Computers without Borders NOTE: COMPUTERS WITHOUT BORDERS IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS, WHICH IS A REGISTERED
TRADEMARK OF BUREAU INTERNATIONAL DE MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES.
Newsletter
(December 2013)
A YEAR IN REVIEW
501(C)(3) Status Achieved
On October 24, 2013 Computers Without Borders received its tax exempt status letter from the IRS.
Tax exempt status means that contributions to CWB are now deductible under section 170 of the Internal Revenue Code.
Our donors are now able to donate their used PCs to us and help us achieve our mission AND take advantage of considerable tax savings while helping to reduce the environmental footprint of the electronic age!
"Quick Start" Program is Underway
The first computers via our innovative "Quick Start" program were shipped to Mexico and Guatemala in October!
Mayan Families, a wonderful non-profit organization perating in Guatemala, has become our strategic partner. We are looking forward to working with them to serve the urgent neds of one of Latin America's poorest nations.
Our friend and resource, Kary Vannice (who is also working extensively with ESL teachers in a number of Latin American coutnries and will be a fantastic ally for CWB) helped us install our first refurbished computers in a needy school in Huatulco, Mexico.
We expect to have the "Quick Start" program underway in the following countries in early 2014: Nicaragua, Belize, the Philippines, and Ecuador!
Computer Procurement
We have approached the Salvation Army, Value Village, and Goodwill Easter Seals about exploring used computer collection efforts with us.
We have found that Goodwill currently works the Dell Reconnect program so we are attempting to contact Dell as well. We have been accepted as a partner with the National Cristina Foundation which we hope will furnish us with used computers, and we intend to help promote a number of e-recycling drives throughout the Twin City area in 2014.
We had our second meeting in early November with MPC - one of the nation's largest recyclers - and we will continue exploring every possible way to procure used computers we can think of including reaching out to local companies, businesses and schools in the Twin Cities and Los Angeles.
Infrastructure Building
Our initial attempts to persuade hundreds of colleges and universities to emulate the Cornell Computer Re-Use Association has proved to be a considerable challenge. It is not easy to find invidivuals like Alan Heiman out there! We need to let the computer science and IT folks know they can participate in our initiative even without "getting their hands dirty" with computer procurement and refurbishment if they choose not to. It will be equally important to recruit students to help install, maintain, train and educate locals to optimize the educational benefits of the computers we will provide.
So far we have had meetings with supporters at Normandale Community College and the manager of the computer technology department at Dunwoody Technical College in Minneapolis and we are hoping to get a number of programs started with these schools and many others in 2014.
Electronic Education Tools
We have begun work on our exciting Digital School Library - starting the process of loading thousands of free digital books, curricula, and lesson plans onto large, portable external hard drives.
In addition, we are loading several thousand Khan Academy lessons (in both English and Spanish) and digital ESL (English as a Second Language) teaching materials onto flash drives for use with our donated computers!