TFC Hackathon Toolkit

What is a social justice hackathon?

Tech for Change social justice hackathons are specifically aimed at creating solutions to solve community needs. In line with the ethos of public interest technology, our hackathons focus on ensuring that technological advancements actually advance the interests of all. As technologists and practitioners in the field, we have a collective responsibility to use our skill sets and resources to build for those who are most directly affected by the systems and technologies yet lack input in their development. We can accomplish this by listening to and prioritizing the lived experience of community members and ideating toward sustainable solutions.

Social justice hackathons encourage resource sharing and interdisciplinary thinking, regardless of participants’ technical background. All skill sets are needed, from project management and design to research and humanities insight to properly analyze social issues. 

This resource will provide tips to orient your event toward social justice, but for a general how-to guide to hacking, review these incredibly comprehensive resources: 

• Major League Hacking’s Hackathon Organizer Guide
• Temple University’s Hackathon Playbook

Getting Started

Once you’ve decided to embark on the hackathon journey, you’ll need to chart your course. Find your five W’s: 

Why
What is the goal/purpose/aim of your event? As noted above, hackathons don’t have to be centered around technical hacks, nor do they have to solely optimize business needs.

Who
What audience do you intend to target for your event? It could be students of a specific major or interest, all students at your institution, or students in your region and beyond. Adjust the audience according to your goals, needs, and budget.

Where
Ensure that your venue is easily accessible, conducive to teamwork, and large enough to accommodate your attendees and any potential workshops. Consider audiovisual equipment needs (stage or dais, microphones, speakers, internet stability, extension cords, and outlets).

Should you decide to take your event off campus, consider additional liabilities such as security, insurance, sleeping arrangements that you’ll need to account for. 

When
Hackathons can take place over a few hours or up to two days. Consider the time needed to plan and ensure that your date does not conflict with major holidays or campus events such as final exams. It may be helpful to outline the necessary tasks and work backwards. Check out the example timeline of tasks in the appendix.

What
What is the deliverable that attendees will produce at the end of the event: An app? A policy memo? How will participants submit their deliverables? If selecting winners, how will the deliverables be adjudicated?

Organizing your team

When hosting a Tech for Change Hackathon, we encourage you to be mindful of equity and inclusion at every step along the process. Make it a priority to assemble a diverse and interdisciplinary team to create this event and reflect the varied experiences of your attendees.

The better a hackathon team is organized, the better the outcome of the hackathon. Tech for Change hackathons benefit from the following role breakdown:

Hackathon Lead Organizer
Oversees project management and ideation of hackathon events. Manages all hackathon team staff and delegates responsibilities to ensure progress on tasks.

Logistics/Operating Team
Plans the behind-the-scenes elements. Organizes day-of event programming and execution; books rooms; arranges venue, food, security, and swag.

Finance Team
Secures sponsorships and manages the cash flow and budget.

Marketing Team
Leads the strategy for outreach and promotion of the hackathon. Develops the website and manages social media. Keeps registered students up to date on all things hackathon and communicates travel stipend awards, if applicable.

Crafting the Hackathon

As mentioned earlier, hackathons can take many shapes and styles, but Tech for Change events should be intentional about hacking ideas that advance the public interest. Whether you elect to host a full social justice hackathon or simply add a public interest technology track to your existing event, this priority should be meaningfully integrated. There are ideas below describing how you might orient your hackathon toward PIT.

Project Tracks and Themes

Themes, though optional, can add interest to the organization of your hackathon. If you opt to run a full social justice–oriented hackathon, event themes can be focused on a particular impact area (hacking for climate justice, for example) or an entertaining reference. Boston University’s 2024 Tech for Change Civic Hackathon was themed around the elements: fire, water, Earth, air. Each element corresponded to a particular track.

Adding PIT-aligned tracks is a great opportunity to infuse social justice into your existing hackathon. Tracks, or issue area prompts, allow participants to align their projects within a particular need or focus. When tracks are shared ahead of time, participants have the opportunity to research the needs of a community and ideate a solution. Click here to see how BU used the Earth nation track to pose questions and prompt hackers. There are endless PIT impact areas that need solutions: health care, elections, racial and gender bias, education, climate justice, and many more. Consider what issues are important to you and your audience.

Workshops and Speakers

You can also infuse the day with PIT through the participation of speakers. Community members, professionals, or professors can lend their expertise on a particular topic of interest to your participants in a keynote or workshop. Topics could include upskilling on community engagement and tech activism or demystifying PIT careers through “what I do in a day” career talks. If your audience does not come from a technical background, workshops can also work to increase proficiency in coding languages or Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) useful to the development of projects. 

Judging

If you choose to make your hackathon a competition, consider inviting judges with expertise in the track topics. For example, if you have a track centered around elections, it could be useful to invite polling officials or people who work to increase voter turnout. They can bring much-needed insight to evaluate whether a proposed project serves the needs of their respective communities. 

Judges can determine the best hack of a particular track (such as Best Education Hack) and Best Overall Hack. You can also award prizes for Most Creative, Best Design, and the like.

Fundraising

Finally, you’ll need to arrange the financing of your hackathon. Perhaps your institution or department is able to fund the event or you may choose to supplement with sponsorships. Sponsorship can be monetary or in the form of food, prizes, or other donations. If you choose to find sponsors, be intentional that the values of participating companies or organizations align with the ethos of your event.

Appendix

Media Release

You’ll want to capture the event you worked so hard to create. To do so, attendees’ permission is vital. See here for a sample media release. If any attendees opt out, be sure to respect their decision. Offer a different colored lanyard or sticker on their name tag that indicates to photographers and videographers that an individual does not wish to be included in media.

Budget Spreadsheet

Here you will find an example budget.

Judges Guide and Evaluation Rubric

If choosing to organize your hackathon as a competition in which your attendees compete for prizes or titles, here is an example rubric the judges can use to score presentations and deliverables.

Example Planning Timeline (+Trello template)

Planners of previous Tech for Change Hackathons found that using a project management tool like Trello is a great way to keep organized. Find the free Trello template here and adjust it to fit your scale and goals.