Picture the read-a-thons from your childhood and substitute the books for laptops and the candy for coffee and you've got it - the 48-hour Code-A-Thon. This weekend web programmers, designers, and tech enthusiasts will converge in Austin, Texas, to donate their time and their skills to build new open source advocacy tools - for 48 straight hours. Now that's dedication.

But they won't be building just any web tools. Coders will be building features targeted for use in nonprofit websites and advocacy campaigns. Everything will be built on the open source platform Drupal and in the spirit of open source will then be made freely available. The event also serves as a kick start for the website of the League of Technical Voters, the event host and a group that believes geeks can be a powerful force for political change.

So if you know how to program and want to give back to the nonprofit community, or just really push yourself to build that tool you've been thinking about, check out the Code-A-Thon. And don't forget to let us know how long you last.