Hardware Grants

Overview

Free Geek has a Hardware Grants program! What does this mean? Free Geek, as you may or may not already know, receives a lot of computer junk that eventually gets turned into computer funk (the good kind, not the bad) by our awesome volunteers. However, we have and make so much stuff that we can't possibly sell it all in our thrift store or give it away to our volunteers. What could we possibly do with all these computers we are slowly burying ourselves with? Easy: give them to folks in need via our Hardware Grants program!

Who receives hardware grants?

What types of organizations does Free Geek grant hardware to? From the Grants page:

• Grants are made to organizations, specifically not-for-profit organizations, and not to individuals. We grant hardware to non-profit and social change organizations local to Portland, Oregon; we cannot provide for any kind of shipping to other locations. You must be able to come to Free Geek and pick up the granted hardware.

To be more specific, Free Geek grants hardware to:

• Non-profit organizations
• Schools
• Churches
• Community centers
• Social change organizations
• Worker collectives

Free Geek does not give out hardware grants to individuals. Here's why: we used to give out what we call "passthrough" grants (which are essentially grants that we give to organizations so they can in turn give them to someone else) but stopped doing so because of the technical support issues involved with providing people computers when they hadn't been adequately taught to use the operating system that we provide with them. We instead focus our grants program on providing infrastructure for organizations (computers for an office, for example, or for a public lab setting). Additionally, we feel that giving individuals the opportunity to earn their computers, rather than simply giving them computers, can provide them with a sense of empowerment and responsible ownership that is oftentimes infinitely more valuable than the physical product itself.

What's Going On

As of 11/3/2009, the RAD committee decided to reimpose limits to LCDs and laptops.

If you can demonstrate that your organization needs the following items:
   * Laptops
   * LCD monitors
You can apply for a maximum of 3 of each. If you need more, after 90 days, you may re-apply.
It is necessary to detail why you need laptops as opposed  to PCs and why you need LCD monitors as opposed to CRT monitors.
Please be as specific as possible.
- http://www.freegeek.org/grants/

What we grant out

What we grant out easily

• PCs
• Monitors
• Keyboards
• Mice
• Power cords
• Network cables
• Printers
• 20 GB IDE Hard Drives
• Mousepads==What types of hardware does Free Geek give out?==

What we can give to organizations really depends on what we have on hand, but here is a short list of what we are able to easily give out:

• PC Systems
• CRT Monitors
• SDRAM and RAMBUS
• Keyboards
• Mice
• 20 GB IDE Hard Drives
• Short to medium length networking cable

The following items we can only give out 3 per request. If organizations need more, they can reapply after 90 days.

• LCDs
• Laptops

Essentially, if we've got lots of it, we're willing to grant it out. We do grant out rarer things when they are available, such as:

• Network devices
• Mac systems
• IDE Hard drives with greater than 20GB capacity

The amount of equipment we can give out per grant is limited by what we have on hand. Please see The Status of Hardware Grants.

• Headphones

What is a bit more difficult to grant out

These items need to be hunted for in advanced testing and/or the store. Ask the area coordinator before removing any equipment from its area.

• Network devices
• IDE Hard drives with >20 GB
• Macintosh systems

What there is a waiting list and/or limits for

• Laptops
  • Laptops can be granted out ONLY if there is a demonstratable need that the organization has no space for a system/LCD combo or that they need to move around with the laptop, e.g. field work
• LCD-monitors
  • LCD-monitors can be granted out ONLY if there is a demonstratable need that the organization does not have space for CRT-monitors

What we do not grant out

• Projectors
• Speakers
• Long network cables

Does the organization's location matter?

Yes and no. We simply don't have the means to ship the types of hardware typically requested in grants, so we are limited to providing hardware grants to organizations that are able to pick up grants from us. However, we are more than willing to provide hardware to organizations in any location of the world as long as they can provide a local contact that can pick up hardware from us and handle the rest.

How are grants approved/denied?

In general, if an organization does not fit into one of the types listed above (e.g. an average for-profit business), its grant request will be denied. However, sometimes we receive grant requests from qualifying organizations that ask for more than we can provide in a given month, or have a need on an ongoing basis. In that case, it is necessary to contact the requester to discuss the details of the request and bring down the amount of requested hardware to a reasonable level.

Hardware grants volunteers, interns, and Free Geek staff members work together to approve and deny grants. One "grant shepherd" is responsible for contacting and disbursing equipment to each organization.

This is a useful link for verifying non-profit status of entities: http://wiki.freegeek.org/index.php/Business_registrars

Can I get involved?

Yes! Free Geek is always looking for reliable volunteers interested in facilitating hardware grants. You will play the role of grant shepherd. Essentially, you will:

• Participate in approving or denying grants
• Determine if we have all the information we need to proceed with the grant, and ask for more if we need it
• Update the status of the grant via RT
• Arrange appointments with requesters to have them come in and pick up equipment
• Give requesters the equipment approved for the grant
• Give the grantee outreach documents (located near the finished grantboxen). These will most likely include: brochures, tear-off sheets, FAQs, and contact sheets for how to contact us if the organization's staff would like a 10-minute talk on how Free Geek can help them and their clients.
• Fill out paperwork appropriately for data entry (or disburse the equipment yourself in the database, if you have access to it)

If you are a volunteer or intern starting hardware grants, use the training template to get started.