In a time of increased civic engagement, nonprofit organization DemocracyLab is working to bring programmers and entrepreneurs together to create technology that creates opportunities for civic engagement. The organization has developed a location-based food donation app (Banana App), a game simulation that allows participants to edit Seattle lanes and intersections to optimize traffic flows (A/B Street), and a website to track and publish town halls that lawmakers are holding (Town Hall Project).
Foster Garvey attorney Brooks Lindsay has been working with DemocracyLab for nearly a year, providing general business advice. In addition, Foster Garvey has reviewed sponsorship agreements; drafted employment agreements, terms for volunteering, terms for organizations hosting projects and a privacy policy; helped the organization “merge” from an Oregon to a Washington entity; and analyzed Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) compliance issues related to volunteering.
As its hackathons with programmers and entrepreneurs have grown with the support of sponsors such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Microsoft, Amazon and HERE, the need for sound legal counsel has risen as well. Foster Garvey has been happy to meet this need with the support of attorneys and staff such as Steve Peltin, Shannon Stokke, Benjamin Hodges, Kathleen Brown and others.
