For those out there who think hackers are all bad, quite a number have gotten together to form Random Hacks of Kindness.  What a concept? 

Here is their "manifesto".

What is Random Hacks of Kindness?

Random Hacks of Kindness (RHoK) is all about using technology to make the world a better place by building a community of innovation. RHoK brings software engineers together with disaster risk management experts to identify critical global challenges, and develop software to respond to them.

A RHoK Hackathon event brings together the best and the brightest hackers from around the world, who volunteer their time to solve real-world problems.

So, how does it work?

RHoK organizes hackathons — marathon hacking events with multiple global locations bringing together developers from all over to hack on real-world problems.

We work together with subject matter experts from around the world and our close collaborators over at Crisis Commons to define and refine those problems through Crisis Camps and in small groups, turning them into concrete problem definitions or “Featured Hacks”. At every RHoK Hackathon the Featured Hacks are thrown out to the RHoK community, and the developers work their hacking magic to create software solutions to respond to those problems and make the world a better place.

And just like in the marathon, there are winners and prizes up for grabs. Each RHoK hackathon is structured as a codejam — a fast-paced competition where software developers have a set amount of time to solve the challenges they are given. At the end of the two-day marathon of hacking, a panel will review each hack, and the winners will walk away with prizes, as well as the right to call themselves “RHoKstars” ever after.