’s changing policies.

Defending Organizational Independence

Many social impact organizations rely on third-party platforms for essential work — email services, donation platforms, cloud storage — but what happens when those platforms change their policies, restrict access, or raise prices? For organizations serving marginalized communities, sudden platform restrictions can mean lost funding, silenced voices, or interrupted services. We help organizations design systems they can control, reducing dependence on any single provider and ensuring their ability to operate on their own terms.

For Resmaa Menakem’s Black Octopus Society, building resilience started with a fundamental decision: choosing a platform that would allow long-term control over content and community data. Instead of locking his transformative teaching work into a custom system that could create future dependencies, we helped evaluate platforms based on technical strength, adaptability, and alignment with his values. The final choice, Mighty Networks, ensured that Resmaa retained full ownership of his content while maintaining independent backups. If policies changed, his work wouldn’t disappear. By integrating his content across multiple channels, we built additional layers of protection, ensuring that his teachings on somatic abolitionism remain accessible — no matter what shifts in the digital landscape.

Our Approach to Digital Resilience

At Software for Good, we know that digital security isn’t just about technology — it’s about protecting people, movements, and the essential work of social impact organizations. As organizations rely more on digital tools, they face new challenges — but also new opportunities to strengthen their work. With decades of experience, we’ve developed an approach that prioritizes resilience, trust, and mission-driven technology, ensuring that vital work continues without interruption, without compromise, and without fear.

Security That Strengthens Mission-Driven Work

Put Relationships First – Security should never create barriers to connection. We design protection that strengthens relationships, ensuring communities can engage, advocate, and receive support without fear.

Learn From Experience – The best security solutions come from deep listening. We work with organizations to understand how they operate, what their communities need, and how technology can serve — rather than disrupt — their mission.

Turn Risks Into Opportunities – Digital tools can be a source of risk or a force for resilience. We help organizations embrace technology in ways that enhance security, expand access, and amplify impact.

Protect the Mission, Not Just the Tech – Security should never be a burden. By handling the technical complexities, we free teams to focus on their real work — whether that’s organizing communities, providing direct services, or advocating for change.

When we approach digital protection with care, strategy, and an unwavering commitment to justice, we create something far more valuable than security alone. We help organizations build power, sustain movements, and deepen their impact in the communities they serve.

How We Can Help: Digital Resilience Consulting

Through our Digital Resilience Consulting services, we provide mission-driven organizations with the expertise and tools to strengthen their digital infrastructure, ensuring they can continue their vital work without disruption.

Our services include:

Risk & Resilience Audits – Assessing vulnerabilities in digital systems, data security, and platform dependencies.

Security & Privacy Strategy – Designing policies and technical safeguards to protect sensitive information and maintain community trust.

Continuity & Backup Planning – Ensuring essential services remain available through redundancy planning and infrastructure resilience.

Technology Independence Consulting – Reducing reliance on single platforms and ensuring long-term control over critical systems.

Training & Capacity Building – Equipping teams with the knowledge and skills to maintain and adapt secure, resilient systems.

Our approach ensures organizations are not only protected from immediate threats but also positioned for long-term sustainability, growth, and impact.

The post Digital Resilience: Protecting Essential Services in Challenging Times appeared first on Software for Good.

We want to meet you!

We are looking to connect with front-end developers who want to put their skills to use building technology that helps people live more fully and freely. We are currently seeking collaborators for potential long-term contracts who share our values and can partner with our clients to harness the power of technology for shared abundance and liberation.

Working with Software for Good means the opportunity to provide our clients thoughtful guidance on the impacts of technology—intended and unintended—and finding the most effective ways to reach their goals. We’ve partnered with some amazing organizations to build software to connect people to housing, deliver mental health care online, transform food systems, and more. You can see some of our past projects here.

Some of the skills we’re looking for include:

• WordPress and/or Drupal development

• React or React Native development

• TypeScript

• Tailwind CSS or other CSS frameworks

• Expertise in building accessible experiences following WCAG standards

• Experience creating responsive websites that put users’ needs first

• Close collaboration with clients to understand their goals, make their ideas tangible, and make sure functionality aligns with the project’s strategic vision

We’re looking for new skills and perspectives to add to our network. We strive to include people from underrepresented backgrounds, and would love to know what specific talents you could bring to our mission-driven client projects.

We work fully remotely. Generally, we extend the opportunity for work on an as-needed basis, and aren’t able to guarantee a regular number of hours in advance. For legal and payment reasons, we are only able to work with people authorized to work in the United States. Our contracting rates are $75–$115/hour based on level of experience.

Wondering if this opportunity is a good fit for you? We think we have a lot to offer, including the chance to do meaningful work alongside people who really care and a positive work environment with a fully remote team.

Tell us why you’re interested in the role by sending the following to jobs@softwareforgood.com:

• Your resume or portfolio

• Contractor rate

• A little bit about why you’re interested in Software for Good, and how you can contribute to our mission

Our team will follow up with you to learn more and share potential opportunities.

The post Job Post: Contract Front-End Developer appeared first on Software for Good.

We want to meet you!

We are looking to connect with mobile developers who want to put their skills to use building technology that helps people live more fully and freely. We are currently seeking collaborators for potential long-term contracts who share our values and can partner with our clients to harness the power of technology for shared abundance and liberation.

Working with Software for Good means the opportunity to provide our clients thoughtful guidance on the impacts of technology—intended and unintended — and finding the most effective and ethical ways to reach their goals. We’ve partnered with some amazing

organizations to build software to connect people to housing, deliver mental health care online, transform food systems, and more. You can see some of our past projects here.

Some of the skills we’re looking for include:

• iOS and Android native development

• React Native and Expo development

• Experience creating responsive applications that put users’ needs first

• Close collaboration with clients to understand their goals, make their ideas tangible, and make sure functionality aligns with the project’s strategic vision

• Evaluating products and features for inclusion and accessibility

We’re looking for new skills and perspectives to add to our network. We strive to include people from underrepresented backgrounds, and would love to know what specific talents you could bring to our mission-driven client projects.

We work fully remotely. Generally, we extend the opportunity for work on an as-needed basis, and aren’t able to guarantee a regular number of hours in advance. For legal and payment reasons, we are only able to work with people authorized to work in the United States. Our contracting rates are $75–$115/hour based on level of experience.

Wondering if this opportunity is a good fit for you? We think we have a lot to offer, including the chance to do meaningful work alongside people who really care and a positive work environment with a fully remote team.

Tell us why you’re interested in the role by sending the following to jobs@softwareforgood.com:

• Your resume and/or portfolio

• Contractor rate

• A little bit about why you’re interested in Software for Good, and how you can contribute to our mission

Our team will follow up with you to learn more and share potential opportunities.

The post Job Post: Contract Mobile Developer appeared first on Software for Good.

Our Software Engineering Apprenticeship Program is a cornerstone of our commitment to stewardship – nurturing the next generation of tech talent.  This immersive program, which was made possible by funding from the City of Saint Paul and Ramsey County, provides aspiring engineers with hands-on experience in real-world projects, guided by experienced mentors. This program is essential for bridging the gap between academic learning and professional practice, ensuring that our apprentices are well-equipped to contribute to their brilliance in the tech industry.

Through the course of the apprenticeship, participants worked on developing an online app designed to enhance and deepen the relationships between educators and their students for the Innocent Classroom. They focused on building experience in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Ruby on Rails, PostgreSQL, and Tailwind CSS. 

Here, in their words, is their experiences of the program. 

What Zakaria Had to Say

I’m a first generation American whose singular goal was to make sure my parents’ sacrifices aren’t in vain. I plan on working my tail off until I am successful in whatever I pursue and can retire my parents and give them the life they deserve. I was always interested in software engineering and had a passion for it but wasn’t in a place financially to be able to pursue further education and this opportunity allowed me to learn from great instructors in a challenging yet nurturing environment FOR FREE.

[My favorite thing to learn was ] how to learn. When I first joined the program I was constantly asking for help and was afraid to make mistakes but along the way I learned that you have to fail and keep trying new things to learn.

—Zakariah Muse

Ridwan

Software for Good’s resourcefulness in providing networking opportunities and weekly workshops for apprentices stands out for me. I appreciate their remote culture and alignment with my values, particularly their commitment to fostering positive environments and eliminating bias in all communities through their projects. 

I’m excited about the prospect of making a meaningful societal impact as a Software Engineer, particularly in underserved communities, aiming to contribute to projects focused on improving healthcare, education, and social services.

—Ridwan Dahir 

Mustafe

I’m so glad I chose this program. I would have regretted it if I hadn’t. I simply couldn’t let such an amazing opportunity pass me by.

I’ve learned a lot during my apprenticeship, but one of my favorite is Agile methodology. I love the iterative approach, and how it allows for flexibility, quick adaptation and constant refinement.

I love software engineering because it combines problem-solving with continuous learning and innovation. It also allows me to collaborate with others and work on teams, while offering flexible working conditions. Additionally, I enjoy being able to use technology to make a difference.

—Mustafe Hassen 

Kenyon

What I love most about the apprenticeship program is the collaborative approach to learning, and I have two favorite things I have learned from the apprenticeship program. First, is Ruby on Rails. Second is learning proper coding etiquette when working on collaborative projects.

What I most enjoy about Software for Good is the enthusiasm they have in mentoring us and helping us work through the problems that we may encounter.

—Kenyon Bosire Nyangai

Jason

I truly learn and build on to something new every day whether it’s soft skills like communicating how you solved a problem or getting more in depth with the tech stack. I definitely have learned many things such as open source, how to write a ticket, how to get unstuck and much more!

Every step that I have taken in my journey as a Software Engineer has opened my eyes to the endless opportunities for learning and growth. I am looking forward to continuous learning and being able to use my creativity to help create solutions. 

—Jason Vang

Fouziah

I’m deeply passionate about using technology to address real-world challenges and create positive change. Whether it’s enhancing efficiency, improving access to resources, or addressing societal challenges, I aim to leverage technology for tangible, positive impact. My goal is to play a meaningful role in creating solutions that make a difference in people’s lives.

The Ramsey County Apprenticeship Program caught my eye because it offered something unique and exciting. Opportunities like this don’t come along often, and I was immediately drawn to the chance to be part of a program that combines hands-on learning with impact. It was clear to me that this was an opportunity I didn’t want to miss. The prospect of developing my skills in software engineering while contributing meaningfully resonated deeply with me, and I knew I had to apply.

Working closely with experienced mentors from the Software for Good team has been incredibly valuable. They not only guide us through real-world projects but also create an environment where we feel comfortable seeking guidance and asking questions.

 —Fouziah Ahmed

Creed

My favorite thing about the apprenticeship program has been the community. Being in a small work environment where everybody knows each other and is willing to help each other has been very instrumental to my success. It’s also been amazing to be in a totally inclusive environment that was entirely operated and attended by people of color. I couldn’t have asked for a better introduction to tech. 

My favorite thing I’ve learned in the apprenticeship program is how to work as a team and to see the full lifecycle and possibilities of software development. What excites me about a career in software is being able to take part in the industry’s exponential growth firsthand.

—Creed Studenski 

Ayan

I love the hands-on learning experience and the supportive teams at both New Vision and SFG that help me grow everyday. My favorite thing I’ve learned is how to build and deploy applications, as well as the entire agile software development process, which has been incredibly helpful.

Aside from the talented people, I appreciate SFG’s commitment to creating technology solutions that have a positive social impact. I’m excited about the constant learning and growth the software engineering field offers, and the chance to solve real-world problems through technology.

—Ayan Ahmed

Asma

My interest in technology was ignited by several tech-related courses I took in college, though I was uncertain about how to launch my career in the field. The Ramsey County Apprenticeship Program provided a clear and supportive pathway, allowing me to develop and showcase my skills through real-world client projects.

I am excited about the prospect of opening doors for others who may be unsure if the tech industry is for them. Additionally, the opportunity to continuously learn and try new things every day is something I look forward to.

—Asma Noor

The post Introducing Cohort One Apprentices appeared first on Software for Good.

Executive directors, board members, staff and volunteers are always making the most of too little funding, improvising solutions on the fly, driven to make-it-work ingenuity by an abiding commitment to their mission. Do-gooders are masters of jugaad, creating the tools they need to do their work by cobbling together whatever apps they’ve got at hand, devising wonky manual workarounds for missing bits of essential data infrastructure. Nonprofits have always just made it work. 

But in recent years, in the wake of the pandemic, we’ve noticed something new. Today, nonprofit staff are fed up with having to make it work. 

How “nonprofit-quality” tech leads to burnout and inequity

“Folks are just done with ‘nonprofit-quality’ data infrastructure and software,” says Cassi Johnson, our VP of product strategy. “They’re just out of patience. Having to do extra, meaningless work to compensate for crappy software can push essential staff members right out the door, to another nonprofit or out of the sector altogether.” 

We can hardly blame them. Nationwide, nonprofits are struggling to hire enough employees to survive. Here in Minnesota this year, eighty percent of nonprofits couldn’t fill vacant staff positions, primarily due to salary competition and burnout. 

That’s a catastrophe for the communities those nonprofits serve — and a worrisome setback for racial equity. People of color are leaving nonprofit work in especially high numbers. And on their way out, they cite “burdensome data entry requirements” as the primary reason why. 

The siren song of “enterprise-level” platforms

Nonprofit leaders, understandably concerned, are desperate to find technological tools that don’t make their staff miserable — which many fear will mean investing in new customer-relationship management or enterprise resource planning systems. 

“If you’re like most EDs, you’re starting to ask, ‘Does my nonprofit need an ERP?’ or ‘Would a new CRM solve our problems?’” Cassi reports. “They’re worried that making tech work better for their staff means finding the money and time to implement an expensive, complex off-the-shelf enterprise-level business platform.” The makers of such software are eager to agree, with invoices and long-term support contracts to match. 

But “enterprise” technology, built on the values of for-profit commerce, is usually a terrible fit for the way real nonprofits work — too big, too expensive, too complicated, and completely divorced from the mission your work pursues. 

“The folks we talk to are relieved to hear that their nonprofit can have technology that works without a new CRM or ERP,” she says. “Lower-tech, less expensive, more mission-aligned combinations of tools can be much more effective. All we have to do is find the right combinations.” 

That’s what Software for Good does best. 

The best platform for your nonprofit: the tech you already have

As technologists who pursue the common good, we’ve always shared the nonprofit spirit of mission-driven improvisation. Rather than imposing ready-made technological solutions, we help our nonprofit clients harmonize the tools they already have to work better together for the sake of the mission — and the sanity of their staff. 

“When we work with your nonprofit, we start from your theory of change, how your organization understands its story of impact,” says Cassi. “Once we understand the good your nonprofit does and how you do it, we ask: Does your tech match? Can your team do their best work with the tools they have? If not, where can lightweight, inexpensive data integrations between existing apps make their work easier and improve their quality of life?” 

Fight nonprofit burnout with tech that works

When we partner with a nonprofit to make data and tech work better, our goal isn’t to replace all the apps you have with one new and perfect thing. Instead, Cassi says, “we want your team to have the tools they need in their toolbox, playing well together.” If you know your staff are frustrated by your nonprofit’s technology, Software for Good can help — with deep respect for your people and your communities, at a price your mission can afford. “Start by assessing the technology you already have,” Cassi urges. “Your staff is tired of ‘making it work.’ We’ll help you figure out how to make it all work better, so your staff doesn’t have to.”

The post Nonprofit staff are burning out. How tech is making it worse — and what to do appeared first on Software for Good.

Ramsey County, Minnesota, has chosen New Vision Foundation and Software for Good to train the next generation of diverse local software engineering talent. With $1.2 million in funding from the federal American Rescue Plan, invested in partnership with the City of Saint Paul, 30 young people of color from Ramsey County will learn everything they need to contribute to our tech workforce. These new technologists will have the chance to build lifelong careers, strengthen our local communities, and contribute to a Minnesota technology ecosystem that serves the human needs of the changing world we share. Applications for the program are open now.

The idea for this new program was born five years ago, when New Vision founder Hussein Farah and Sharon Kennedy Vickers, now Software for Good’s CEO, were both Bush Foundation Fellows. “Hussein and I know that the Minnesota tech ecosystem desperately needs the brilliance of people of color,” Sharon said. “And we believe that communities of color deserve a share in the prosperity that data and technology make possible. This new partnership puts the convictions we share into action, right here in the Twin Cities.”

How the program will work

Starting in 2024, three annual cohorts of ten Ramsey County residents, all people of color between 18 and 30 years old, will participate in the program. No previous software experience is required, African Community Services and Project for Pride in Living will spread the word, and Repowered will provide free laptops.

With the financial support of the program, participants will begin with a six-month full-stack software engineering bootcamp, co-developed by Software for Good and taught by New Vision Foundation’s expert all-BIPOC instructor team. Then, bootcamp graduates will spend six more months working as Software for Good apprentices, working shoulder to shoulder with our engineers and strategists on real-world software projects.  By the end of the year-long program, the apprentices will be compelling candidates for the kinds of software jobs that Minnesota employers urgently need to hire.

Learning to code in the real world

The bootcamp and apprenticeship build on New Vision Foundation’s experience teaching the fundamentals of software engineering to people with no previous tech skills, and Software for Good’s decades of experience building technical tools for mission-driven organizations across sectors.

“Our bootcamp curriculum will really bridge the gap between learning and work experience,” explained Software for Good engineering chief Kevin Bullock, who will help develop the curriculum and supervise the apprenticeship program. “Our goal is to give people enough experience to be productive on real-world projects, and enough fundamentals to adapt seamlessly to the changing technologies they’ll encounter as working engineers.”

After bootcamp, participants will be working engineers immediately, as Software for Good apprentices — experience that’s proven invaluable in the past. Every graduate of Software for Good’s 2021–22 DEED-funded training and apprenticeship program has either found a full-time job in the tech industry or pursued further education. In fact, three former apprentices are working for Software for Good today. Engineers Annie Tran, Chelsey McKinney and Yasmeen Awad, now full-time members of the SfG team, got their start in tech as apprentices here — and now they’re mentoring the next generation of technologists.

A significant investment — with even bigger returns

Ramsey County’s investment in a diverse software development ecosystem is significant — and it shows just how much it takes to build the tech ecosystem we need. “If we want Minnesota to stay competitive in the world,” Sharon said, “it is not optional to invest in new engineering talent. This bootcamp and apprenticeship program is as efficient as we’ve been able to make it, and still it costs $1.2 million to train 30 new software developers. But at a time when Twin Cities companies have thousands more software engineering jobs than there are technologists to fill them, our communities can’t afford not to make the investment.”

Fortunately, every dollar invested in local developers of color will pay huge dividends in community wealth and wellbeing. As the program continues, Ecotone Analytics will create an impact model to quantify the social return on Ramsey County’s $1.2 million commitment — making future investments in a diverse local tech workforce even easier to make.

The post Announcing a new $1.2 million investment in BIPOC tech talent appeared first on Software for Good.

Chelsey’s story

My apprenticeship at Software for Good gave me the personal and professional foundation that I needed to succeed in the tech community. The mentors and team members at SfG taught a holistic approach to programming, ensuring that every intern participating in the program would experience every aspect of the operations of a tech company.

The environment was positive and affirming for a junior developer like me, a recent coding bootcamp graduate, who was working for a tech company for the first time in her career. The first major difference between bootcamp and the apprenticeship was the language stack. I had no previous experience with Ruby on Rails before starting the apprenticeship, so the mentor in the program spent considerable time with all the apprentices in my cohort to make sure that we were supported in our learning. That immediately gave me confidence when it came to learning new programming languages.

With this partnership between SfG, New Vision Foundation and Ramsey County, I believe that the apprenticeship program will lead in a new direction that transfuses some of the classic program elements that I experienced with new elements, making the apprenticeship program more robust for the incoming class.

Mentoring SfG apprentices has given me the opportunity to continue to provide sponsorship for developers of color looking to join tech. I look forward to championing this next cohort of future techies!

— Chelsey McKinney, Software Engineer

Yasmeen’s story

My apprenticeship at Software for Good set me up for success by helping me bridge the gap between what I was learning in school, and what I would need to know to enter the tech workforce.  The learning curve for Ruby on Rails was steep, but I had support the whole way through, and ended up feeling super accomplished by the end of the summer.

I really appreciated the holistic approach that the program took. I got to work on skills beyond programming, and develop an appreciation for the soft skills that are needed when interacting with clients, working as a team, and operating within the company.

The other apprentices and I each got to take on a lot of responsibility and ownership over our project from the jump. This made me nervous at first, but with guidance from SfG full-timers, it quickly began to feel much more natural — and I actually was able to build a lot of confidence in my skill set. By the end of the program, I felt very empowered, and was able to land an offer from a big-name tech company the summer following.

— Yasmeen Awad, Junior Software Engineer

Annie’s story

Mentoring the next cohort of Software for Good apprentices is coming full circle for me. I got so much out of my experience as an apprentice here in 2017! I had a dedicated SfG mentor, who was devoted to the program, so I was always really supported. I needed the support, too — my project was building a Ruby on Rails app, and I’d never touched Ruby or Rails in school. My mentor really held my hand.

In this next iteration of the program, I’m looking forward to spending more time supporting the apprentices, one on one. It can be hard to get your foot in the door of the tech world, and working individually with apprentices helps them understand what’s happening on the other side.

I’m most excited to follow up with people after they’ve completed their apprenticeships with us. It’s awesome to see people getting full-time jobs after their time here at Software for Good. I’d like to see even more apprentices hired. When I asked my SfG mentor to help me find a job, he told me about this one — and I got it!

— Annie Tran, Senior Software Engineer

The post From Apprentice to Engineer appeared first on Software for Good.

Browse our full public benefit report.

A new leadership team for a changing world

Cassi Johnson joined SfG team to lead product strategy in February, bringing two decades of systems change experience in nonprofits, healthcare, and government. Her human-centered strategy practice is at the heart of our technical work, ensuring that every product we build for our clients is powerful, sustainable and ethical.

Then, after leading Software for Good for 18 years, our founder Casey Helbling hired visionary technologist Sharon Kennedy Vickers to lead SfG into a new era. After serving as the CIO of the City of Saint Paul, Sharon “was yearning for the freedom to co-create liberating technology wherever people need it,” she said. “That’s exactly what Software for Good is built to do.” Together with Casey, now our CTO, and vice president of engineering Kevin Bullock, in 2022 Sharon and Cassi began leading SfG into the next chapter of our work for people and the planet.

Growing more good: services, software, and people

Sharon took the helm of a growing general benefit company — and under her leadership, that growth accelerated in 2022. First, our team grew: UI/UX designer Antonio Perez-Cajina added new expertise to our strategy team. On the engineering side, we welcomed junior software engineer Yasmeen Awad, full-stack developer Thena Seer, software engineer Chelsey McKinney, and senior software engineers Adia Alderson, Edith Emmings, Devin Johnston, Alex Magnano, and Lori McCurry. Yasmeen and Chelsey, former Software for Good apprentices, came full circle this year — once SfG apprentices themselves, they’re mentoring new participants in our apprenticeship program.

In addition to our work in software and web development, SfG started emphasizing our services in technology strategy, including human-centered design and product roadmapping. We also sharpened our unique approach to staff augmentation — what we call SfG’s consulting engineers. And we laid groundwork to provide more higher-level services to support clients across sectors: support leading large-scale data strategy efforts, fractional tech leadership services for startups and social enterprises, and solution design.

In the fall, we got the chance to help mission-driven clients build abundance and relationships in a whole new way: CommitChange, a fundraising and relationship platform for nonprofits and social ventures, joined the SfG team. Powered by an open-source codebase, CommitChange has already helped raise $62 million for mission-driven organizations of all kinds. CommitChange technical lead Eric Schultz and product lead Wendy Bolm got right to work expanding the platform’s capabilities to build abundance for do-gooders nationwide, and their expertise enriched our strategy and engineering teams.

A reimagined vision for Software for Good

Our change in leadership gave us the perfect opportunity to revisit our shared vision for the world, the mission that guides our work, and values we choose to live by. Returning to the intellectual heritage of Black feminism that first formed her political consciousness, Sharon asked us to think about the work of building technology in a dramatically expansive way. After many deep conversations online and in person, this vision and mission emerged:

At Software for Good, we envision a  world where all communities can use the power of data and technology to cultivate shared abundance and liberation. To bring this world into being, we build software with love.

We’re still just beginning to work our way into this audacious ambition, which confronts us with new challenges every day. To help us navigate them as they come, we formulated a new set of values based on feedback from all of us:

Love: Decision by decision, day by day, we choose to support the growth of human beings toward their own highest potential.

Humanity: We structure our company and our work in ways that support the whole humanity of every member of our team — with generous wages, intentional inclusiveness, and deep respect for rest and mutual care.

Ecology: We take a systems view of everything we do, so we can reduce the potential for harm and foster harmonious collaboration at every scale.

Context: Our clients work in the real world, and so do the tools we build with them. That’s why we take care to learn about the cultural, political and social contexts in which our clients do their work.

Liberation: We believe in liberation for everyone, so we use all the tools at our disposal to help human beings live freely.

Stewardship: By building technological tools in the context of social, cultural, political, and natural systems, we are moving the culture of software engineering toward a deeper and more responsible engagement with lived reality.

These values are already guiding our business decisions — and we want to understand exactly how well we’re living into them as time goes on. With that accountability in mind, we’ve partnered with our friends at Ecotone Analytics to create an impact model so we can quantify the true effects of our work in the world.

Impact Overview

$6,000 contribution to a Venn Foundation donor-advised fund, which helps support Minnesota social ventures like Repowered, health data infrastructure, and Family Tree Clinic — and allocated $7,500 in the fund to support the development of the Kindly community fundraising platform

$1,200 sustaining sponsorship for the Twin Cities MetroIBA

$200,000 grant award from Minnesota DEED’s Tech Training Pilot program supported 16 new Software for Good apprentices

Our Values in Action

Software for Good is a Minnesota general benefit corporation, which means we’re a profitable business that exists to make life better for people — in our state specifically — and the planet we all share. Our values are at work in every project we do, and here are some we’re most proud of from 2022.

Love

For us, love is an ongoing decision to nurture the growth and development of our fellow human beings. One way we do that is by supporting the work of organizations who specialize in helping young people grow up in safety and abundance. 

Charlie Health

Charlie Health provides mobile-first mental-health care to teenagers and young adults nationwide when they need it most, often right after leaving inpatient treatment. Software for Good helped build the very first version of the app, since some of the first commits hit code repositories. The three of us have been a part of working with the Charlie Health team to help shape the app into what it is now. We’re also working with them on the back end of their systems. Working with a nationwide network of clinicians, insurance companies, patients and families is a huge job — and the legacy systems they were using to manage all their data were starting to buckle under the strain. We helped them solve the immediate problem, moving data from spreadsheets and an old electronic health record system into a new EHR with custom-built tech. This work will make it easier for Charlie Health clinicians to concentrate on serving their clients. Beyond the work of writing code, we’re helping their internal team build a strong and inclusive engineering culture. This work is helping Charlie Health transform into a technology company — one that uses the power of software to connect young people with the help they need to heal. Whenever we get too deep in the code, we remember that we’re helping Charlie Health save kids’ lives.

— Adia Alderson and Lori McCurry, Senior Engineers, and Thena Seer, Full-Stack Engineer

City of Saint Paul

RightTrack is the City of Saint Paul’s summer employment program for youth, helping build economic justice and a diverse workforce for the city’s future. In 2018, Software for Good rebuilt the city’s RightTrack app to help nearly 1,000 young people each year sign up for the program and get matched with summer jobs. We’ve had the opportunity to work with them year after year, getting the app up and running for the new application season and adding new features. This year we were able to involve three Software for Good apprentices working on the project, under the mentorship of Annie Tran, who loved working with them and the city. Chelsey McKinney was one of the project leads on the Saint Paul side — and we loved working together so much that she’s on the Software for Good team now!

— Colleen Powers, Product Manager

Humanity

We can’t be fully human without a vibrant cultural environment. In 2022, Software for Good had the chance to make data and technology work better for some brilliant stewards of our culture. 

Walker Art Center

One of the world’s most important centers of contemporary art happens to be right here in Minneapolis. When the Walker Art Center’s long-time digital coordinator — a friend of ours through Ruby.MN meetups — was retiring, the museum asked Software for Good to help make sure they could continue to use data and technology to make contemporary art accessible to artists, communities and researchers nationwide. The Walker’s legacy of tech leadership is long, from their award-winning website to legendary support for digital research, so we were proud to help them find and implement opportunities for improvement in their technical systems and plan for hiring the right technical staff.

— Alex Magnano, Senior Software Engineer

Modern Quilt Guild

When Modern Quilt Guild came to Software for Good to wrangle a handful of separate websites into one, I knew we’d do a great job on the project. Custom WordPress for complicated, resource-heavy sites is one of our specialties. I never expected to like quilting so much. The history and beauty of the material we got to work with on this project was really cool. So was our partnership with Darci, MQG’s digital experience manager. We were in daily contact on Slack during the whole project, and together we made the Guild’s huge library of resources (including many quilting patterns) much more searchable and accessible for their member quilters around the world. We even found a way to get patterns from PDFs onto printable websites to make them easier for folks to work with. Software for Good is maintaining their site, and we’re hoping to do more work with MQG down the road.

— Ryan Bridge, Senior Front-End Engineer

Ecology

Taking a systems view of things is at the heart of our approach. That ecological understanding makes our consulting engineers especially adept at helping our clients harmonize the complexities of the work they do.

Sagiliti

One of the biggest challenges in combating climate change is simply making energy use visible. Sagiliti, a Black-owned company here in Minnesota, helps the largest-scale property owners across the U.S. and Canada turn their utility-bill data into positive environmental action. In partnership with engineers from Software for Good, the Sagiliti team is rebuilding their utility-bill management system from the ground up, from data infrastructure to UX and UI. Integrating data from utility providers across two countries is a complex technical challenge, and we love the chance to work in long-term partnership with Sagiliti’s teams to solve it. Just as importantly, we’re using the process to help Sagiliti reimagine how they do their work, so they can emphasize opportunities to reduce energy use for their clients from the start. At this international scale, Sagiliti has the opportunity to make a gigantic difference.

— Edith Emmings, Senior Software Engineer, Antonio Perez-Cajina, Junior UX/UI Designer, and Colleen Powers, Product Manager

BetterUp

Working in the local Ruby developers’ community got me and Software for Good founder Casey Helbling connected with the CTO of BetterUp, a global online coaching company for employers and individuals. When he needed some support, he turned to SfG for a consulting engineer. Working as part of the BetterUp team, I helped them navigate the complexities of managing information security and data infrastructure so they could win contracts with the U.S. federal government and the European Union. I also built a way for their research arm, BetterUp Labs, to manage three terabytes of research data and make it useful to the scientists who were sharing what they’d learned about what makes a good conversation with the world. Working at the global scale of BetterUp was a great learning experience for me. I got exposed to tools, technologies and ways of working that enterprise-level companies use. These days when I encounter a technical challenge, I often ask, “How did BetterUp do this?” My work as a consulting engineer for them helps all of us at Software for Good level up to work at bigger scales with bigger impact.

— Jared Mehle, Senior Software Engineer

Context

Our clients work in cultural, political and social contexts, and we take care to learn as much as we can about them — so the solutions we offer always make sense in the real world. Here are two ways we paid special attention to context in 2022. 

Nurse Family Partnership

What happens during pregnancy and the first months and years of a new baby’s life have outsize effects on their chances of wellbeing later on. That’s why the Nurse-Family Partnership’s work is so important: from coast to coast, NFP’s visiting nurses help first-time parents navigate the first two years of their new child’s life with evidence-based support and encouragement. NFP tapped Software for Good to improve the way visiting nurses find and access the materials that guide their conversations with new parents. Initially, they only wanted a strategic plan for improving those materials — but after talking with NFP’s stakeholders nationwide, from public-health agencies to visiting nurses to new parents, I realized we could do even better. By the end of our work together, NFP had a genuine product strategy for their materials — including ways to incorporate UX work into their instructional design, new product practices for their in-house team, content-auditing tools to improve searchability, and a product strategy that will result in substantial leaps forward in multilingual access and accessibility in the next year. This work matters because NFP serves families who have been impacted by racism and economic injustice. In terms of SfG’s value of context, we were able to build NFP’s capacity in a way that was attuned to their organizational culture and values. We didn’t just create a deliverable; we created a living, breathing strategy that they’re already using.

— Cassi Johnson, Vice President of Product Strategy

Resmaa Menakem

The global uprising that began here in Minneapolis in 2020 brought the world’s attention to Resmaa Menakem, a Twin Cities healer and author whose groundbreaking understanding of the ways racism lives in our bodies offers a radical path forward from white supremacy. His audience grew from thousands to millions, and the practice of somatic abolitionism he teaches has caught fire worldwide. In 2022, Resmaa approached Software for Good with an exciting idea: justly wary of the ethics and practices of Big Tech platforms, he wanted us to develop a brand-new community platform where the people who have gathered around his work could connect with him — and each other — to build the global somatic abolitionist movement, in their own space and on their own terms. Together with CEO Sharon Kennedy Vickers, the two of us led Resmaa through a product strategy process to understand his technical needs, learn about his work, and draw out his vision. In the process, we discovered something important: the “product” at the heart of Resmaa’s work isn’t a platform — it’s the community that has come together around his wisdom. With that insight in mind, we found practical, inexpensive, lightweight ways for Resmaa to maintain the integrity of his community,  generate revenue, and protect against de-platforming. No matter what capricious billionaires may decide, Resmaa Menakem’s community will be able to stay connected in the fight against white supremacy.

— Kevin Bullock, Vice President of Engineering, and Cassi Johnson, Vice President of Product Strategy

Liberation

At a time of increasing oppression in the United States, technology has a crucial role to play in helping people stay connected to the resources they need to live fully and freely. 

Abortion access

The year 2022 was a catastrophe for bodily autonomy in the United States. That year the U.S. Supreme Court defied a half-century of precedent to restrict the right to abortion — and abortion access organizations nationwide braced for the impact. That same year, Software for Good was able to help those who are fighting for reproductive justice. Our friends at the Digital Defense Fund connected Software for Good with the Midwest Access Coalition, whose volunteer developer needed help to keep their app up and running to serve those who need support seeking abortion care in our region — where it’s now inaccessible or banned outright in 10 states out of 12. Since then, we’ve also supported the Northwest Abortion Access Fund and DARIA Services, which provides open-source software for abortion funds. As technologists in Minnesota, one of the few reproductive rights sanctuaries in the United States, the Software for Good team is determined to keep using the power of data and technology to support bodily autonomy for everyone.

— Kevin Bullock, Vice President of Engineering, and Cassi Johnson, Vice President of Product Strategy

Stewardship

One of the most important ways we can help move the culture of software engineering is to mentor new technologists. In 2022, Software for Good apprentices worked shoulder to shoulder with our developers on projects designed to benefit our shared Minnesota communities.

Apprentice projects

Thanks to a $200,000 grant from Minnesota DEED’s Tech Training Pilot Program, Software for Good welcomed sixteen new apprentices in 2022, many more than in previous years. Our apprentices, all young people of color between 18 and 30, had a wide diversity of education in software development prior to joining. Some were computer-science college students or recent graduates, others had learned to code in bootcamps, and one was entirely self-taught. Side by side with Software for Good engineers — one of us, Annie, was a 2017 SfG apprentice herself — the 2022 apprentices got real-world experience building software that makes the world more just and sustainable.

The Science Museum of Minnesota developed an ingenious board game to help folks understand how to intervene when harm or injustice is happening. Our apprentices — including a UX design intern — helped bring the board game to life as a web app.

Better Futures Minnesota is helping make our state more sustainable by diverting reusable materials that would otherwise end up in landfills. In 2022, apprentices worked hard to develop an app to help folks at waste management sites recognize and describe the materials they were encountering in real time, so they could reclaim them for recycling or reuse.

HOME Line provides pro-bono legal assistance for renters throughout the state of Minnesota, and their volunteer attorneys use a custom software application to track calls and cases. Our apprentices made updates to improve the app’s design and user experience.

In the years ahead, we’re looking forward to mentoring even more diverse new technologists through a new apprenticeship partnership with New Visions Foundation through a $1.2 million grant from Ramsey County.

— Edith Emmings and Annie Tran, Senior Software Engineers

Software for Good in the News

July 13: St. Paul CIO Sharon Kennedy Vickers Joins Private Sector, Government Technology. “‘As much as I valued my work in St. Paul, I was yearning for the freedom to co-create liberating technology wherever people need it,’ she said. ‘That’s exactly what Software for Good is built to do. Software for Good exists to leverage software to improve the human condition — in civic tech, in community safety, in human services, in climate action.’”

April 8: New Minnesota program hopes to close skills gap in IT for people of color, Star Tribune. “Only 4% of the state’s technology jobs are held by Black Minnesotans. Latinos hold just 7%. … That is evidence of a big skills gap that the state hopes to solve through a $1 million pilot program underway and another $28 million Gov. Tim Walz has proposed to invest in IT training programs aimed at … people of color across the state.” Software for Good received a $200,000 grant to create teaching, mentorship and job-placement programs for people of color.

Dec. 29: Coding a Better World, Minnesota Women’s Press. “We want to make tech a space that is inclusive and adaptive so that we can create a world where everyone has the ability to live fully and freely.”

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At Software for Good, love means more than coding pretty apps or having good intentions. Following visionary Black feminist scholar bell hooks, our team is trying to reimagine the work of building software by thinking of love as the active choice to nurture humanity’s highest good. We want to build software in exactly that way.

This Valentine’s Day, the SfG team wants to share some ideas from a recent conversation we had about building software with love. Our hope is to start a dialogue with other do-gooders and technologists about what that might mean in practice. As Chelsey put it during our conversation, you never really know if love is being received — “you just put good energy out into the world, and hope it comes back.” That’s what we’re doing now.

Four ways to build software with love

Prioritize human beings. 

From day to day, most of us in tech “don’t relate love and software really at all,” as Jared pointed out. But the thing about building software, as Colleen said, is that “it’s never just about the software” — it’s about the human relationships that the software makes possible. For Lori, building software with love means “thinking and acting beyond myself, having an awareness of other people.”

By expanding beyond ourselves in this way, Yasmeen said, we’re “looking at all the people who are involved — the people building it, the people affected by it — and what the impacts of it are.” When we focus on how our work touches the lives of human beings, Alex said, the process of software development itself can be “a loving relationship.”

Design with, not for.

Too often, technologists — particularly those of us who want to do good — think of ourselves as helping people. But that’s not what love means to us at all. “Supporting others’ spiritual growth isn’t charity,” Thena explained. “It’s not ‘giving people what they need,’ but lifting up the people we’re working with.” When we’re lifting our collaborators up in that way, Ryan said, it sometimes even feels like being “in love” with them, sharing moments of excitement and discovery.

Like anyone who’s in love, we want to learn as much as we can about our partners. At Software for Good, we practice human-centered design strategy to do just that — so we’re never building for the people and communities our projects serve, but rather co-creating with them. That’s why we designed Housing Hub together with the renters, landlords and property managers who actually need and use it.

Like any kind of loving relationship, though, co-creation can be difficult. “When the people who have a stake in what we’re building feel valued and heard,” said Wendy, “they feel able to tell you things you don’t want to hear.” Being open to troublesome feedback isn’t enough, though. “If you’re not hearing negatives, that doesn’t mean things are working,” Devin pointed out. “You have to reach out and ask.” And who we ask matters, too. “The point of contact we have may not be the actual people who are impacted the most,” said Antonio.

Welcome discomfort.

“Love can be messy,” Casey reflected. “It has challenges, highs and lows.” Co-creating software, like every form of loving relationship, isn’t always comfortable. In fact, Sarah added, “the discomfort is important.” Cassi went farther: “It will be uncomfortable,” she said. “That’s how we’ll know we’re building software in love.”

The same goes for our clients: choosing to support their growth is sometimes as uncomfortable as parenting. “​​I love my two children more than I can describe, and one way I love them is by pushing them — recognizing their genius and pushing them to live and operate fully in that,” said Sharon. “When we’re building software in love, we can do that for our clients as well.” That means “being able to recognize everyone’s full humanity,” Edith explained, “and having the psychological safety to have difficult conversations, raise questions, challenge ideas.”

Discomfort happens when we’re in loving relationship with each other, too. Laney talked about “what it means to ‘do love,’ to love-as-a-verb, in a professional setting. How can we show each other compassion and loving-kindness and grace as we build the software? That’s a practice,” and we’re working on it every day.

Maximize human liberation.

Love, as we understand it, isn’t just about how we feel — it’s about the growth we enable for ourselves and other human beings. And to grow, people need to be free. “If we’re building software with love,” as Kevin put it, “it’s freeing people to do things other than focus on the software.” That’s exactly what Sharon means by software with soul — it’s tech that “helps people dream, build, create and care for each other, as only human beings can do.” The soul comes from human freedom.

Liberation is also at the heart of the Declaration of Digital Autonomy, which Eric helped create. Digital autonomy, as the Declaration says, requires  technology to help the people who are affected by it, allows informed consent, empowers individual and collective action, and protects human rights by design. “If we’re doing all these things,” Eric said, “that’s core to developing software in love.”

Here at Software for Good, we’re still figuring out how to build software with love. In fact, as Annie pointed out, figuring it out is an act of love in itself. “It’s hard to know that the love we put into things is received in the way we hope; but we put the effort in anyway.” Happy Valentine’s day!

The post How to Build Software with Love (A Conversation) appeared first on Software for Good.

The “next big thing in tech”

A little while back, the moderator of a panel asked me a question I’ve heard many times: What’s the next big thing in tech?

That question, as it’s been posed to me over the years, is usually an invitation to name some disruptive innovation that’s just on the verge of changing the world. At the beginning of 2023, there are many next big things that fit that description — above all the revolution that is generative AI. But now more than ever before, in this moment when artificial intelligence is making dramatic new strides, I believe the next big thing in tech is not a thing at all. It’s the return of the human soul to technology.

What gives technology its soul

What I call technology with soul liberates human beings to live freely and fully. Technology with soul helps people dream, build, create and care for each other, as only human beings can do. The lines of code that make up databases, internet protocols, and search engines, for example, expand the scope of human freedom and compassion. You can recognize software like that the way you recognize soul music. Soul music is a blend of gospel, R&B, and jazz — music that creates harmony, connection, call and response. Software with soul blends different languages, frameworks and protocols to create a living relationship with the people who use it. When you hear soul music, you feel the lived experience in the lyrics, and you feel hope and joy in the listening. When you use software with soul, you interact with the lived experiences of the people who created it — and in using it, your life gets richer, more connected, more free.

The trouble is that building technology with soul is often very inconvenient — because it can only be built in ways that prioritize human wellbeing above everything else. As Bernice King reminded us this Martin Luther King Day, “We can no longer afford the convenience of technology without the inconvenience of moral integrity.” Soulless technology, which puts the convenience of some over shared wellbeing, lacks moral integrity — and it’s leading us to our destruction.

Convenience and soullessness

AI in particular can certainly make life more convenient by automating activities that only humans were capable of before. Today AI-enabled software can compose poems, paint pictures, create videos, and even write code — applications of software that can liberate human genius in truly transformative ways. But AI is also making it more convenient for state power to deprive people of their liberty by automating law and punishment; more convenient for banks to deny women access to capital; more convenient for healthcare companies to deny people of color the care we need to live. These applications of AI are convenient for people with more power, and oppressive to people with less. They are soulless.

That’s because of how they’re built. As Joy Buolamwini explains, “The underrepresentation of women and people of color in technology, and the under-sampling of these groups in the data that shapes AI, has led to the creation of technology that is optimized for a small portion of the world.” She founded the Algorithmic Justice League to make sure that software built on AI is optimized for everyone, not just those who have the most power — to make sure, in other words, that it has soul.

Tech leadership with soul

Buolamwini is one of the Black women who’s leading the global effort to return the soul to the software we live by. Another is Ruha Benjamin, who is teaching the world how software supports and reinforces the violence of racism. Another is Timnit Gebru, who is leading the effort to reimagine how AI software can be built, trained, and used to benefit the whole human community. In these courageous and soulful women I recognize the lineage of Black feminist thought that formed me as a college student and continues to guide Software for Good today.

With guidance from these prophetic activists and intellectuals, people of goodwill all over the world are building the next big thing in technology: returning the soul to the software we live by. That’s exactly what we’re doing every day here at Software for Good. But even if you’ve never written a line of code, you can help bring soul back to your own technological life by looking beyond the intent and convenience of our tools while remaining curious about the impact they have by asking some simple questions about the software you use.

Does the software you’re using have soul? Four questions to consider

Why was it built? Software with soul exists to empower the people who use it, but most software actually exists to enrich the people who own it. Software owned by publicly traded companies or funded by traditional venture capital has to prioritize making money for investors — and often, it does so at the expense of the people who build it and use it. Open-source software, like the code that powers Software for Good’s CommitChange platform, has a lot more room for soul, because it prioritizes its creators and users from the start.. Learn about what’s motivating the software you use by finding out why it was built — and consider open-source alternatives.

Who keeps it running? Often, soulless software seems “magical” by exploiting hidden human labor. OpenAI, the for-profit company behind DALL-E and ChatGPT, is currently valued at $29 billion — and in order to make the datasets its neural nets learn from safe for consumption in the global North, it hired Kenyan workers paid $2 an hour to view horrifying text and images from the darkest corners of the internet to remove them from the AI’s training dataset. If a piece of software feels like magic, get curious about how that works — particularly when it comes to AI.

What effects does this software have on human lives? When I joined social networks, it connected me in a whole new way to people I love and care for. It still does, and for me it feels soulful in that way. But even as social media makes my life better, those same lines of code are injecting disinformation into our politics, leading children to take their own lives, and facilitating genocide around the world. When you interact with software, ask whose life it’s making better — and whether it’s making other lives worse. 

Who’s in the code and who isn’t? Software and datasets don’t come from nowhere: they are written and generated by human beings, who bring with them their histories, biases, and ways of seeing the world. That’s why diversity and inclusion in tech are so profoundly important — and why Software for Good is  prioritizing a team with as many different kinds of experience and identity as we can. Blind spots for the dominant culture become visible when we have a diverse set of people building software together. Ask yourself this about the software you use: Who wrote the code for this? Who decided what datasets would be used, and who’d be represented there? And who isn’t included?

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