The six charities that took part this year included The 519, Committed to the health, happiness and inclusion of the LGBTQ community in Toronto; CEE (Careers, Education, Empowerment, a group dedicated to addressing economic issues affecting black youth in Toronto; Inspire, an Indigenous-led charity that improves Indigenous youth’s access to education; Kids Help Phone, a National community supporting young people; Sistering, a women’s organisation that offers practical and emotional support through various programs and the charity that I was the judge for, Autism Ontario, one of the largest collective voices representing the autism community in Canada.

Each of the charities put forth several digital problems they faced. Some needed better organisation of their website date, some wanted to attract more donors to their cause. “Hacker” teams of 4-6 people went through the problems and selected one each that they would work on for the 40 hours allotted.

After the teams were completed with their code, they gave 7 minute presentations to the judges assigned to each charity. I was judging teams that aimed to solve the problems put forward by Autism Ontario. Judging the 5 teams with me was a representative from Capital One and a representative from Autism Ontario.

One of the great things that I noticed was how many women were involved. For a field previously dominated by men, we were told that 1/3 of the coders identified as female.

The team that won the implementation prize (having their code implemented into the Autism Ontario website) was comprised of 3 women and 1 man. Team “Super Casual” came up with a solution for Autism Ontario’s problem of managing their data and directing visitors to the content and information they would want to see. By tagging Autism Ontario website’s content with keywords and creating a simple 3 question welcome page, team “Super Casual” was able to create a system that would easily direct website visitors to the information that best suits them. They also managed to get half of the website’s current data online and tagged with keywords, making the system ready to go almost immediately. The tagging system also worked very well with searches, showing the most relevant content in the results.

Each of the charities involved will receive $5,000 from Capital One to put towards the implementation of the code. For Autism Ontario, they will have the developed system added to their website.

Take a look at the other 5 participating charities and the great solutions they found  the competing coding groups.

Kids Help Phone – A chat bot that will connect counsellors internally and encourage interaction through gasification, creating a peer-to- peer support system within the organization.

The 519 – The winning team developed a secure registration platform for members of the LGBTQ+ community to access resources available to them. This allows The 519 to enhance their membership database and tailor programming availability to areas that need it most.

Indspire – A solution that generates engagement in Inspire’s annual Soaring Indigenous Youth Empowerment Gathering by gamifying attendance. The Gathering provides assistance and coaching to Indigenous high school students as they prepare for post-secondary education and then later, to enter the workforce.

CEE (Centre for Young Black Professionals) – A data management solution leveraging machine learning to better serve client needs and present a case for funding opportunities. This advances the economic and social development of Toronto’s Black youth facing multiple barriers to employment.

Sistering – A chat bot that revolutionises the conversations Sistering can foster with potential volunteers to provide additional information, insight, video and testimonials to encourage and educate on involvement possibilities.

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Charities often don’t have the resources to meet the needs of the digital world nor the budget. This incredible event is an opportunity for people to learn more about the charities and find solutions that may not have been attainable in the past. From Friday, November 3 to Sunday, November 5, Capital One will once again connect Toronto-based charities with coders, UX/UI designers and developers.

This year’s Gift The Code Hackathon has over 150 volunteer participants already registered through giftthecode.ca. Their mission is to come up with solutions to help charities solve the digital challenges they face, not just today but also for the future.

We’re excited to follow along! The 40 hour sprint will no doubt be thrilling from the moment participants get together right through to the judging panel. Having a glance through some of the list of people who have already registered it’s definitely inspiring to see more women involved.

“I participated in Gift The Code last year and helped build a solution for Holland Bloorview that gamified rehab for the kids” said Mahtab Sabet, associate, Capital One Canada. “I had a blast participating but learning how impactful the solution ultimately was for the charity meant the world. The opportunity to use my expertise to do something so significant with such a positive impact was a great way to spend a weekend, and I’m excited to do it again this year!”

Six charities were selected to participate this year with a focus on accessibility to technology and innovation:

Kids Help Phone is Canada’s only national 24-hour anonymous hotline created to counsel and support children and youth on the phone and web. Hundreds of kids call in each day to share what they can’t share with anyone else including areas of sex, bullying, school, work, emotional well-being and more.

The 519 is committed to the health and well-being of the LGBTQ community. The organization responds to the evolving needs by offering counseling services including parenting resources to coming out groups, trans programming and seniors’ support. The 519 also offers leadership and consulting workshop services to groups and workplaces to help improve understanding, inclusion and respect.

Autism Ontario is the leading source of information and referral on autism. It’s one of the largest collective voices representing the autism community dedicated to increasing public awareness about autism and the day-to-day issues faced by individuals and their families living on the spectrum. The organization provides information, education, supporting research and advocating programs and services.

Indspire is an Indigenous-led charity that invests in the education of Indigenous people and their communities. Through Indigenous education the organization serves First Nation, Inuit, and Metis students in remote, rural and urban areas across Canada. Indspire offers shared resources, programs, scholarships and bursaries to inspire achievement.

CEE Center for Young Black Professionals is dedicated to addressing economic issues affecting Black youth. The organization offers services and support to help youth  emotionally and financially. Careers, Education and Empowerment (CEE) work to address the challenges that affect Black youth today.

Sistering is a multi-service agency for at-risk, socially isolated women in Toronto who are homeless or in an uncomfortable living situation. The women come from diverse backgrounds ranging from substance use and mental health issues, those who have experienced, or are experiencing, trauma and violence, immigrant and refugee, disabled and those without legal status. Sistering offers a safe, welcoming and non-judgemental space for women offering practical and emotional support.

This is such a great example of how Capital One is leading the corporate world using digital for good. This creative and innovative event is a meaningful way to make an impact not just for charities but those who depend on the organizations as well. By bringing charities together with individual participants who are giving more than their time and expertise, they are giving the gift of accessibility and empowerment to those who need it the most. That’s got to feel good!

Want to see how you can get involved too? Visit GiftTheCode.ca and follow #GiftTheCode and #UseDigitalForGood on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram this weekend!

The Gift The Code Hackathon takes place November 3 to November 5 in Toronto at Ryerson’s Mattamy Athletic Centre.

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