This Week's Contest: Twilio Powered Voice Applications for Non-Profits

This Week's Contest: Twilio Powered Voice Applications for Non-Profits

Don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten about last week’s Twilio for Education contest category – we’ll be announcing the winners tomorrow morning.  We wouldn’t want that to stop you from getting started on this week’s contest category: Twilio for Non Profits.

For week #21 of our Netbook contest, the category is an opportunity to not only explore the Twilio API and build a project with the hopes of winning a Netbook for yourself, you’ll also have the chance to help a nonprofit of your choice implement a voice solution.  The winning application will receive $500 in Twilio credit to keep running after the contest ends.  When you’re ready, submit here.

Nonprofits can be a lot like startups, especially in the early stages when they need to be as opportunistic as possible to build a following around their cause.  Whether you choose to work with a new or established non-profit, there are many ways that voice can be a powerful tool.

Ideas to Get You Started

Education: Donors Choose

They also currently have a Social Media Challenge going on, maybe you can find a tie in with that and Twilio… how about a way for people to call in their pledges as voice-to-text transcribed comments on a blog?

The Freecycle Network™ is made up of 4,835 groups with 6,602,000
members across the globe. It’s a grassroots and entirely nonprofit
movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in
their own towns. It’s all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of
landfills. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer (them’s
good people).

How can you use Twilio to make it even easier for people to give, and get, free stuff?  How about a phone call to notify me when free stuff I’ve expressed an interest in becomes available nearby?  What about way to safely coordinate a public meeting place for picking up or delivering free stuff?

Animals: American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA)

The ASPCA accepts donations that support finding adoptive homes for tens of thousands of animals each year.  Could you build a voice application for accepting donations, reporting animal abuse, or getting information on pet adoption?

Help hundreds of thousands of women and their families impacted by breast cancer work towards finding a cure forever.  Susan G. Komen for the Cure organizes worldwide events focused on health and wellness to raise money for medical research aimed at finding the cure for breast cancer.

Imagine a voice application that would enable breast cancer victims and survivors to connect for support and encouragement.  What about a way for runners in the 3-day walk and Race for the Cure to call in and record their thoughts and experiences on the journey?

Resources to Help You Along

Google Checkout allows visitors to your website to make donations to
your organization quickly and securely using a Google username and
password. Google will automatically charge donors’ credit cards for
their donations, and you can use Google Checkout’s online Merchant
Center or the Google Checkout APIs to track donations.

NTEN is the membership organization of nonprofit professionals who put technology to use for their causes.  The believe that strategic use of technology can have a positive impact on the success on nonprofits.

Are You a Non-Profit in Need of a Voice Application?

Please leave a comment or send us an email at help@twilio.com and we’ll help you by posting your project on our forums, social networking profiles, email newsletter, and we’ll also share the opportunity with Twilio Developers Network on LinkedIn.