US-based technology company Gloo has announced the winners of its 2026 AI Hackathon, awarding $200,000 in cash prizes to teams developing artificial intelligence applications for social services, nonprofit operations and community engagement.
A team from Austin Christian University secured the $100,000 grand prize for Fosterly, an AI-powered agent designed to connect young people leaving the Texas foster care system with relevant services and support networks.
The application aims to help young adults navigate available resources and maintain access to assistance during their transition out of foster care.
According to Gloo, more than 1,000 participants across over 115 teams took part in the competition, which was organised under the theme "Building Together: Humans, Agents and the Future of Flourishing."
The event began with a 30-day virtual development phase on September 8, followed by a 48-hour in-person development session at the Limelight Hotel in Boulder, Colorado, from October 6 to 8.
Participants included developers and individuals without technical backgrounds, with teams tasked with creating AI applications addressing practical organisational and community needs.
Fosterly was led by Jack Malouff, who was unable to attend the final event because of a serious medical emergency. His teammates continued the project and received the grand prize on behalf of the team.
Beyond the overall winner, Gloo awarded $20,000 each to three projects selected across separate challenge categories.
Unify, developed by Austin Christian University, won the Best of Agents category. The platform uses AI agents to help nonprofit organisations build software and consolidate operations that would otherwise require multiple disconnected tools.
OnBoard, developed by Frontier Commons, received the Best of Ministry Resourcing award. Its AI interface collects and organises updates from missionary activities, helping organisations prepare newsletters and maintain communication with donors.
Envoy Mission won the Best of Bible category for developing an offline, privacy-focused Bible application. The product is designed to resemble an ordinary mobile application and uses multilingual AI conversations to provide access to religious content.
Gloo distributed the remaining $40,000 across additional award categories, bringing the total prize allocation to $200,000.
Submissions were evaluated on concept, innovation, potential impact, use of artificial intelligence and team presentations.
The judging panel included Gloo co-founder and CEO Scott Beck, HelloBible CEO Eric Célérier, Gloo Executive Chair and Head of Technology Pat Gelsinger, and RightNowMedia Vice President of Software Scott Mosely.
Gloo operates a technology platform serving faith-based and community-focused organisations, offering AI, marketing, donor engagement and operational tools.
The competition highlighted applications of agentic AI beyond conventional business automation, including service coordination, nonprofit software development and communication workflows.
The company has not disclosed commercial deployment timelines or adoption figures for the winning applications.
Disclaimer: This article may include information derived from interviews, press releases, public statements, research, company communications and other publicly available or third-party sources. Such material may be summarised, paraphrased or contextualised for journalistic and editorial purposes. All rights in third-party content remain with their respective owners.
Related Articles
