zlacker

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1. simonw+(OP)[view] [source] 2025-12-03 19:13:27
I wasn't aware of Hack Club before and wow, their fiscal sponsorship program is enormous: https://hackclub.com/fiscal-sponsorship/directory/ - looks like they cover more than 2,500 organizations!

The Python Software Foundation acts as a fiscal sponsor for a much smaller set of orgs (20 listed on https://www.python.org/psf/fiscal-sponsorees/) and it keeps our accounting team pretty busy just looking after those. Hack Club must have this down to a very fine art.

I wrote a bit more about PSF fiscal sponsorship here: https://simonwillison.net/2024/Sep/18/board-of-the-python-so...

replies(5): >>conrad+Z2 >>garyht+Ur >>throwa+PH >>chrism+uu1 >>dragon+CQ2
2. conrad+Z2[view] [source] 2025-12-03 19:27:42
>>simonw+(OP)
Hack Club builds software, so the students naturally built a banking product to scale their fiscal sponsorship: https://hackclub.com/fiscal-sponsorship/

I was working with Hack Club students on an experimental VPN client (https://github.com/hackclub/burrow) but never got the momentum to finish it. Made some great friends, though! It's a really fantastic organization.

The students have one big global Slack instance. If you're a student and on here, you should also be in there: https://hackclub.com/slack/

replies(4): >>kace91+Fd >>Cactus+AJ >>sundar+5M >>dannyo+X11
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3. kace91+Fd[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-12-03 20:15:49
>>conrad+Z2
This community sounds amazing, is there anything similar for adults rather than teens?

The “understanding through building” mentality is something I never got to experience as a group, the obvious answer is open source and the like but I wonder if there’s something more learning oriented.

replies(3): >>mellow+Ie >>citize+pN >>komali+H51
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4. mellow+Ie[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-12-03 20:20:31
>>kace91+Fd
Seconding this. I pivoted to tech in my early 30s and feel I've missed out on a lot of community building opportunities.
replies(2): >>leetro+Ch >>abnerc+pj
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5. leetro+Ch[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-12-03 20:32:47
>>mellow+Ie
Recurse Center might be a good option https://www.recurse.com
replies(2): >>conrad+yI >>rrampa+IN2
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6. abnerc+pj[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-12-03 20:42:30
>>mellow+Ie
Self-plug: consider Handmade Cities. We have a simple meetups [0] page if you decide you appreciate our ethos. Hopefully we have an active meetup location near you?

In any case, good luck on finding the right community!

[0] https://handmadecities.com/meetups

replies(1): >>MrChok+cr1
7. garyht+Ur[view] [source] 2025-12-03 21:26:11
>>simonw+(OP)
I love seeing PSF support the community with fiscal sponsorship! It makes such a huge difference for these open source projects and meetups, letting them focus on software and community rather than the legal/financial back-office work.

Hack Club's been a fiscal sponsor for about 7 years now (since 2018), and it's evolved quite a bit since the early days. I run engineering & product for the fiscal sponsorship program there and would be happy to chat/share any tips!

oh, and while it's on my mind, the codebase was open-sourced earlier this year (>>43519802 ), and we just launched a mobile app yesterday! >>46130402

8. throwa+PH[view] [source] 2025-12-03 22:49:22
>>simonw+(OP)
Hack Club was featured on front page not long ago: >>45913663

It might have improved since then?

replies(1): >>dragon+kP2
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9. conrad+yI[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-12-03 22:52:53
>>leetro+Ch
I would second Recurse Center. I've heard universally great things!
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10. Cactus+AJ[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-12-03 22:58:19
>>conrad+Z2
MMW: this will likely end up being the SVB for nonprofits
replies(1): >>toomuc+Gm1
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11. sundar+5M[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-12-03 23:14:34
>>conrad+Z2
> The students have one big global Slack instance.

Are you back on Slack as the primary comms channel after their sudden attempt to upcharge you (followed by the U-turn after the PR backlash)? Do you have some mirroring and other kind of fallback strategy if something like that happens again?

(Context for those who missed it: >>45283887 )

replies(1): >>conrad+Uz1
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12. citize+pN[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-12-03 23:24:37
>>kace91+Fd
I know I'm jaded but anytime I see a business situation and they specifically say you must be a MINOR to work with them... I get kinda suspicious.

>Yes, I'm a teenager ,18 and under

So not actually a teenager but a minor is what they mean and use what I would call deceptive language around it. But why?....

replies(3): >>squigz+b01 >>DiggyJ+st1 >>coldte+fM1
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13. squigz+b01[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-12-04 00:58:13
>>citize+pN
Yeah, I get suspicious when schools say only minors can enroll there
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14. dannyo+X11[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-12-04 01:13:16
>>conrad+Z2
We interviewed their founder Zach Latta on the EFF podcast[1] a few years back: I hadn't heard of them either, but he was pretty impressive, both on the goals and the political issues.

[1] https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/03/podcast-episode-hack-f...

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15. komali+H51[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-12-04 01:52:58
>>kace91+Fd
It's tangential but civic hack groups might offer what you're looking for. There's Code for America in the states and g0v in Taiwan and some other places.
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16. toomuc+Gm1[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-12-04 04:45:50
>>Cactus+AJ
They're using Column (https://column.com/) under the hood, so more like Stripe (payments + Atlas) for non profits I think? Still very powerful and material value of course on top of the banking partner primitive.
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17. MrChok+cr1[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-12-04 05:42:15
>>abnerc+pj
My city is on the list but when I submit I get a 404
replies(1): >>abnerc+Gx1
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18. DiggyJ+st1[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-12-04 06:09:03
>>citize+pN
You already made the point but yea that’s overly jaded to a significant degree
19. chrism+uu1[view] [source] 2025-12-04 06:21:02
>>simonw+(OP)
> their fiscal sponsorship program is enormous: https://hackclub.com/fiscal-sponsorship/directory/

Ouch, that is enormous. They forgot to handle images properly, so they’re serving ginormous images in inefficient formats instead of scaled thumbnails in efficient formats—just the first page transfers more than 40MB, and the second page is just as bad, and the third significantly worse. You get things like 11827×13107 “17230 Aluminium Falcons” logo being rendered at 64px high. (I’m surprised that one’s under 9MB.) Across pages 1–3, it’s averaging 1MB per item, which if it continues all the way to page 53 would exceed 2.5GB. Done properly, I’d expect most to be under 10KB, with a few up as high as 50KB, staying well under 1MB per page, and comfortably under 50MB for all 53 pages. It’d load faster and be cheaper to serve too.

(I know this isn’t what you meant, but it loaded so slowly that I looked, and that’s easily big enough to cause problems for some users.)

replies(2): >>Barbin+2w1 >>conrad+rA1
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20. Barbin+2w1[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-12-04 06:37:14
>>chrism+uu1
Just let them know (admittedly not through a previously known reliable channel FYI, I’m a stranger)
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21. abnerc+Gx1[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-12-04 06:54:44
>>MrChok+cr1
Which one is this? Las Vegas? If you don’t wish to reveal it here shoot an email so we can fix it: support at handmadecities dot com
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22. conrad+Uz1[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-12-04 07:19:43
>>sundar+5M
I do not speak for the 'club, but I believe it was resolved: >>45292042
replies(1): >>sundar+5e2
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23. conrad+rA1[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-12-04 07:24:37
>>chrism+uu1
and as with most things in Hack Club... it's open source :)

https://github.com/hackclub/hcb/issues/12314

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24. coldte+fM1[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-12-04 09:17:57
>>citize+pN
That's not jaded, that's paranoid-ly misreading this.

It's an organization for hacking working with high schools and young people. They don't want small children enrolled, and they don't want older people.

"teenager 18 and under" is perfectly fine description for 13-18 or 7th to 12th grade.

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25. sundar+5e2[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-12-04 13:03:44
>>conrad+Uz1
Yes, as I mentioned, Slack made a U-turn after the thread got popular and became a PR disaster (after having ignored the issue again and again previously). That kind of behaviour indicates a service that shouldn't be relied on so much, at least not without low-friction alternates that you keep ready to jump onto, in case some exec there decides again that the Club is too tempting a prize to not attempt another squeeze.
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26. rrampa+IN2[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-12-04 16:27:11
>>leetro+Ch
Recurse center is awesome! The community is curious, kind and supportive. I did 2 batches there and each one expanded my horizons as a programmer.
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27. dragon+kP2[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-12-04 16:34:52
>>throwa+PH
Yes, they have hired a lawyer. Also, as part of Hack Club it is an incredible place, meeting like minded people, participation in hackathons, member run programs like YSWS(You Ship We Ship) and much more!
28. dragon+CQ2[view] [source] 2025-12-04 16:40:21
>>simonw+(OP)
It's incredible! HCB is a member run project where teens can also make their own non profits! Even Hack Clubs finances are made public at https://hcb.hackclub.com/hq/
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