Resources

Resources#

APIs, datasets, tools, and references for building projects that promote charity or address local social issues. Use them for web apps, mobile apps, Chrome extensions, n8n workflows, and scripts.

Filter resources

Ease Easy Medium Advanced

Cost Free Freemium Paid Free trial

API catalogs#

Discover free and public APIs by category.

Resource	Description	Ease · Cost
Public APIs	A collective list of free APIs (400k+ stars). Categories include Animals, Finance, Health, Government, Weather, and many more. No signup to browse.	Easy · Free

Data & APIs#

SDoH & local health#

Resource	Description	Ease · Cost
AHRQ SDoH Database	County, ZIP, and census-tract data (social, economic, education, housing, healthcare). Download or use; no API key. Catalog.	Medium · Free
CDC PLACES	SDoH and PLACES data; local health and maps. Browse or use data files.	Easy · Free
Georgetown Data Bridge — SDoH	BigQuery access; Python/Colab and programmatic. Requires Google account.	Medium · Free

Food access & nutrition#

Resource	Description	Ease · Cost
USDA FoodData Central API	Large nutrient and food composition database. Useful for apps that help food-insecure families optimize nutrition on tight budgets. API key required.	Medium · Free
Feeding America — Map the Meal Gap	County-level food insecurity data and trends. Useful for local heat maps and mobile pantry planning.	Easy · Free
Open Food Facts API	Open collaborative food product database with barcode-based product metadata and nutrition fields. Useful for donated item inventory tracking.	Medium · Free
Google Maps Platform — Places API	Search and geofence nearby food pantries or free fridges (e.g., within a radius of Baylor campus). API key and billing account required.	Medium · Freemium

211 & volunteering#

Resource	Description	Ease · Cost
211 API Portal	Search and export local health and human services (housing, food, childcare, disaster, etc.). API key; trial then paid.	Medium · Free trial
211.org	Public site and Find Your Local 211. Reference for UX and coverage; no key.	Easy · Free
VolunteerMatch / Idealist API	Volunteer opportunities (GraphQL). Open Network API. Registration/API key.	Medium · Freemium

Nonprofits & charity#

Resource	Description	Ease · Cost
IRS Exempt Organizations	Tax-exempt organization search; verify and research nonprofits. No API; search/browse or scrape.	Easy · Free
Candid (GuideStar) Developer	Premier API (profiles, financials, 990s), Charity Check, Grants. Reference. Free trial; then paid.	Medium · Paid

Automation#

Resource	Description	Ease · Cost
n8n Documentation + Integrations	Workflow automation docs for cloud/self-hosted setup, plus Integrations, REST API, and node catalog.	Easy–Medium · Free/Paid

MCP (Model Context Protocol)#

What is MCP? The Model Context Protocol is an open protocol that lets LLM applications (e.g. AI assistants and IDEs) connect to external data and tools in a standard way. An MCP server is a process that exposes tools (actions the LLM can call), resources (read-only data), and optionally prompts. Clients talk to servers over stdio or HTTP; you run servers locally or in containers and attach them to Cursor, Claude Desktop, and other MCP-enabled apps.

Resource	Description	Ease · Cost
Model Context Protocol (official)	Spec, concepts, and SDK/servers. Specification.	Medium · Free
Docker Hub MCP	Docker’s MCP server for Hub: image discovery and repo management via natural language. GitHub. Use with Gordon (Docker Desktop/CLI) or other MCP clients.	Medium · Free
awesome-mcp-servers	Curated list of MCP servers by category (search, scraping, DB, cloud, filesystem, etc.). Reference and official servers.	Easy · Free
mcpservers.org	Browse and discover MCP servers; submit new ones. Companion to awesome-mcp-servers.	Easy · Free

Build#

Student workflow quicklinks#

Resource	Description	Ease · Cost
Cursor AI IDE	Build faster with AI-assisted coding, debugging, and refactoring in one place.	Easy · Freemium
GitHub Quickstart + Flow + Pull Requests	Team repo setup and collaboration workflow. Also see GitHub Flow and Pull Requests.	Easy · Free
Postman	Test APIs before wiring frontend/backend integration.	Easy · Freemium
JSONLint	Validate JSON payloads and config files while debugging APIs.	Easy · Free
Figma	Rapid UI mockups and clickable prototype flows.	Easy · Freemium
Gamma AI Presentation	Generate a polished pitch deck quickly from notes or prompts.	Easy · Freemium
Ollama AI Local LLM	Run local models quickly to prototype AI features and show offline/on-device capability.	Medium · Free
OpenAI API + Playground	Fast path to hosted LLM features and prompt iteration before integrating into your app.	Easy–Medium · Paid

Chrome extensions#

Resource	Description	Ease · Cost
Chrome Extensions (Manifest V3)	Manifest reference, MV3 migration. Publish requires Chrome Web Store developer account.	Easy · Free
create-chrome-extension	CLI starter to scaffold an extension MVP faster than manual setup.	Easy · Free

Apps & web#

Resource	Description	Ease · Cost
Mobile	React Native, Flutter, or native docs per platform (iOS/Android). Device or emulator; app-store publish is separate.	Medium–Advanced · Free
Web	Any stack; ensure responsive and accessible (see A11y & UX below).	Easy–Advanced · Free
Supabase	Quick backend for auth, database, and storage for full-stack hackathon demos.	Easy–Medium · Freemium

Scraping & scripts#

Resource	Description	Ease · Cost
Libraries	Playwright, Puppeteer (browser); Beautiful Soup, Scrapy (HTML). Use ethically; respect robots.txt and terms of use.	Medium · Free
n8n	Webhook and HTTP nodes for scrapers. No code; quick automations.	Easy · Free

Accessibility (A11y) & UX#

Use these references to improve usability, clarity, and accessibility from the first prototype.

Resource	Description	Ease · Cost
WebAIM	Guidelines and resources. WAVE evaluates pages by URL.	Easy · Free
The A11y Project	Checklists and patterns. Use early in design.	Easy · Free

Curated lists#

Nonprofits & social good#

Resource	Description	Ease · Cost
awesome-ngo	FOSS and freemium tools for NGOs; collaboration, guides. No signup.	Easy · Free
Free-for-Nonprofits	Free software and services for nonprofits; freefornonprofits.org. Good for demos.	Easy · Free
GitHub: Open source for good	Contributing to social-impact projects. For Good First Issue.	Easy · Free

SDoH & maps#

Resource	Description	Ease · Cost
U.S. SDoH Atlas	Census-tract SDoH; interactive maps. Good for visualization ideas.	Easy · Free
CHART SDOH Data Repository	Public SDoH variables by geography; state/county/tract. Download datasets; no API key.	Medium · Free

n8n#

Resource	Description	Ease · Cost
awesome-n8n	Community nodes, tutorials, resources. Good for hackathon shortcuts.	Easy · Free
awesome-n8n-workflows	Ready-to-use JSON workflows by category. Import into n8n.	Easy · Free
n8n-free-templates	200+ workflows (AI, Gmail, Notion, Slack, etc.). Import and tweak.	Easy · Free

Extensions & scraping#

Resource	Description	Ease · Cost
awesome-chrome-extensions-for-dev	Dev-focused extensions; debugging, API, testing, productivity.	Easy · Free
awesome-web-scraping	Libraries, tools, and guides (Python, JS, Go, etc.).	Easy · Free

Inspiration#

Resource	Description	Ease · Cost
Idealist	Volunteering and nonprofit listings. Browse; API is separate (see 211 & volunteering).	Easy · Free
Local United Way, food banks, community foundations	Real-world partners and needs for apps and automations. Call/email for partnership or data.	Easy · Free