That’s a Wrap: Winners and Winners Prevail

Sierra Bravo congratulates the winners of its first-ever F1 Overnight Website Challenge presented by VISI, a website makeover event matching talented volunteer web pros with Minnesota non-profits. Top honors go to the new website created literally overnight by Team IB for Families Moving Forward, a social service agency providing shelter and supportive services to homeless and low-income families with children.

For the price of a good night’s sleep, 11 non-profits worked with eight web pros for 24 hours. Each team donated 192 hours. The 11 teams donated a combined 2,112 hours — with a real-world market value of more than $200,000.

“We are, in a word, ecstatic,” said Leslie Frost, Families Moving Forward’s executive director. “We got so much more than we expected — functionality, content, and coolness. We’re trying to add a little ‘hip’ without scaring off older volunteers while attracting new ones. And now, when people search online for family homelessness, we’ll pop up first rather than never.”

Web developers and non-profits didn’t know who they would work with until an hour before beginning their 24-hour project. Team IB overcame this by advance game-planning for all selected non-profits.

“We all work together at Internet Broadcasting — and will even continue to work together — after our F1 experience,“ said Susan Inglis, senior web producer at Internet Broadcasting. “We met over lunch every Wednesday for six weeks to develop ideas for helping all 11 non-profits.”

“Work should be gratifying on both a personal and professional level, and to us that means helping people use technology to resolve their real world business needs,” said Luke Bucklin, president of Sierra Bravo. “We are grateful to our volunteers and sponsors for helping 11 worthy nonprofits further their respective missions by working smarter online.”

More non-profits (and their web development teams, winners, every one of them):

• Altered Esthetics (Internet All-Stars)
• Doorstep Healthcare Services (Twin Cities Open Circuit)
• Hope Chest for Breast Cancer (Team.Net)
• Kairos Dance Theatre (CTRL|ALT|DEL)
• Little Brothers – Friends of the Elderly (Ruby.MN)
• Metro Meals on Wheels (Pollywog Stew)
• Rebuild Resources, Inc. (Team Clockwork)
• Riverview Economic Development Association (Mighty Polymorphin Power Rangers)
• Twin Cities RISE! (Bleeker Street Boys)
• Wingspan Life Resources (Web 414)

(Most new websites aren’t yet deployed. Check back for before and after views of each project)

Sierra Bravo thanks these F1 judges for selecting 11 deserving non-profits and critiquing the work of 11 generous and talented web development teams:

• Robert Stephens, Geek Squad founder
• Christine Durand, communication director, Minnesota Council of Non-Profits
• Jan Finken, president, IQ Marketing
• Patty Henderson, interactive director, Colle+McVoy

All 11 non-profits won a one-year complimentary web-hosting subscription from Presenting Sponsor VISI, as well as complimentary computer training from Supporting Sponsor New Horizons of Minnesota. In-kind event sponsors: Adobe, Buffalo Wild Wings, Brueggers, Chipotle, Dominos, IQ Marketing, Peace Coffee, Red Bull.

Overnight Success

Sierra Bravo challenged web professionals (nerds like us) from throughout our community to a friendly competition. We will all donate 24 hours to build complete websites for 11 Minnesota non-profit organizations — everyone wins, but we all lose sleep. One part nerd Olympics, one part community service project and one part race-against-the-clock — Sierra Bravo’s F1 Overnight Website Challenge presented by VISI will partner deserving Minnesota non-profits with teams of talented web developers for 24 hours of fun collaboration culminating in a fully operational website for each participating non-profit.

About Sierra Bravo

When we’re not just giving it away, Sierra Bravo earns its keep as a full-service custom software and web development company, powered by nerds. Visit us at www.sierra-bravo.com.

See What Happened

Check out the flickr feed below and you can catch blog coverage at:

• samuelschroeder.com
• VISI|Blog
• Robert Fisher blog
• Jeremy Pavleck webcast
• If you’re blogging the event, send me the address and we’ll add it to the list.

F1 and the Future

As the first-ever F1 Overnight Website Challenge was a rewarding experience for non-profits and volunteers alike, Sierra Bravo intends to continue doing it annually.

During the inaugural F1 Challenge, more than half of Sierra Bravo’s staff of 50 donated countless hours — both billable and leisure — to plan and execute our event. As a company, Sierra Bravo is glad to be able to apply our professional skills, personal compassion and place in the web development community to harness the goodwill and talent necessary to help selected non-profits further their mission and work smarter online via a free website.

If your organization has web development needs that can not wait for a shot at the next F1 Challenge, please note that Sierra Bravo offers a reduced billing rate to non-profits. Contact Sierra Bravo at 952-948-1211.

While no dates have been set for the next F1 Overnight Website Challenge, it will likely occur approximately the same time next year. That being the case, Sierra Bravo will begin pre-registering the next batch of eligible nonprofits later this calendar year, so bookmark this website to keep watching for updates.

Our flickr Photostream