What’s GiveBackHack?

Before moving to Philadelphia two years ago, I helped organize one of the first GiveBackHack weekends in Columbus, Ohio. Our team of entrepreneurs, developers, social impact and nonprofit leaders saw that there was a lack of events like hackathons and business plan competitions that valued an idea’s social impact just as much as its business potential.

We set out to change that.

By bringing together resources and people from the creative, tech and nonprofit communities, we created GiveBackHack — a hackathon-style event where teams form Friday night around ideas that are pitched, and then spend the weekend working to create the building blocks of a social enterprise around that idea. Top teams get access to seed capital and other resources to help them pursue the idea beyond the weekend.

We’ve now hosted three successful events in Columbus, and teams from that first event are still making an impact today. An example of that is Abe’s Kitchen, a food truck that continues to provide healthy, affordable meals to food deserts across the city.

We’re excited to bring this event to Philadelphia to help launch socially innovative ideas from within our community. Philadelphia is home to so many amazing initiatives and social entrepreneurs, and we are thrilled to help connect resources and local leaders in the space with community members looking to make a difference.

Several leading entrepreneurs and organizations in the social impact space will be involved throughout the weekend, including the five judges, who will determine the top teams and allocation of seed money:

• Yasmine Mustafa, ROAR for Good
• Robert Cheetham, Azavea
• Lauren Fine, Youth Sentencing & Reentry Project
• Mason Wartman, Rosa’s Fresh Pizza
• Garrett Melby, GoodCompany Ventures

And the basics:

• What — Inspire social enterprises in one weekend
• Who — Anyone who enjoys thinking through problems and working collaboratively; ideas for solutions are not required, but are welcome if you have one
• When — Friday, Oct. 13 through Sunday, Oct. 15
• Where — Azavea HQ, 990 Spring Garden St.

Use the promo code GENEROCITY for $10 off. And if cost is a prohibiting factor, shoot an email to dillon@potluck.world with why you want to attend, and we’ll work something out.