Designers Wanted: Help Out Non-Profits at Give Camp 2011

Give Camp started in Dallas, where designers, developers, and UX enthusiasts work a over the course of a weekend to donate thier expertise to non-profit organizations. Since its start in 2007, GiveCamp has helped over 150 charities with people donating in excess of $100,000 in services. If you have not gone to a Give Camp, shame on you! It is a fun and rewarding experience. For more information, visit givecamp.org.

What is Give Camp?

Take a few minutes to watch this video from Chris Koenig about his vision of Give Camp. Give Camp really does make a huge difference to local non-profits.

What is GiveCamp? from givecamp on Vimeo.

How Give Camp Helps You

Give Camp helps you to showcase your talents, which can be crucial in getting your next job. Many designers and developers cannot show thier work because they are bound by company policies on competitive intelligence. Your work at a Give Camp is usually on public-facing sites, where anyone can see it. You might be able to place your work into your portfolio and get a recommendation from the non-profit company.

If you are a young professional or student, your Give Camp projects give your real-world experience, which you can put on your resume. Consider how you look on your next interview, when you talk about how you helped out some non-profits. Plus, you can team up with more seasoned professionals to see how they solve problems (possibly even network to get your next job). If you are a student, you could apply what your learning to help out a non-profit.

Making a Difference with Give Camp

National GiveCamp weekend occurs on October 21-23, 2011. Currently, there are over 15 locations participating on this weekend, including Dallas, Charlotte, Seattle, St. Louis, and London. Here are some small statistics that you might find interesting about one Give Camp in Dallas in early 2011:

• 13 charities were helped
• 2,000+ hours donated
• 1,000+ drinks consumed
• 500+ slices of pizza ate
• Millions of laughs

Give back the community, learn something new, networking with old friends, meet some new friends, and donate your time and talents to givecamp.org. You help out a non-profit. You can showcase your talents. It is a good thing!