About the Event
In the first four years of The Nerdery Overnight Website Challenge, volunteers have freely given about 2.5 million dollars worth of professional web development services to 84 nonprofit organizations – including 10 nonprofits at last summer’s first-ever Overnight Website Challenge in Chicago. While The Nerdery considers this a good start, we will rally our staff and community to deliver nerdy deeds done dirt-cheap for as long as there are good nonprofits with not-so-good websites. During this nerdathon benefiting local nonprofits, volunteers form teams of 8-10 web pros that show up not knowing what nonprofit they’ll serve, pro bono, for the next 24 hours.
Twin Cities 2012 Highlights
- Sen. Franken's welcoming message: The Junior senator from the great state of Minnesota sent his words of encouragement to the teams of nonprofits and web pros just before the start of the challenge.
- Web Challenge Setup timelapse: 180 nerds setting up shop in the same room really, really quickly.
- Pixel Art: Eight bit creations of sticky notes and one very large grid paper wall.
- The Nerderizer 5000: Photo booth snapshots of all the nerdery participants.
For more highlights from the 2012 Twin Cities Overnight Web Challenge, including the arcade, hot shaves my Mustache Mike and the energy drink ice luge check out The Nerdery’s albums on Facebook.
The Pairings
Below is a list of the final team pairings and links to learn more about them. Click on the name of the Nonprofit to view before and after pictures of their website work.
Nonprofit + Web Pro Team
Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless + Codex
Northstar Therapy Dogs + Drop Shadows Not Bombs
Bakken Museum + Drupal Rocks
Youth Performance Company + Fullcourt Wordpress
TV by Girls + Get Off My LAN
ANSWER + PHP Nerds Beta
HourCar + Push N’ Run
Windmill Project + Raxacoricofallapatorius
Center for Homicide Research + Ruby Off Rails
Career Solutions Inc. + Ruby.MN
Cancer Legal Line + Run PHP
Valley Friendship Club + Sleep Deprivation Research Team #4
Community Neighborhood Housing Services + Team BIOS
Metro CISM + Team Pegacorn (finalists)
Minnesota Environmental Partnership + The Return of Team Redundancy Team Part 2
Little Voyageurs Montessori School + The Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen (finalists)
Franconia Sculpture Park + Twin Cities Expression Engine (finalists)
West African Medical Missions + Two Unicorns, One Moon (finalists)
The Winners
Recognizing the winner of The Nerdery Overnight Website Challenge takes time, fittingly. No team lost anything but sleep while 18 nonprofit organizations won free websites that will better carry their mission forward. Judges were charged with naming one team that made the most transformational difference for their designated nonprofit, and they reached consensus on Two Unicorns, One Moon for their work with West African Medican Mission. Feast your eyes on this fabulous freebie that they’ve created.
Thanks again to our judges this year for all of their work:
- Christine Durand, communication director, Minnesota Council of Nonprofits
- Christian Erickson, principal, Zeus Jones
- Jamey Erickson, owner, SEVENTHSIN
- Dana Nelson, executive director, GiveMN.org
