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: We passed BAN audit and are now an "e-steward".; We have been pretty slammed with material to work on, have to set up areas to store systems until we're ready to dismantle them. Also lots of smaller items, especially keyboards are accumulating.; Our Tuesday group from Central City Concern is know as our "Power Group", only dust is left behind when they're done.; Prices for commodities are going up somewhat, especially gold bearing is on the upswing again. We'll see how long this lasts.; We'll be moving into what was Ken's space soon. McGuire has fixed drywall and painted that big room. They'll be fixing up the middle (smaller room) next. This room, aka the escape hatch, may eventually become the beancounting/bookkeeping room.; Forklift Safety - we ran a "forklift rodeo" in December 20009 to make sure everyone knows and follows safety guidelines when operating the forklift.

Hardware Donations: We have several new volunteer interns working in Hardware Donations! They have been shaping up Basic Testing. Laurel 18:00, 22 August 2009 (UTC)

Maintenance and design of the physical plant: UPCOMING PLANS; Phase 1: The laptop area will have a new 'tank' near the hallway that divides the classroom from laptops.; Phase 2: The thrift store's storage area will be shifted toward MacBuild. The storage area will remain the same size, just moved over. This will give Tech Support more space, and make the current tank a bit smaller.; Build Area Adjustment: Build wants some workstations that use a lower work surface that would be accessible to shorter folks and those in wheelchairs.

Building security: Technocrats have taken on installing cameras near exits in the store, warehouse, etc.

General safety: Remember To Play Safe. Lift with your knees! Ask for help! Keep walkways free of clutter and trip hazards!

C7

Policy development: The "policy cleanup on the wiki" project seems to have slowed down significantly.

load balancing of the committees: All of the committees have enough people, but some committees function better than others. It's the intention that the Reuse Committee will be splitting into two separate committees soonish: Sales & Production. The Outreach-y committees/work groups have been altered (again) and now consist of the ad-hoc Events Committee and the following Standing Staff Committees: Inreach= and PR.

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.

nominations to the various committees: huh?

proposals concerning changes to the committee structure itself: We were thinking about ideas expressed in Multi-Collective Free Geek as a starting point for a possibly different committee structure.

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.

HR

Human resources: We recently welcomed Valerie Madsen (Office Coordinator, replacing Mary Kate Watson) and Meredith Blankenship (Reuse Program Coordinator, roughly replacing George Clay) to the Collective. Michael Westwind transitioned into a Committed position as Bookkeeper and Internal Tech Support. Luiz Sudbrack transitioned from Sales Coordinator to interim Tech Support Coordinator.

A new committee was created, comprised of what were formerly called paid interns. This committee decided to rename "paid internships" to "non-profit apprenticeships," and hence, the committee is called the Non-Profit Apprentice (NPA) Committee. This name change was prompted by widespread confusion differentiating between paid and volunteer internships. We have hired our newest NPA! Please welcome Elizabeth Wells-Thulin. We will be hiring for NPA Brittany's replacement in the upcoming weeks.

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. We have set up a rotating ombudsman role to handle complaints from the public. We also have a new volunteer intern in the Master of Arts in Conflict Facilitation and Organizational Change program at PWI. His name is Jiro and he will be working with Free Geek to improve our facilitation and mediation skills. Laurel 20:21, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

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 schedule has changed to http://data/staffsched/ from inside Free Geek (thanks Ryan!).

staff and intern reviews: We are about to experiment with a Meta-Review, where all Collective members and departments are briefly reviewed at one time. This will happen with the assistance of LimeSurvey - woohoo to easy data management!

health care and benefits packages: Staff collective members have health care (including alternative care such as naturopathy, dental, and vision), sick, vacation, and holidays. The health plan was just renewed and costs us approximately $395 per person per month. We also have a "high" plan that collective members may elect. If someone elects the high option, they pay an additional $78.70/month for additional benefits. In addition to the "high" option, staff may now choose a POS plan to access providers outside the Kaiser network. Staff members that choose the POS plan pay an additional $111 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 added 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 403(b) plan (similar to a 401(k) plan, but for nonprofits). Dependents (one child per staff member) are also included in the health care plan. Laurel 17:25, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

employee manual: The Staff Handbook is on the wiki

Knowledge Bees

Education: Beyond Adoption Classes continue to offer additional educational opportunities to our adopters. We are working on an additional Ubuntu class for thrift store shoppers and grantees and are considering the name "Newto Ubuntu." The new classroom wall is up! Come check it out if you haven't seen it yet. Next steps include a new classroom layout and a museum beautification project. We couldn't be more excited about these developments! Laurel 18:04, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

Documentation: We are still working on the Ubuntu New User FAQ. Instead of creating a Free Geek User Manual, we are instead pointing people to the Ubuntu Pocket Guide on the desktop of every Freekbox. We also sell "Ubuntu for Non-Geeks" in the thrift store at cost to adopters, builders, and those that purchase a Freekbox. Laurel 17:09, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

Technical Support: We now have techs scheduled from 12 to 6 wednesday through saturday, so the only day that is not essentially all day is tuesday. MW 06:37, 15 January 2010 (UTC)

City of Portland Computers: We have a partnership with the City of Portland to get computers into homes of Portland school children. We worked with area schools to offer a free computer to any Portland school student in exchange for volunteer work at their school. We have given away approximately 40 computers over the summer of 2009. Plans for Summer 2010 are in the works. Laurel 18:04, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

Free Geek Library: Check it out! It looks just like a library. Laurel 1, Kathies 1 and 2, have been working to get the library software up and running. We are still using the borrow book to check books out. We have a beautiful new library sign! Laurel 17:34, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

Inreach

Inreach is working hard to make sure the front desk runs smoothly. We are also working on upping our volunteer appreciation ways and coming up with great new methods for thanking our wonderful volunteers. Inreach is almost ready to implement our new Volunteer Application, Volunteer Orientation Packet, Build Program Info sheet and Adoption Program Info sheet.

PR

We've been working on creating beautiful tabling supplies and getting out to more community events.

The development version of the website is viewable at testwww.freegeek.org. We will make it live as soon as possible!

We've organized our enormous basket of tasks into some categories so we can prioritize more efficiently.

The Give!Guide is coming out in early November and we will be in it.

PR has created an account on Lime Survey and are working on making this survey tool available for all areas.

Events

FG Events: There are 3 events on our radar. The first is the Halloween Party with Costume Contest and candy. The second is the Holiday Party in December. The third is our 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY.

Fundraising

This committee lasted for about 2 months. Now 2 volunteers are working on some stuff and the committee has been dissolved.

Receiving and Donations (RAD)

RAD is currently working on finalizing the language of community partnerships and work-flow agreements. The work of hardware donations oversight has largely (and effectively) taken over the new Non Profit Apprentice committee. Hardware Grants oversight has been temporarily put into the basket of RAD and has so far come up with granting guidelines for quicker approval and began work on a grantee feedback survey.

Propagation

Liaison with Free Geek startups (the replication of Free Geek elsewhere): Free Geek Twin Cities opened its doors on Saturday, October 17, and received good press coverage. Dave visited Free Geek Vancouver, and we will be hosting guests from FGV here in the near future. RfS 00:56, 22 October 2009 (UTC)

liaison with GAP volunteers: A list of current GAP sites is on this wiki. A Chance of Rain is being sold, so we will be looking for a replacement site.

Hardware Grants: Now being overseen by RaD committee. RfS 00:56, 22 October 2009 (UTC)

Production

Staffing: We will likely be hiring for a new Production Coordinator in the upcoming months.

Build Program (Freekbox, storebox, grantbox production): 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 doing well with strong volunteer coverage and continues to be an extremely popular choice for volunteer internships. Basic testing is part of the adoption program and volunteers test keyboards, mice and speakers behind the receiving area.

Laptop: There is a group of build graduates that have joined the Laptop build program. The laptops are dispersed as grants, and sold in the store. There are now 9 laptop classes per week and laptop production has ramped way, way up. Plans are underway for constructing a new "holding tank" for laptops in the Laptop Build area.

Macintosh Build: Macintosh Build production has fluctuated depending on the numbers and knowledge of some hardworking volunteers. We are currently working on creating a self-sustainable system that would make it easier for volunteers to move on to Mac Build and produce rebuilt Macs at a swifter pace.

Printer refurbishing: Printer refurbishment and recycling remain under the purview of the Warehouse Masters. More time has been dedicated to Printer Land and it is functioning better than ever. Go Jake!

Classic Gaming Library: It exists and some folks actually volunteer in there, but mostly stuff just collects (valuable) dust.

Prebuild: Prebuild went from drowning in systems to completely running out now and again. Vagrant 22:58, 16 February 2010 (UTC); We continue to keep our complicated instructions and flow charts up to date.; We have also retooled our Hardware ID station to be more educational for incoming volunteers.

Server Build: Server build has been running on the 1st and 3rd wednesdays of the month (or more), producing server-grade hardware for infrastructure, the thrift store and grants. Vagrant 22:55, 16 February 2010 (UTC)

Sales

The store has exploded in terms of foot traffic since the economy has gone south. Its not uncommon to see 20 people at a time now, and there are rarely times when it is empty. On a recent Saturday, the store sold more than 50% more than the last geek fair (!). Production areas have really ramped up to get a wider range of tested gizmos in the store, which has helped. Additionally, Free Geek has been more active in soliciting larger donations, increasing the amount of good stuff. Unfortunately, many donors still remove hard drives from computers, so there is a persistent shortage of those goods. Tony and Luiz are working on a merit badge system of volunteer training and retention and there are currently a half dozen volunteer interns helping out. Oh, and it looks more and more like a store. Luiz 21:56, 15 April 2009 (UTC)
Online Sales: Right now production needs and other, non-sales obligations have been keeping the Online Coord. from handling many sales. We're exploring an idea to create a new commission-based position in online sales on an exploratory basis. Check out the Online Sales Contractor Proposal for details. Discussion is on council list.; Wholesale (or bulk) sales are largely gone excepting printers and phone equipment.

Technocrats

Technocrats meet on the second and fourth saturdays of each month.

Liaison with Coders group: Currently Ryan Niebur is our chief coder and has made many improvements to the database and is working on more.

liaison with ASS group: The ASSes meet on the first and third saturdays of each month. Currently the point person for system administration is Vagrant, who does much of the actual work as well.

Selection of software commonly used at Free Geek: The website was recently changed to use WordPress and we will probably see an upgrade to that soon. We are looking at some software to improve processes, such as Lime Survey for surveys.

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. (Hear the sound of fingers crossing.)

Technical infrastructure: We recently changed our internet and phone system to Integra. We also have changed the credit card machines to ones that use ethernet, relieving the congestion between tech support and the store for use of the analog phone line.; Most servers are server-grade rackmountable hardware. Vagrant 23:08, 16 February 2010 (UTC); Nearly all servers are running Debian's current stable distribution, Lenny. Vagrant 23:08, 16 February 2010 (UTC)

Cabling parties: On the 2nd sunday of every month, volunteers have been running new network cables and documenting where they go. Vagrant 22:48, 16 February 2010 (UTC)