Truck Grant Proposal

Financial Data

matteo to talk to rfs

History of Programs & Services

Who started your organization and why? What community need does it meet? What are its programs and services? Whom does it serve? How many people does it serve? (limit 200 words)

Free Geek started in mid 2000 by Oso Martin in order to divert usable computers discarded buy some and needed by others. The media has coined this as "Helping the needy get nerdy since the beginning of the third millenium."

Free Geek gives the citizens of Portland a space where they can come teach each other how to use computers on many levels, from using a mouse to building a computer from parts. At its core Free Geek has two programs, They are called Build and Adoption. The Adoption Program is a program where as people who volunteer at Free Geek may receive a computer, and a class on how to use it, after 24 hours of volunteering. The Build Program is a peer to peer education program teaching people how to build computers. The Builders in the build program produce computers for those in the adoption program, given out as grants to other charitable originations, and are sold in our thrift store.

Free Geeks programs alone has served over 2500 volunteers in 2006. In the same year we worked with over 200 other organizations that helped us distribute computers around Portland and the world.

Project Goals & Outcomes

What is the need for this project? What are its goals? What steps will be taken to implement the project? What will be different as a result of the project? Who will be served? (Limit: 600 words)

In any given week, Free Geek receives an average of six requests for pickup service. Certain trends have emerged from these requests. Individuals frequently face the barrier of living outside of the immediate location of Free Geek; they live in a far corner of the city or in the neighboring suburbs. The individual may possess certain disabilities that prohibit him or her from carrying the cumbersome equipment long distances. Pickup requests from businesses, especially larger corporate chains, are largely due to an abundance of equipment that cannot be delivered to Free Geek without hiring a moving company.

Free Geek's mission is keep electronics out of the landfills and reuse technology for disadvantaged persons. This is limited by only having one drop off location. Businesses have more frequent upgrade cycle, stuff gets sent for straight recycling or into landfill. We'll get more computers and then more community members can get them. Truck enables offsite adoption classes - school groups unable to get here, or if they can get here to volunteer by bus then they can't get computer home, schools have no funding for field trips, after school activities. We've tried to work with TriMet in the past for discount or free bus fare for student groups but to no avail.

We want truck for:

• business pickup = more & better computers to people, less electronic waste in landfill or simply being recycled
• neighborhood donation sites = i.e. specific days for pickup in various neighborhoods throughout the year, less electronic waste in landfill because of barrier to conveniently recycle (maybe cite some curbside recycling stats)
• offsite adoption classes = more computers to people, especially school kids

Goals:

• increase incoming gizmos by x%, thus decreasing landfill-bound waste by x%
• provide more computers to community
• increase rate of computer reuse in Portland

Steps:

• buy truck (funded by MMT grant money)
• get insurance
• set up schedule for neighborhood dropoff days & publicize it

With the acquisition of a boxtruck Free Geek can increase its positive impact on the community in three distinct ways. Firstly, Free Geek will be able to stage "Drop Off" events in neighborhoods throughout Portland and the surrounding suburbs, thus providing a convenient way for residents to responsibly recycle their electronic waste. Secondly, Free Geek will have the opportunity to provide a pickup service for large businesses which utilize an abundance of computer equipment. Such businesses upgrade their equipment on such a frequent cycle that the equipment may be only a year or two old and this enables Free Geek to increase the quality of the computers we give away. Thirdly,...........

Organization Qualifications

Describe the organization's qualifications to undertake or manage the project. If you are requesting technical equipment, please include the qualifications of the person(s) suggesting the particular purchases, as well as the qualifications of the persons within the organization to install, operate, and/or maintain the equipment. (Limit: 200 words)

Free Geek has demonstrated a solid commitment to the community for the last seven years.

• Use stats to show progressive nature of incoming to demonstrate our ability to deal with more and more incoming
• Use stats about volunteers & hardware grants to show how much we give to community
• We do what we do well --> talk about general flow and process and how it's really efficient = we can handle more incoming and we're ready to take our commitment to the next level. Warehouse is ready.

Volunteers

• 2000: 65 volunteers ... 737 hours
• 2003: 1533 volunteers ... 34690 hours
• 2006: 2660 volunteers ... 54315 hours

Hardware Grants

• 2003: (year program started) 10 gizmos
• 2007: 300 organizations ??

Incoming Gizmos

• 2000: 23
• 2003: 4795
• 2006: 11166

Recycling Numbers

• 2000: 2.22 total tonnage
• 2003: 138.84 total tonnage
• 2005: 417.70 total tonnage

Project Budget

Briefly summarize how MMT funds will be used. (limit 50 words)

How did you arrive at the expense amounts? (i.e. bid, catalog, hourly wage, etc.)

Community Involvement

Describe any volunteer or community assistance with the project, in-kind donations, or collaborations with other community groups (Limit: 200 words)

Project Sustainability

Describe how the project will be sustained after the grant period. (Limit: 150 words).

The acquisition of a truck to pickup hardware donations from residential and commercial areas will result in an increase in voluntary cash donations. We predict that the convenience of this service will fuel the desire of those served by this project to voluntarily donate money to Free Geek and that this increase in revenue will be significant enough to fully cover the project's ongoing expenses.