Gloo Announces 2026 AI Hackathon Focused on “Building Together: Humans, Agents and the Future of Flourishing”

The Boulder-based hackathon will bring together 700+ developers, engineers and mission-driven builders to create Applied AI solutions for the faith and flourishing ecosystem

BOULDER, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Gloo (Nasdaq: GLOO), a leading technology platform serving the faith and flourishing ecosystem, announced that it will hold the 2026 Gloo AI Hackathon from October 6-8, 2026, at the Limelight Conference Center in Boulder, Colorado. The 48-hour hackathon is expected to bring together more than 700 developers, engineers, and mission-driven builders to create AI-powered solutions that advance human flourishing.

This year’s theme, “Building Together: Humans, Agents and the Future of Flourishing,” reflects Gloo’s philosophy that the future of AI will not be shaped by technology alone, but by the people, communities and values guiding how it is built. The event will focus on Applied AI for the faith ecosystem, helping developers create real AI workflows, tools, and applications for nonprofits, churches, ministries, Bible organizations, universities, and mission-driven communities.

The 2026 Hackathon will offer $250,000 in cash prizes across three challenge tracks:

• Agents Track, powered by Gloo: Developers will build AI agents using Gloo AI Studio to drive human flourishing in meaningful ways.
• Ministry Resourcing Track, powered by Masterworks: Teams will solve real fundraising and operational challenges submitted by ministries, with curated bounties tied to real organizational needs.
• Bible Track, powered by YouVersion: Builders will use the YouVersion platform and Bible data to create new ways for people to engage Scripture across different sectors, contexts and communities.

The hackathon will feature a 30-day pre-build period beginning in September, giving participants time to form teams, explore challenges and begin building before the in-person event begins in Boulder.

“At Gloo, we believe AI should not only be powerful, but it should be aligned with the people and communities it serves,” said Nick Skytland, Vice President of Gloo Developer and AI Research. “The faith ecosystem cannot afford to sit on the sidelines while AI is being built. Now in its fourth year, the Gloo AI Hackathon creates an open space for developers, ministry leaders, creators and technologists to build together, with purpose, toward a future where AI helps people flourish.”

This year’s event builds on the momentum of the 2025 Gloo AI Hackathon, where teams created values-aligned AI solutions to serve real needs across the faith ecosystem. Last year, the grand prize winner, Team Veritas from Austin Christian University, built an immersive Bible app with in-line AI Scripture intelligence to help users better understand the meaning behind biblical text — a prototype the team has since developed into a commercialized product available online. Other winning projects included an AI-powered financial coaching app aligned with biblical wisdom, a faith-based strategy RPG, and a real-time voice-to-ASL translation app that helps deaf and hard-of-hearing congregants better experience sermons, prayer and worship songs.

This year, Gloo will place a deeper emphasis on Applied AI, encouraging teams to leverage the latest developments in AI to build solutions that support real-world ministry and community needs. Builders will have access to Gloo AI Studio, a production-grade AI development platform designed to help faith-based and mission-driven developers build, deploy and scale AI applications with governance and values-alignment at the core.

“The question is no longer whether AI will be used by churches, ministries and faith-based organizations — it will,” said Skytland. “The real question is whether the AI being used will understand their values, reflect their theology and serve their communities in ways that are specific, trusted, and meaningful. That is what this Hackathon exists to accelerate.”

Gloo’s Flourishing AI Benchmark reflects the company’s commitment to shaping technology for good by helping the ecosystem better understand how today’s AI models perform against values-aligned criteria. The benchmark shows that major AI models score lower against Christian flourishing criteria than against general standards, with the largest gap in the dimension of faith and spirituality. The hackathon builds on that transparency by bringing talented builders and faith leaders together to apply AI thoughtfully to real-world ministry challenges.

To register or learn more, visit www.gloo.com/ai/hackathon.

About Gloo

Gloo (Nasdaq: GLOO) is a leading technology platform serving the faith and flourishing ecosystem. Gloo helps missional organizations amplify their impact by powering their technology and expanding their reach, so that people flourish and organizations thrive. The company’s values-aligned AI platform modernizes systems, workflows and data, while its marketing and donor solutions expand reach, awareness and long-term giving for mission-based organizations. Based in Boulder, Colorado, Gloo serves over 140,000 faith, ministry, and nonprofit leaders.