COLUMBUS, Ohio — In partnership with Columbus Code & Coffee, GiveBackHack hosted our first GiveBackLabs of 2025—Tech Impact. The goal was simple: help solve some of the complex technical challenges of local nonprofits by surrounding them with the eager designers and developers of Code & Coffee.
A group of over 30 nonprofit founders, technologists, and community members worked on a live challenge presented by a local nonprofit leader:
- Ben Sears from Star House worked to transition his training program from in-person to virtual, which improves their accessibility and allows him to tap into state technology grants. His GiveBackLabs team contacted partners in government and IT who can manage the transition alongside him.
- Kwesi Low and Karina Burk from Columbus Stand Up wanted to capture stories from their community dinners, but didn’t know how. Their GiveBackLabs team developed a list of tools that systematizes the storytelling process without smoothing over the subtle details in each story.
- Keena M. Smith from the Women’s Center for Economic Opportunity envisioned a platform that would unify Columbus’ fragmented ecosystem of entrepreneur support programs. Her GiveBackLabs team conducted a live interview with a small business owner on-site that uncovered a need to track progress across programs.
- Kate Lingnofski from Greenleaf Job Training Services faced a scheduling nightmare when matching job coaches to clients with changing hours. Her team showed her how to streamline scheduling using AI tools she already had access to.
GiveBackLabs isn’t about spinning up quick fixes. It gives builders the tools to ask better questions, test assumptions before coding, and, most importantly, connects them to mission-driven work.
Interested in sponsoring our next GiveBackLab? Talk to us.
