Get Help, Give Help: Boston Tech Responds to Marathon Bombings

Nonprofits, companies, and service providers of all sizes across the technology scene are banding together in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings, offering ways to show support, donate money, and get things done.

We’ve compiled a list of some of the most notable efforts so far, but please e-mail me if you see other good examples of people across the local technology industry helping out or marshaling support for the victims and we will update this page.

The highest profile effort so far is the fundraiser organized by TUGG (Technology Underwriting Greater Good), the local industry’s major charity organization.

TUGG and online donation service Fundraise.com are passing 100 percent of the money raised on to the Red Cross. Update: The fundraising goal was increased to $100,000 Tuesday afternoon, after surpassing the initial $50,000 goal.

There are also resources for companies and people who couldn’t report to work because of damaged or inaccessible offices as the criminal investigation continues at the blast site.

The Cambridge Innovation Center in Kendall Square extended an offer to any companies needing space. The office space and services firm is often packed with startups and other tech companies, but director Dougan Sherwood says the CIC plans to shift things around to accomodate as many displaced people as it can.

“If people in the Back Bay are affected by this, particularly startups who can’t get to work because roads are closed or buildings are closed, we wanted to open up our doors for free,” he says. “We’ll continue to help out as long as we can, as long as we have space, and as long as people need help.”

Boston and Cambridge co-working space Workbar also offered up space for people whose offices aren’t accessible.

LevelUp, provider of a Boston-based mobile payments app, set up a Boston Marathon section in its “causes” feature, which allows users to donate any money they save through digital coupons to a cause of their choice.

LevelUp CEO Seth Priebatsch, whose sister was running the marathon yesterday (and was unharmed), says the startup will match all donations that users make up to $26,200—signifying the 26.2-mile length of a marathon. The money is going to the Red Cross and Children’s Hospitals, but might be routed to other sources in the future depending on recommendations from the Boston Athletic Association, which organizes the marathon.

 

“There isn’t much we can do, but as part of the tech community, we’re all responsible for doing what we can to help make today and tomorrow better than yesterday,” Priebatsch says.

Update: United Pixelworkers, a seller of t-shirts and other design items for Internet workers, is offering two different styles of limited-edition Boston t-shirts for one week, with all profits going to the Red Cross. I bought one.

Author: Curt Woodward

Curt covered technology and innovation in the Boston area for Xconomy. He previously worked in Xconomy’s Seattle bureau and continued some coverage of Seattle-area tech companies, including Amazon and Microsoft. Curt joined Xconomy in February 2011 after nearly nine years with The Associated Press, the world's largest news organization. He worked in three states and covered a wide variety of beats for the AP, including business, law, politics, government, and general mayhem. A native Washingtonian, Curt earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA. As a past president of the state's Capitol Correspondents Association, he led efforts to expand statehouse press credentialing to online news outlets for the first time.