Blackbaud Developer Network Challenge opens

CHARLESTON, USA: Blackbaud, Inc. has announced the opening of its first Developer Network Challenge. The developer that creates the most compelling customization for Blackbaud NetCommunity will be awarded an iPhone, and will also win his or her organization a year's free NetCommunity maintenance.

The Blackbaud Developer Network Challenge will provide a forum for developers working with NetCommunity to showcase their amazing work and will encourage the sharing of custom parts so many organizations can benefit "The Blackbaud Developer Network Challenge will provide a forum for developers working with NetCommunity to showcase their amazing work and will encourage the sharing of custom parts so many organizations can benefit," said Shaun Sullivan, chief technology officer, Blackbaud. "There are so many extremely talented developers customizing this platform both within the nonprofit community and within Blackbaud, and as a company, we are committed to openness and embracing the innovation it encourages."

The contest, which is open to the public, is based on leveraging the NetCommunity Open Platform, accessible at www.blackbaudlabs.com. Built on the NetCommunity platform, Blackbaud Labs is a user-friendly site built by the company's product development team to support the developer ecosystem that has grown around the platform. At Blackbaud Labs, developers can view clear, easy to use documentation and samples, post samples to get feedback and receive community support in the form of wikis and forums.

Blackbaud NetCommunity provides an open programmable architecture for incorporating powerful customizations into the product. Via Custom Parts, Custom Web Services, and Custom Transactions, a vast array of rich website enhancements can be created to provide unique solutions. These enhancements surface throughout the system in such a way as to provide a transparent integration between what is built in to the solution and what is custom.

The challenge will remain open until October 31, and entries, including code and a description of the application, should be submitted at http://labs.blackbaud.com/NetCommunity/contest. Entries will be posted to Blackbaud Labs after the 31st to allow review and sharing prior to judging. To learn more about how to write a custom part, visit Anatomy of a Custom Part.

The judging will take place at Blackbaud's Conference for Nonprofits, being held in Charleston, South Carolina on November 16 to 19. All entries will be featured in the marketplace for other users to vote on, and the winner will be announced on the last day of the conference. Concurrently, Blackbaud developers are being challenged to create applications that will also be posted and voted on by customers at the conference. All entries will be publicly available at Blackbaud Labs. To view sample code that is currently available, visit NetCommunity API Downloads.