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For Community & Frontline Partners

Bring a problem. Teams build for it.

You know the gaps your community faces every day. Hand one to motivated builders and they'll prototype a solution.

Nonprofits and frontline organizations are at the center of this challenge — not as a logo, but as the source of the real problems teams work on. Taking part is free, you help shape what "good" looks like, and the work teams produce for your mission is yours to keep.

Community First

Built with you, for the people you serve.

We designed this so the burden is on the teams and the organizers — not on you. You bring the lived expertise; we bring the builders, the structure, and the mentorship.

01

No cost to you

Participating as a community partner is free. Teams volunteer their time and skills to work on problems that matter.

02

You keep the work

Prototypes built for your problem are open-source and yours to use, adapt, and deploy — forever, at no cost, with no strings attached.

03

You set the bar

You define the problem and what "better" looks like, and you help select the team that best advances your mission.

How to Take Part

Four ways to plug in.

Pick the level of involvement that fits your capacity. Even just submitting a problem brief is enough to make a difference.

Click the one that's right for you
Bring Us a Problem

The problem brief.

If you choose to submit a brief, it's short — four prompts. The standard format just helps teams understand and compare problems fairly, and we're glad to help you write it.

  • 1
    Population servedWho is affected, and who would use or benefit from a solution.
  • 2
    The problemThe specific workflow, information gap, or resource-access problem causing pain.
  • 3
    What "better" looks likeThe outcome you'd want — described from your perspective.
  • 4
    What teams should plan forBudget, how comfortable your users are with technology, infrastructure, language — the real-world limits a solution has to fit.

We'll help you write it

You don't need a technical background or a polished spec. If you can describe the problem in plain language, we can help you turn it into a brief teams can act on. The goal is to capture real need, not to add work to your plate.

What You Get

More than a prototype.

Free build capacity

Skilled, motivated teams working on your problem at no cost to your organization.

Work you keep

Prototypes and documentation you can carry forward, test with your community, or take to funders.

A mission award to give

Recognition you bestow — visibility for your cause and a meaningful moment at the event.

Talent & volunteers

Connections to builders, project managers, and mentors who care about community impact.

A seat at the table

Real influence over the principles, the judging, and what the challenge prioritizes.

Visibility

Recognition as a community partner across the challenge and its materials.

Our Commitments

We hold teams to a higher standard.

Because these tools are aimed at the people you serve, every team commits to a set of responsible-AI and ethics principles — and we'll never ask you to compromise your community's trust.

Privacy & consent

Your community's information never enters the competition. Teams build and test with synthetic, sample, or public data — real personal details about the people you serve are never required, requested, or put into play.

Equity & accessibility

Solutions are expected to be usable by and beneficial to underserved and frontline populations — accessible by default.

Designed with, not for

The strongest solutions are shaped by the communities they serve. Your perspective leads the work, not the technology.

Honest about AI

Teams disclose how they used AI and keep a human accountable for what their tools produce. Read our ethics commitment →

Open by default, never privatized

Every project is open-source and built for the commons. Work that comes from community problems can't be taken private or sold for profit — but you and the communities you serve can always use, adapt, and deploy it freely, including recovering costs to keep it running.