Developers donate $500,000 of web redesign to nonprofits at Nerdery Overnight Challenge
The Line, innovation + job news column by Jeremy Stratton
Everyone was a winner, and nothing was lost but sleep, quips The Nerdery of its fourth annual Nerdery Overnight Website Challenge, March 26-27, at which 175 web development professionals donated approximately a half million dollars worth of web design to help nonprofits further their missions.
Eighteen web design teams worked from 9 a.m. Saturday to 9 a.m. Sunday, after which the winner was announced: team TST Media, for their redesign of Bloomington United for Youth's (BUY) website.
(The new site was not yet live as of April 6, but you can see before and after snapshots on BUY's challenge page.)
Speaking with The Line, Nerdery Communications Manager Mark Malmberg reiterated that "it's a win" for each of the web teams to be chosen from the 46 that applied to donate their time. The number of teams has steadily increased each year, from 11 to this year's 18.
"What drives that number up is we keep getting qualified teams that want to do this, and it's hard to turn them away," says Mamlberg.
Through the event's four-year history, $1.5 million of pro bono services have been delivered to 57 Minnesota nonprofits, not including the hundreds of hours of follow-up support that web teams pledge before entering.
Like its signature event, The Nerdery has grown since its 2003 founding; the Bloomington-based web development company employs just shy of 200 people and consumes enough caffeine in a week to kill five adults, according to its website.
The Nerdery has a smaller, 12-employee office in Chicago, as well, where it plans to host a similar challenge in the early summer, says Malmberg.
Source: Mark Malmberg, The Nerdery
Writer: Jeremy Stratton
Media Contact
Mark Malmberg
Communications Director
Office: (952) 948.1211 x1069
Cell: (612) 850.3178
