RHoK Australia runs Design-It, Make-It and Mentor-It type workshops, hackathons, and mentoring initiatives in Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and virtually (thanks Covid-19!). We work with social changemakers: entrepreneurs, charities, and non-profits, to help solve challenges facing society.
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See you in 2022!
We have lots of exciting things planned, so make sure you’ve signed up to our newsletter, joined Meetup, or follow us on socials to stay in the loop.
Since 2011 we've gathered over 500 volunteers and helped over 100 organisations find tech enabled solutions to pressing social problems.
We are widely acknowledged in Australia as one of the pioneers in this space. Our unique combination of tech-for-non-tech workshops, mentoring initiatives, hackathons and smaller follow up events ensure that we get our solutions across the finish line and positively impact the wider community.
We work with charities, not-for-profit organisations in the social sector, as well as social entrepreneurs making a positive impact on society. Previous changemakers include ygap and SheStarts alumni.
RHoK Australia relies on the the support of our volunteers. There are many ways you can help us make a difference.
Become a RHoK Changemaker
Are you a charity, community group, or social entrepreneur with a problem that could be solved with technology, design, or business support? We may be able to help.
Participate in events, join our community
Our diverse teams of tech people assemble around our changemakers to work fast and furious, have fun, and create real social impact.
Become a Sponsor and help us
help others
Are you a socially conscious organisation looking to help create positive social impact? Find out how you can help us help others.
Some important updates from your Team @ RHoK - Virtual Hackathon 2021 recap - Join us! Support us! Pizza? us! (or just say hi!)
COVID has brought it’s challenges and limitations to RHoK - No hackathons being the biggest of those! - but the restrictions of the pandemic have, for many of us, opened new doors we weren’t brave enough to try until now.
There’s no better time to jump into some exciting new ways for for-purpose organisations and individuals to get into Random Hacks of Kindness!
“When I first got exposed to Random Hacks of Kindness and the whole concept of ‘hacking for good’, I’d worked in the not-for-profit sector for a good 20 years already and was part of a fairly large organisation in Victoria called UnitingCare. At the time, we were trying to create an innovation hub based around client satisfaction, which is very difficult to track in aged care/disability, and we ran out of ideas quite quickly. So I took to the Internet in search of fresh input and that’s when I stumbled upon RHoK’s hackathon event…”
Where can for-purpose/NFP organisations go to get up-to-date, relevant information and resources about how best to adapt to an environment of pandemic?
While the RHoK hackathon won’t be happening this winter, there are lots of other opportunities available for hackers keen to make a difference at this critical time. Here’s just a few…
Being a recipient of an Atlassian Foundation Grant was already a huge thing for RHoK... The ability to not only continue doing what we do (and love!) but to also explore seeding some regional RHoK’s in other states, beyond Vic, NSW and Queensland.
These are exciting times for RHoK. We’re taking some time out to figure how we can make the most of our brand new partnerships with the Atlassian Foundation and Our Community, and we want you to be a part of that :)
This free 101 session, brought to you by RHoK Australia, GetAgile and OurCommunity, is perfect for for-purpose and not-for-profit start ups. Useful for program, product and software development alike, it will help you and your organisation serve your audiences and communities in more flexible, innovative and person-centred ways.
RHoK puts hackers together with changemakers to deliver a solution to a problem in one weekend. Last week I joined their Melbourne Winter Hackathon, my first hackathon ever! On Saturday morning, I got together with a bunch of people I'd never met to deliver a solution to a charity by Sunday afternoon. This is the result of our collaboration…
As we lead up to the Random Hacks of Kindness 2019 Melbourne Winter Hackathon on May 18-19, we'll be introducing you to our new Changemakers in a series of articles, telling you their amazing stories and what they're hoping to achieve by working with RHoK and our amazing community of hackers.
I’ve always been really passionate about technology and being a positive force in what might sometimes seem like a bleak world. Random Hacks of Kindness is the perfect marriage of both passions and I was eager to join in, hacking to make a positive change.
The RHoK Australia Melbourne Summer Hackathon is just over a month away and we have six fantastic organisations and social enterprises that we’ll be collaborating with.
Our Melbourne Winter Hackathon is currently in progress at REA Group. Meet the Changemakers and follow their work.
We have 8 excited changemakers - a diverse range of social organisations with real business problems. Come along to our Melbourne Hackathon Nov 25-26 (this weekend!):
As the Syrian refugee crisis unfolded midwife and women’s health advocate Beccah Bartlett identified a significant lack of accessible and localised reproductive health information for women of refugee backgrounds.
Hackathons are synonymous with startup culture, but Jennifer from Berry Street Services has proved that hackathons aren’t just a fad.
CEO of Association for Children (ACD), Eddie Chapman came to his first hackathon as a changemaker in 2014. Changemakers are what we at RHoK call a charity, community group, social enterprise or individual making the world a better place.
Two years ago I had no idea that initiatives such as Random Hacks of Kindness (RHoK) existed. I wasn’t even aware about the whole notion of hacking! The geek in me looks forward to RHoK weekends with the anticipation of a five year old on Christmas Eve.
On November 28th and 29th, 2016, a group of passionate people came together to the Random Hacks Of Kindness Brisbane event hosted at News Corp in Bowen Hills.
Well, we did in the end, but let’s talk about how we got their first as I ventured into my second experience at a Random Hacks of Kindness Hackathon.
I first heard about RHoK and the hackathons that they run about a year ago. I had this idea for an app to help people in Timor-Leste carry out their own research and translate resources for mother tongue language education programmes…
Brisbane Winter 2015 was my first Random Hacks of Kindness event, as well as the first hackathon I've ever attended. I had been looking for a way of meeting inspired people that are keen to make a difference…
I love hackathons. That’s why for 7 years I organized nearly 40 hackathons at Facebook. At first, I simply did it because I loved the energy of all the people and the freedom to explore ideas outside the scope of my day job.
We sat down with one of our newest changemakers, Robert Dane at the recent summer hackathons and asked him a few questions. Robert is the CEO of Ocius, a really great little project to use a self-powered ocean going drone to gather data about changes in sea temperatures.
Last week, Bill and Melinda Gates released their annual letter outlining their big bet for the future. Their letter reinforces their continued optimism around the progress foreign aid has made in the last 15 years, and their bets are to see reduced child deaths, Africa feeding itself…
A few months ago, we heard about an really interesting project called the Wheelchair Accessible Transport Drivers Association, or WATDA.
It's a good sign when a meeting begins with pulling beers out of the fridge. And it was just the first of many surprises as we found ourselves taking part in our first hackathon.
We are thrilled to welcome the Atlassian Foundation into the RHoK family, as our 2019–2020 National Partner, and Our Community House who generously welcome us to their virtual space.
“In the space of a weekend I managed to meet some of the nicest people I now know, learnt about a wide array of web technologies, gained experience in working with a team of people that have a vast array of skills, and of course had a fantastic time!””
“We chose to join RHoK because we wanted to give back to the communities in a which we live. Unexpectedly, we also found value in opportunities to connect with like-minded people with varied skills, and from diverse organisations. ”
Join one of our Meetup groups in Melbourne, Bendigo, Sydney, Western Sydney, and Brisbane to make sure you keep up with individual events in your city.
The beating heart of RHoK is the people that give up their time to come down and contribute at our events. Without them, none of this stuff would happen.