Get Involved · Volunteer, mentor, advise
Don't just volunteer your time. Put your expertise in the hands of someone who can use it.
HxDF is not asking you to help teach a class. It is asking you to sit with a student team or a community organization, on a real problem, and make them capable of solving the next one without you. Eleven roles. Every one of them specific.
What it actually looks like
A Saturday morning with HxDF.
A composite from the program design, not a report of an actual session. The first cohort will replace it with a real one.
Photographs will come from HxDF programs, with permission. No stock imagery.
- 9:00
A student team and their mentor open the problem: a food program takes requests by phone, email, and walk in, and someone retypes every one. The mentor asks the only question that matters. What happens to a request after it arrives?
- 9:30
The team maps it on paper. Seven steps, three people, two places it gets lost. The mentor does not fix it. She points at the two places and asks who checks.
- 10:15
A workflow blueprint on the wall: one intake, one queue, one owner, a review step before anything reaches a family. The team drafts the automation with an AI tool. The mentor makes them explain every line it produced.
- 11:00
They test it with the program's coordinator on a call. It breaks on the first real request. Good. Now they know something. Version two by 11:40.
- 12:00
The team writes the before and after, the risk notes, and the responsible AI review. Next week they present it to the organization. The mentor goes home having converted three hours into something that will run on Monday.
For organizations
Request an audit.
Describe what your organization does and where the friction is. One paragraph is enough and there is no call to book first. HxDF currently offers a limited number of audits each month at no cost, based on our capacity. When a month reaches capacity, requests are held for the next one and the organization is told where it stands. Availability can close when the capacity is reached.
- Who it is for
- Small nonprofits and community organizations with limited internal technology capacity, one problem they can name, and staff willing to give honest answers. Fit matters more than size or polish.
- What you provide
- A short description of what your organization does and where the friction is, and access to what already exists: the process as it runs, the systems in use, and any documents that describe them. No new material has to be produced for the audit.
- What HxDF reviews
- The scope named on the audit page you chose, agreed in writing before anything starts, plus a working conversation with the people who actually run the process.
- What you receive
- A findings memo, ranked priorities, quick wins, a 90 day action list, and the measures worth tracking. Written for the person who has to act on it, not for a board packet.
- What happens next
- A conversation to walk through it, and the document to keep. You can act alone, hire anyone you like, or ask HxDF about a Blueprint. HxDF gains nothing either way.
Taking first requests
The protocol is being written and no audit has been delivered. Requests are open now, and the organizations that come first will shape how this works.
Who qualifies
HxDF currently prioritizes small nonprofits and community organizations whose work directly benefits people and communities, and whose needs are appropriate for our current capacity and expertise.
We may not be able to accommodate every request, and availability may close when our monthly capacity is reached.
Roles
Eleven ways to convert expertise into capability.
Each role names what you actually do, what evidence of impact looks like, and who fits. Most run the length of a cohort, roughly eight to ten weeks, with one session a week. Some are a single afternoon.
- 01
AI mentor
- What you do
- Guide a student team through directing AI tools on a real project: prompting, decomposition, verification, and knowing when not to use AI.
- Evidence of impact
- A student can explain and demonstrate a working, verified solution.
- Who fits
- You use AI tools seriously in your own work.
- 02
Systems thinking mentor
- What you do
- Help students map a workflow: inputs, outputs, bottlenecks, decision points, and controls.
- Evidence of impact
- A student produces a credible process blueprint someone else could follow.
- Who fits
- Operations, product, analyst, or process improvement background.
- 03
Product mentor
- What you do
- Coach a team from problem statement to prototype to user testing.
- Evidence of impact
- A prototype tested with the people who will use it, and improved.
- Who fits
- Product management, design, or founder experience.
- 04
Operations mentor
- What you do
- Bring the reality of running a team or organization: what breaks, what gets adopted, what gets abandoned.
- Evidence of impact
- Solutions that survive contact with real staff.
- Who fits
- You have run operations, a program, or a small organization.
- 05
UX and design mentor
- What you do
- Help students make things people can actually use: forms, flows, instructions, interfaces.
- Evidence of impact
- A solution staff can use without a walkthrough.
- Who fits
- UX, service design, or content design experience.
- 06
Digital safety mentor
- What you do
- Coach students on scams, synthetic media, verification, privacy, and responsible AI. Review every project's risk notes.
- Evidence of impact
- A student can identify and respond to realistic digital risks.
- Who fits
- Security, privacy, trust and safety, or investigative background.
- 07
Nonprofit technology advisor
- What you do
- Work with a community organization on a defined capacity project and make sure what gets built is what they can maintain.
- Evidence of impact
- A nonprofit leaves with a working system and trained staff.
- Who fits
- You have implemented systems inside organizations, or run a nonprofit.
- 08
Portfolio reviewer
- What you do
- Review student portfolios before showcases, internships, and applications. Tell them what good looks like.
- Evidence of impact
- Students know how their work reads to a real employer or admissions reader.
- Who fits
- You hire, admit, or manage early career people.
- 09
Career mentor
- What you do
- Two or three conversations with a student about paths, choices, and what your work actually involves.
- Evidence of impact
- A student can name a next step and why.
- Who fits
- Anyone with a career and the patience to describe it honestly.
- 10
Guest instructor
- What you do
- Teach one session in your area: how a recommendation system works, how a scam is built, how a company uses data.
- Evidence of impact
- Students can explain the system you taught them.
- Who fits
- Deep expertise and the ability to explain it to a fifteen year old.
- 11
Corporate employee volunteer
- What you do
- Join through your employer as a mentor, reviewer, or instructor, with a role and a schedule defined in advance.
- Evidence of impact
- Your team's hours convert into demonstrated student capability.
- Who fits
- Your company wants employee engagement with real outcomes.
What HxDF asks of you
Show up, be honest, let them drive.
A defined commitment you can keep. Willingness to ask questions instead of giving answers. Screening and a short orientation before you meet a student. Feedback at the end so the program gets better.
What you get
Someone else's capability, with your fingerprints on it.
A clear role, a real project, support from HxDF staff, and evidence at the end that your time turned into something that runs on Monday. No generic workshops. No unstructured drop ins.
Volunteer interest
Tell us what you do.
Mentor roles for the first cohort are being defined now. We will contact you as they open, and we will not waste your time with a role that does not fit.
Other ways in
Not a mentor? There is still a role.
- Go
Host a session
Bring a family session, a student workshop, or a showcase to your school, library, congregation, or community space.
- Go
Volunteer through your employer
Structured employee mentoring with roles, schedules, and outcomes.
- Go
Review our safeguarding approach
Child safety, privacy, and evaluation experts: we want your critique before the first cohort.
- Go
Sponsor or give
Sponsor a cohort or a nonprofit project now; give when the charitable structure exists.
Employers