State of the Onion

This is a list of Free Geek programs and functions organized by the staff committee that is charged with their oversight. We are asking each committee or person responsible to post a brief description of the state of each program.

(For more information on each committee see the Standing Staff Committees page.)

NOTE: When updating a section, please sign your work with the "four squiggles" syntax ( ~ ) so we can see when the item was last updated (and by whom). (In theory, reports that are unsigned were created by someone from the committee or responsible for the indicated program before this note was added. RfS 09:06, 26 January 2007 (PST))

Action

 * Recycling
 * Shipments are going out once a week to each of our vendors. We recycle close to 200 monitors, about 3 tons of steel, 400 lb of plastic, 600 lb of wire and cords, and many more pounds of other copper bearing material every week.(estimated numbers)
 * A new lay out for the ware house is in the planning stages.Liane 15:35, 7 July 2007 (PDT)


 * Receiving
 * Receiving has been so organized and clean lately, it's frightening, even though the stream of donations never seems to stop for longer than a couple of minutes. We have stopped receiving loose batteries, and are referring donors to other places like Radio Shack with their baggies. Liane 15:35, 7 July 2007 (PDT)


 * Maintenance and design of the physical plant
 * We Passed the Fire Inspection. The other things of priority are replacement of the warehouse door that was damaged from the break in(waiting on bids). Next on the list is rewiring of the Black Hole (waiting on bids). There are more issues that need to be dealt with  these issues have a separate RT ticket. If you see an item that is a facilities maintenance issue, send a ticket to todo at freegeek dot org with the word "action" in the header.


 * Building security
 * We are in the middle of getting mass repairs to all our external doors. Our annual re-keying of the locks has happened June 28th. --Matteo 11:00, 12 July 2007 (PDT)


 * General safety
 * Receiving and Recycling are asking volunteers to use gloves and safety glasses when breaking stuff.
 * Please remember to keep aisles free of debris, and pathways inside the building free of random stuff, because it is required by the fire department, and we have volunteers and guest using wheelchairs, or other mobility devices.
 * First Aid kits are refilled regularly. Please let E-Beth know of if we're missing something.
 * We are also working on a Safety policy. --Matteo 11:00, 12 July 2007 (PDT)

C7

 * Policy development
 * Currently cleaning up the policy structure in the wiki, adding links and history. Wiki clean up mostly being done by volunteers. We are seeking volunteers to help with this. (See Matteo or anyone from C7.) RfS 10:43, 17 February 2007 (PST)


 * load balancing of the committees
 * All of the committees have enough people, but some committees function better than others, partly because some people are better at being committee members than others. Some committees (such as HR) may be overstaffed. Some committees could be broken up into different committees, but this might create too many committees to be practical. RfS 10:43, 17 February 2007 (PST)


 * liaison with Free Geek Community Council and Free Geek Board of Directors
 * Developing this page as a snapshot of information hopefully helps keep the council and board better informed about the state of things. Board members are coming to council meetings on a regular basis. RfS 10:54, 12 May 2007 (PDT)


 * nominations to the various committees
 * HR has may have a person too many people on it. With an expected some staff changes in the next year, expect to see some shifting about. RfS 10:54, 12 May 2007 (PDT)


 * proposals concerning changes to the committee structure itself
 * We are thinking about ideas expressed in Multi-Collective Free Geek as a starting point for a possibly different committee structure. RfS 10:43, 17 February 2007 (PST)


 * accounting and financial oversight
 * We have moved to monthly reporting of quarterly budgets. We have reorganized the expense categories to mirror the committee structure, have recoded the last three years of income transactions, are working on better income projections based on that. We need to review policies about handling money from time to time. We need to educate the committees on how to spend money when they're not sure how ahead or behind they are vis a vis the budget. RfS 10:54, 12 May 2007 (PDT)

HR

 * Human resources
 * We're working towards a long-term (one year-ish) hiring strategy.


 * volunteer management
 * Rewards such as core BBQ are covered by Inreach (Outreach work group) and are a huge success.


 * volunteer and staff discipline
 * We have a Volunteer Discipline Policy. There are a few active tickets in our Volunteer Issues queue which is visible to staff only. Active tickets in the queue are reviewed at HR meetings.


 * procedures regarding theft from Free Geek
 * This is handled mostly by our Volunteer Discipline Policy. There have been a few incidents in the past that are still open.


 * mediation between conflicting parties
 * We do this as it needs to be done. There have been a few formal mediations, but generally we try to get people to talk to each other to head that off.


 * volunteer and staff scheduling
 * Volunteer scheduling is done on paper, and works mostly. Tour guides are now scheduled, basic testing is off the schedule, and special volunteering can be written in on the miscellaneous area.  Staff scheduling is semi automated but last minute changes eat up time (and money). It would be good to have a program that makes this easier.


 * staff and intern reviews
 * We have a schedule in place for reviews but they tend to slide, sometimes excessively. Reviews generate documentation about goals. etc., which may or may not be being completed consistently.


 * volunteer acculturation and training
 * Trainings are not happening in a consistent way, but there are a few in the works. There has been a lack of people signing up in the past. We'd like to do a consensus training, a wiki training, a training in website admin. The discussion on the Council email list about the Education Program & Coordinator reflects much of the varied perspectives about volunteer trainings.


 * health care and benefits packages
 * Staff collective members have health care (including alternative care such as naturopathy), sick, vacation, and holidays. The health plan was just renewed and costs us approximately $345 per person per month. Some collective members use other plans and are eligible to reimbursed for most of their costs in lieu of taking our plan. We are adding a retirement benefit, where Free Geek will match up to 3.2% of a collective members salary, providing the collective member make an equal or greater contribution to a 503(b) plan (similar to a 401(k) plan, but for nonprofits). RfS 14:32, 7 July 2007 (PDT)


 * employee manual
 * The Staff Handbook is on the wiki. It is a work in progress.... and by progress we mean perpetually incomplete.

Knowledge Bees

 * Education
 * Adoption classes are happening twice a week. More Volunteer Adoption Teachers would be great.  (MW 13:42, 15 May 2007 (PDT))
 * The advanced linux class series has been restarted (MW 13:42, 15 May 2007 (PDT))


 * Documentation
 * Lots of documentation continues to happen. (MW 13:42, 15 May 2007 (PDT))


 * Technical Support
 * We have 4 days a week of tech support availability.
 * We have some new volunteers. ( martin 13:47, 3 April 2007 (PDT) )


 * Computers for Kids
 * Pacific Crest Community school is running a Build program again with 8 of their students. We also have multiple classrooms, and kids groups come in every week to get job skills, and earn computers.
 * (See Group volunteering for how groups of kids can volunteer.)


 * Free Geek Library
 * The library has been considerably cleaned up in preparation for moving it in to the old meeting room. We are looking at library software. We need to decide a mission for the library so we can determine what books to acquire and/or keep. (MW 13:42, 15 May 2007 (PDT))

Outreach
Note: Outreach split into 5 work groups which cover various aspects of the following
 * Fundraising
 * We are mapping out a big picture fundraising strategy, which will derive from the big picture strategic planning FG needs to do. We saw a marked rise in monetary and hardware donations following the publicity about the breakin.--Mariadeathstar 13:17, 6 May 2007 (PDT).


 * grantseeking
 * Ali is a bit burnt on this, and would like to act as backup to an experienced person.


 * outreach
 * Currently working on upping our volunteer outreach by finishing the media kit for distribution to org.s and media. Also, want hardware grant shepherds to distribute materials to appropriate local org.s who receive stuff from us, as well as offer a FG staff member to come talk about our programs to their staffs.


 * advertising and marketing
 * We currently have no paid ads in the works, although we have a small budget to do so. One of our long-term projects is to re-make the brochure.


 * parties, festivals and other events
 * Geek Fair is on July 21st! Planning has begun, and the poster should be done soon.


 * community building
 * There's a work group to build these alliances.


 * relations with the neighbors
 * Had some issues with upstairs neighbors & parking lot but it has been effectively worked out.


 * relations with the non-profit and social change communities
 * Have discussed potential partnerships with Portland Community Media and Clinton St. Theater.


 * membership development
 * Huh? Wha?  Who?


 * the Free Geek website
 * Gets updated as needed, although could use more maintainers. We've also been discussing moving the website to a content management system, which would make the website easy to maintain for volunteers as well.  Technocrats are also looking into this, and its an ongoing issue.


 * the reception area
 * Also, we are scheduling volunteers that want to do our regular tours at noon and six. The front desk was recently moved back to allow for more room for visitors.  Observe the spacious glory!


 * public email addresses
 * Getting answered every day!


 * media relations
 * Request for interviews about a variety of topics come in regularly (from recycling practices to hard drive security to open source creativity). We're currently working to create a media kit to send to media and put up on the website.


 * advertising and design of donation pickups
 * Volunteers sporadically pickup donations but we are still advertising that we do not pickup. If we want large corporate donations, we'll need to be able to do large pickups.  This will probably require a dedicated vehicle.


 * volunteer rewards
 * Core breakfast is still happening, and we're increasing the budget by $50/month (to $250) to accommodate the increase in cost and attendance.

Propagation

 * Liaison with Free Geek startups (the replication of Free Geek elsewhere)
 * The franchise group has an email list with members from outside of the Portland area. We are finalizing a formal trademark license agreement. We have an official trademark in category 41 (education). Our attempts to enforce trademark license through cease and desist letters and such are currently stalled. RfS 10:34, 7 August 2007 (PDT)


 * liaison with GAP volunteers
 * A list of current GAP sites is on this wiki. The Red and Black location will be closing for an indeterminate amount of time. We need to touch base with the new owners of Plan B (formerly Acme). We will be upgrade to two boxen there (Grant boxen with wireless cards that work with LCD screens). RfS 10:34, 7 August 2007 (PDT)


 * Hardware Grants
 * The Hardware grants group now formally meets rarely, but hardware grants are still going strong. The staff recently started scheduling shifts to coordinate grants (as well as class-free adoption disbursements). We are working on consolidating the policies and documentation about grant giving, so that it doesn't get lost. RfS 10:34, 7 August 2007 (PDT)

Reuse

 * Freekbox, storebox, grantbox production (build)
 * Build is healthy and strong, emptying all incoming piles and filling all outgoing shelves. Our specs  are  higher than ever, as we ride along the wake of Moore's law.


 * testing maintenance and development
 * Advanced testing is running under the graces of a few very dedicated volunteers. In order for development and refinement of new procedures, more staff time will need to be allocated. Basic testing is part of the adoption program and volunteers test keyboards and mice.


 * Laptops
 * There is a healthy group of build graduates that have joined the Laptop build program. The laptops are dispersed as grants, and sold in the store.


 * retail sales
 * Retail sales has been on a steady increase for the last 5 years. The store is currently staffed full time by staff, and day to day there is usually 2-3 volunteers helping out customers, testing various gizmos, and stocking the shelves. There have been some bumps starting the new year with a new POS system, but over all our accuracy in bookkeeping has never better. We just hired a new intern, Francisco Marquez. RfS 12:49, 12 July 2007 (PDT)


 * printer refurbishing and sales
 * Printers is running halfway with very little supervision. We have spent a great deal of time cleaning and getting work areas ready, setting up how-to documents and getting printers ready for the store. We sell some printers as-is or bulk besides store sales. Our goals are to have printers available for both grants and the store. If there were twenty hours a week dedicated staff time the income would pay for the staff time dedicated.


 * Audio/Visual
 * (information needed)


 * Online Sales
 * Ebay sales are presently ongoing under the care of the Exploratory Online Sales Coordinator. The scope of online sales will include Craigslist and wishlist fulfillment in the very near future. Serge 13:09, 5 March 2007 (PST)


 * locate, evaluation, and put oddball hardware into reuse
 * This is done on a ad-hoc basis. The work is mostly being done by volunteers.


 * wholesale or bulk sales of to-be-recycled parts
 * Wholesale (or bulk) sales are surging ahead with new orders coming in. A few more hours of staff time allocated would make it less frenzied.


 * Legacy Systems
 * Legacy Systems is turning into a good alternative for Eval 2. The program is still in creation mode.


 * Classic Gaming Library
 * The existence of the CGL can neither be confirmed nor denied at this time.


 * Prebuild
 * We have recently added wireless cards to the types of cards we're looking for in card sorting. We are allowing prebuilders to work in Legacy Systems in lieu of Eval 2. We have started to get more corporate donations which means more identical systems, most of which are processed more easily and then sold in bulk. We are considering a few changes in Eval 1 that will make it easier to identify computers that should be recycled. And there's a ton of incoming computers, spilling into the hallway for the first time in a while. RfS 14:21, 20 February 2007 (PST)

Technocrats

 * Liaison with Coders group
 * The coders group does not function (as a group). Recently, Martin finished a project to rework the entire database to the point of rollout. He continues to add features and hunt bugs, but we are using the new code. We will need to train a core of staff and volunteers to maintain this code during the next year, because Martin has asked for an extended sabbatical for the year 2008.  We are trying to reach out to other freegeeks to help maintain the code. -- MW 10:29, 13 March 2007 (PDT)


 * liaison with ASS group
 * The ASSes have changed their meeting to the third tuesday of every month. This means more work will be done between the meetings and the meetings will be more like meetings.  Much system administration work is actually being done by Martin on staff time, pulling him from doing other work. MW 10:29, 13 March 2007 (PDT)


 * selection of software commonly used at Free Geek
 * We are looking at possible replacements for RT. Long ago we selected moodle as software that might work to maintain curriculum and tests for online classes. The Knowledge Bees are still determining whether we will actually use this. Lessdisks is slated to be replaced by LTSP, with a corresponding rework of our system imaging.  Gizmo IDs were recently ameliorated to only matter among the build teachers and students, and it is planned to "soon" remove the need for any paperwork in the build area. Matteo 14:15, 13 March 2007 (PDT)


 * computer security
 * Our ASS group is always looking for ways to improve our security. Nothing particular is bothering us at the moment, and we hope to keep it that way.


 * technical infrastructure
 * The server room has recently been cleaned and reorganized. The ASSes are looking at some technical options that might eventually reduce the physical number of machines needed in there. As it is, it is a bit crowded. We are in the process of updating our systems to have more recent software (debian etch). Some of the wiring is in the process of being redone to be more standards-compliant.  We also want to increase our bandwidth (or effective bandwidth for our most common tasks). martin 10:31, 24 April 2007 (PDT)