As a volunteer with Hack4Impact, you're joining a community dedicated to creating meaningful change through technology. This Code of Conduct reflects our shared understanding of how we work together, treat one another, and approach the important work of serving nonprofit organizations.
This Code applies to all Hack4Impact volunteers in any capacity and covers all activities conducted under Hack4Impact's name, whether in-person, virtual, or in written communications. It works alongside our other organizational policies, including our Anti-Discrimination and Harassment Policy, Conflict of Interest Policy, and operational guidelines.
Hack4Impact mobilizes software engineering and computer science to address the unique technical challenges facing nonprofit organizations. We build bridges between technology expertise and community needs, creating solutions that amplify our partners' impact.
Our diverse community brings together people with different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives across gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, religion, age, cultural backgrounds, technical expertise, and life experiences. This diversity fuels innovation, challenges our assumptions, and helps us create more inclusive solutions.
We recognize that technology is never neutral, it reflects the values and priorities of those who create it. As developers with specialized knowledge, we have both power and responsibility when working with communities. Success requires cultural humility, deep listening, and a commitment to building sustainable solutions alongside our partners rather than for them.
When we join a project, we're promising to be thoughtful stewards of solutions that will outlive our direct involvement. The applications we build handle people's personal information, support crucial services, and influence how communities access resources. This work demands both technical excellence and deep respect for the people we serve.
We build for the long term, in our technology, our relationships, and our community. Sustainable means creating solutions that outlast our direct involvement through thoughtful documentation and maintainable code. It means fostering healthy work-life balance for volunteers, respecting time commitments, and supporting individual growth without burnout. We sustain our impact by building knowledge systems that transfer smoothly to others and creating volunteer experiences that people can maintain alongside their academic and professional lives.
We operate with integrity in all our relationships and decisions. Ethical means respecting community expertise and approaching each partnership with humility, recognizing that our nonprofit partners are the true experts in their work. It means protecting privacy and trust by implementing appropriate security measures and respecting the real people behind the data we handle. We collaborate mindfully, sharing knowledge generously, embracing feedback as growth, and ensuring our technical decisions serve community needs rather than our own convenience or preferences.
We design for inclusion at every level. Accessible means creating technology that works for all users regardless of ability, resources, or technical background. It means building team environments where volunteers of all skill levels, backgrounds, and perspectives can contribute meaningfully. We make our processes, communications, and opportunities accessible to diverse participants, removing barriers that might prevent someone from engaging with our community or benefiting from our solutions.
All volunteers are expected to: