Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: How To Donate Older Computers to Charity?
yanom writes "My school gave me several circa-2006 computers with no operating system. I fixed them up, and now they run Lubuntu fairly well, making them great internet/LibreOffice/general Linux workstations. I've been wanting to donate them to local nonprofits where they'll go to good use — for example, I've already given several to a local church for them to use in their afterschool care/tutoring program. However, I'm having trouble finding other places where these machines could go to good use. How should I best conduct this search? How can I find nonprofits that could benefit from these workstations?"
Are they P4 or Core processors? If they are P4, just recycle them.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
I don't care if this looks like a troll. I am a professional Linux developer, but I'm under no delusion that the general public is comfortable using Linux for general purpose stuff. The kind of people using computers at non-profits will just lost interest in a state of WTF if you put them in front of a Lubuntu machine. They'll just want Windows or Apple.
They're seven year old computers running linux. Even charities have minimum needs/standars for computers. Some near where I live turn down the older stuff because they end up being a place to dump your old junk and then they have to pay to have the worthless computers carted off to be recycled.
new PC can be bought for a few hundred $$$. comes with MS Windows and you can run office on it. very easy to set up out of the box
used PC you have to pay someone $50 or more per hour to configure them one by one and pay the software licenses
and even 2006 computers without 4GB of RAM are SLOW. try running Chrome with a few tabs open. there are $279 best buy specials with 4GB of RAM
destroy the hard drives if you're paranoid and just junk the PC's
A circa 2006 computer is in the only ~5x-10x faster than a Raspberry Pi, and has a power cost on the order of 100-200W/hr. So a 2006-era computer, even free, costs ~$90/yr just in power if its left on.
Similarly, for a non-profit trying to be uber-cheap, why not just go with ChromeBooks? If you are in a position where you can have a network (e.g. like an office environment), they are cheap, and the office and so-on that are needed for productivity.
Test your net with Netalyzr
Alan Ralsky.
Like I said, if you are not picky.
just take them to goodwill and let them figure it out.
With the current state of things, computers and electronics are ubiquitous, cheap, and rapidly evolving. At this point, I consider machines from the era to be essentially trash, even when they can function well enough using your favorite distro. They take up too much space and use too much power, and they struggle to handle the world's new common platform: HTML+CSS+js. They will also accelerate down the slide to obsolescence much faster than newer equipment over an equal period of time.
I feel like dumping those things on charities is just giving them a burden. They may have to spend money to put the machines to use, and they will have to take care of throwing them away soon enough. I say use your energy to find a good recycler so that the metals in those old junkers might be reclaimed for tomorrow's tech.
"Here Lies Philip J. Fry, named for his uncle, to carry on his spirit"
Unless you're willing to donate your time to administer them and keep them running (including replacing hardware when it fails), just recycle the computers, non profits don't have the staff to keep old hardware running, and though they may have someone that understands some Windows basics, they aren't going to have anyone that knows anything about Linux.
My wife works for a non-profit and when well meaning people donate old computers, they thank them, then hand them off to an eWaste recycler (who fortunately takes them for free)
I applaud your altruism; but I've done the same kind of thing in the past, and regretted it.
Not to be too paranoid, but please make sure you've got all your paperwork in order, (you have to right to pass on the PCs etc.), and explicitly state 'no warranty' etc. What if one of the PCs catches fire, and burns down the old folks home you donated it to? Yeah, I know I sound nuts, be we live in a crazy world.
Oh yes, and regarding support. They'll drive you nuts. Really.
Junk the things and just give some cash to a worthy cause.
Find some charitable organization to distribute them, like your church. Or possibly a store like goodwill.
I had the same problem with some P4 computers that ran Ubuntu with plenty of speed for internet and office applications. After a while where no organization would take them, I printed and taped on a sheet of specs and a description for a lay-person about what the computer was ready to do. Then I took them to Goodwill and got a receipt for tax writeoff. I have a picture in my head that some poor single parent picked it up for under $50 so their kid can do homework. If that's not what really happened, it's not my problem anymore.
The United Way distributes cash donations to local non-profits, so they may well know who would need the computers.
Charities are not a waste disposal service. Have them disposed of properly and safely, and the useful materials extracted and recycled. Even if you find a charity who'll take them, you're just dumpling that problem on them a year or two from now - and, as several other commenters have said, they probably use enough power the charities would be better of buying something newer.
Some came it with a usable operating system; some had to have one installed. I'd always stick Ubuntu on.
None of them ever failed to sell. After all, the price was right, and the people usually needed whatever they could get. I felt good about it, because a computer that would have seen the scrap heap got reused. Let's face it: for word processing and simple spreadsheets, it doesn't take that much computer. You can also browse the web, if you stay away from overbloated sites. Email is a no brainer.
And, if they didn't like Linux, they were free to install Windows or whatever they chose. Given the financial state of a lot of these people, I doubt they could have afforded Microsoft's price. But Linux at least let them see the machine was funcitonal.
Try your local hackerspace/makerspace. They might be involved in some donation programs, and if they won't take them, might know where you can drop them off. I would also check out any youth/social services organizations in your area.
You could always set it up as a vpn gateway and ship it off to parents or other technically disinclined people that you feel obligated to provide tech support for.
I volunteer in the IT department at a free clinic. If you're in Georgia - Georgia Free Clinic Network. We could use those machines.
If you're in another state, check out the free clinics there. I'm sure they could use them too.
On another note, if you have old hardware, unless asked, I suggest you don't bother installing an OS or any other software. Your heart is in the right place but to be frank, we'd wipe the machine and put XP Pro and then set them up to suit our network - which is Microsoft based, obviously.
Donate them to your local electronic recycling facility.
You'll be asked to do all the tech support for them.
It's better to just build a Beowulf cluster out of them in your basement.
who otherwise don't have PCs. They usually use them to just browse the web and other basic tasks. Firefox is better on older hardware than Chrome in my opinion. Especially if you are memory limited or if you want to watch Flash videos. Chrome is actually laggy in those situations.
It's slow going giving them away, though. Most people think that a newer PC will work better for them, but usually because of crapware it never does. And for a novice user re-installing Windows is hugely more difficult then installing Ubuntu (or Fedora, or OpenSuse, Mint, etc). I should note, I have no direct experience with Windows 8 yet.. so maybe it's much better...
Put them on ebay, collection (no delivery). If nobody buys them, they're worthless.
They'll just want Windows or Apple.
What's that, is that on Google or Facebook?
Firefox OS and Chromebooks kind of prove the point. The browser IS the computer, to most people. It used to be nobody cared about the process scheduler, anything below the level of the desktop didn't concern 99% of users. These days the browser is the desktop and few care what's beneath. (But some of those who care do care a lot.)
Georgia Free Clinic Network
I get distracted when typing and I totally mess up - I can't multi task ....
Post them for free on Criagslist. It's possible someone might want them, but I wouldn't count on it. If no one claims them in a week, take them in for recycling. Right now, there's a glut of crappy old single core CPUs out there that no one wants. I've got a few in my basement that I haven't recycled yet.
Join a local Freecycle group (www.freecycle.org) and post an offer. Someone in your community might have a use for them.
No sig? Sigh...
Veterans affairs has listings of many such charities dealing with veterans.
Goodwill, Red-Cross..
As for the hardware, a 2006 processor could be a Intel Core 2 running at 2.6 Ghz - 2.6 TRILLION operations per second. I sure did a lot of productive work on with a 500 MHz machine, so one five times as fast seems fine to me, for office work.
If it wasn't waiting on IO, a new processor might be 50% "faster" for a single threaded application, but in reality they are both sitting idle waiting for a disk drive that peaks at 38 MB/s. A new green drive does about 38 MB/s. The 2006 processor does 10,000 MBs / second. Assuming both have SATA drives, then, an old computer and a new computer will both take the same number of seconds to load the word processor from disk and launch it. For that type of thing, there's practically zero difference in new vs. 2006 - computers were already "fast enough" in 2006. (Except for hard drives, if they are switched for SSD.)
Yup, our county dump stations have sheds with tables for "i don't want this anymore, it isn't junk, it shouldn't just be tossed, if you can use it please take it" stuff. I've taken old computers, wiped drives, put Linux on 'em, and put a sheet of instructions along with a re-install disk with them. They last about 10 minutes before being taken by someone.
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
I really don't have any experience in donating old computers, but perhaps someplace like a women's shelter, where you have people who are trying to better themselves to get out of a bad situation, could use them to do on-line classes, search for jobs, etc. Or anyplace that dealt with children, like a kids rehab center (computers used frequently for speech therapy) the kids would probably just take to the computers, oblivious to what OS they had on them. The therapists, maybe not so much.... Anyway, I hope this gives you a few ideas.
In the St. Louis area, Wits takes both function and non-functional computers and electronics. Some them they repair/build and give to disadvantaged areas. Anything they can't reuse, they recycle. If you are not near them, I would still give them a call. They might know of other organizations that do the same thing.
Look for non-profit schools in your area and offer these systems for teaching keyboarding and intro to programming. These functions don't require much horse power or graphics and free (as in Beer) software and courseware is readily available.
Ask your local clubs (e.g, Lions, Rotary, Exchange, Optimists) whether they have a need for free office automation.
Invenio via vel creo
Call me crazy now if you must but maybe you could call some local charities and well, ask them yourself? I know this is a far out idea, doing something on your own and all but maybe you should give it a try sometime instead of having to ask people on the internet every little thing.
Jesus, I cant imagine how you people survived before the internet.
Recycle your old junk, then donate cash and let the charity decide what hardware suits their needs.
1) Find a charity you despise
2) Throw computer through window
I'd just put a light weight (and easy to use) linux distro on them like XUbuntu or Lubuntu and donate them. Since they were in a school, I doubt you need to go through the time of zeroing the hard drives first. A P4 class machine is still perfectly fine for the internet regardless of what some snobs in this thread say... An older computer is a lot better than no computer! And it should run LibreOffice just fine. I'd recommend a veterans charity like Purple Heart because they offer computer labs, so the vets would directly benefit from the machines. The Boys and Girls club is also a great place to donate because they too offer computer labs for children. Do some research into what charities around you offer computer labs and donate to one that can use them that way, it's better than if they sit in a thrift store.
"How should I best conduct this search? How can I find nonprofits that could benefit from these workstations?"
Have you tried the Internet?
The Literacy Connection has a computer tutor program. Maybe some of the students could use them since only about half own computers when they start classes.
http://kidsoncomputers.org
Contact the Wounded Warrior Project. They have taken several donated P4 Dell boxes off my hands.
Like the OP, I have found it very difficult to find donors for older desktops. Craigslist may be useful in that respect, as individuals and small nonprofits sometimes ask for computer donations.
Personally, I have given up on reconditioning and donating desktops. Very few people want them. As others have mentioned, it really is better to recycle them, even if it goes against your grain to toss out a working piece of hardware.
Why should you seek to donate the computers to a charity? You'd be surprised how many students and families don't own a computer.
My wife taught middle school English for 7 years at a "poor school" where the majority of the students were Hispanic. Many of the students were extremely poor whose parents only spoke Spanish. My wife had to completely rethink the lessons plans that involved the computer lab due to most of the student has little to no prior Internet experience.
Talk to the English teachers, I'm sure they would know which students could use a machine.
Recycle your junk and write a check for something that is "older" in the sense that it's not the latest and greatest; but still has some years left in it. Saddling non-profits with these quirky power drains that are likely to break isn't charity. It's just dumping your problem on somebody who doesn't need to be dumped on. Most non-profits are smart enough to realize this and won't accept such things anyway. If they do, they'll just end up recycling it themselves.
Throughout history there have been two kinds of people; hoarders and survivors.
The hoarders are too emotionally tied to a fixed point in their emotional history to 'let something go'. They expend inordinate amounts of time 'justifying' and attempting to 'fix time' so that it doesn't move on. Some studies indicate they have trouble with filtering or conflicts in the prefrontal cortext and experience real pain when facing a mixture of a choice and emotional memory.
Economics really has nothing to do with it.
If economics had something to do with it, then seeking an organization to take the free machines would not take effort. Its simpler and easier for organizations to 'ask' or the equipment they need on the internet or find it on craigs list. Working the problem from the other angle isn't productive. -- for example, they could search the dump for used machines.. but that doesn't really happen.
Software is at the core of the need, its what software does and not hardware that is useful. Hardware is not as flexible as software and cannot magically do something it couldn't do yesterday without a level of effort that would justify not doing it and expending the effort at acquiring a modern piece of hardware suitable for the task.
Its more a matter of deciding if the software the hardware can run is adequate for the user of the machine, if it is not.. it is junk and should be dispensed with to make room for other projects. Hanging on to the hardware for irrational reasons, by definition -- is hoarding, and destructive to the person seeking a new 'home' for it.. it is not a human being, so it has no feelings, don't anthropomorphize it.. that behavior is destructive to yourself.
Rather it is beneficial to simple post and offer with a time limit, then proceed to pursue the quickest and most efficient and 'certain' method to deliver the machines to a recycler or the dump.
Best Buy has an excellent recycling program in most places that accepts up to three items per day from homes.
There are other programs, at cost, for businesses.
Spend the time to figure out how to get rid of them as quickly as possible, don't hang on to them.
As others have mentioned, there are a number of local entities that recycle/ refurbish / re-purpose old computers. All you have to do is a little looking. In Arizona, a very popular program is Arizona StRUT ( Students Recycling Used Technology) - http://www.azstrut.org/ - look at their website, it might be able to point you in a direction that applies to those in need in your area.
Other ideas: Church-affiliated thrift stores are popular in rural areas. Homeless shelters need computers so their customers can look for jobs / housing resources and stay in contact with family. Boys and Girls Clubs and YMCAs still exist in many urban areas, and may be in need of some equipment. Retirement housing and elderly care facilities may be interested. Look around and ask how you can help.
There is a non-profit company in many North American cities that takes old computers, puts them through a testing cycle, recycles all the parts that can't be used, and then builds workstations running linux for either donation to non-profits or cheap resale. They are great and always looking for help. http://www.freegeek.org/ According to the Wikipedia site, they have locations in: Portland, OR; Fayetteville, AR; Central FL; Chicago, IL; Columbus, OH; South Bend, IN (Michiana); Vancouver, BC (Canada); Seattle, WA; Minneapolis-Saint Paul, MN (Twin Cities); Toronto, ON (Canada); Providence, RI; Ferndale, MI (Greater Detroit area); Ephrata, PA (South East Pennsylvania); Athens, GA (Free I.T. Athens)
As for the hardware, a 2006 processor could be a Intel Core 2 running at 2.6 Ghz - 2.6 TRILLION operations per second. ...
You must be on the other side of the Pond. Over here in the USA, a 2.6GHz machine can only do 2.6 Billion OPS.
All ideas^H^H^H^H^Hprocesses in this post are Patent Pending. (as well as the process of patenting all postings)
http://www.freegeek.org/
Easy to find out. Asker should just sell all the PCs on ebay and donate the profits to the charity of choice.
If nobody on ebay wants to buy them then you shouldn't be giving them to the charity
it will only burden them with work and clunky things taking up space. ***every*** used computer I got had something missing (memory board, DLL files, or whatever) which rendered the system basically useless and a huge timepit. Except for a couple old computers I got, one from non-techie friend abandoned their XP for a Mac. And the other (Mac G3 and it still works great and has lots of programs) from a flea market which was a good seller of used computers but he no longer can be found. So these other useless old computers I had to dispose which can be a real pain. Unless you are the kind that always does recycling, such places can be hard to find. No, no, no... don't give me the suggestion 'google' to find sites because such usually charge you recycle fees or they are on other side of the city. Since then I only buy new computers because used systems there is always something missing from them (I don't know why they delete all the programs, remove memory boards, and also delete js, DLL and other such files in the system folder).
Therefore, giving old computers to charities is like dropping them a "time" bomb that will cause them to waste resources.
mfwright@batnet.com
You can also try freecycle. While not a "charity" it's a good way to pass on stuff you don't want/need to someone who will actually use it. Of course you don't get a write off...
as long they don't have bad caps.
Usually they are small and locally operated. You may have to do quite a bit of searching. There are wildly different opinions on what to do with older gear.
I founded a charity in my local area to do just that. We received a large number of extremely old and unuseable equipment, which was mostly recycled to generate funds and re-purposed for a variety of other needs.
The quantity received has been so large, even in our small area, that we have stopped taking donations until we catch up.
We post ads to gather nominations of families and other non-profits in need. We have combiled a database to track those and we handle distribution to those recipients as we complete machines. People have been very willing to donate the time to configure the machines. Ninite.com donated a pro-account for their services to help us customize windows machines as needed.
If interested, we are: www.ctctricities.org, and www.facebook.com/ctctricities.
We have moved away from providing computers to individuals, and we are focusing now on providing the gear and support to other non-profits. "Helping people help people".
It isn't worth bothering trying to give away an old PC.
:P ) but after a few years, its disposable. Wipe the HD while its still alive and put the thing out with the trash.
The local Salvation Army store doesn't want it unless it is 100% working condition, flat screen (no CRTs), Windows OS CD & Windows serial number sticker still intact. Since most off-the-shelf systems don't even have the CD now, they don't take many these days. (they don't take CRT TV's anymore either; any TV donated must be a newer/digital-broadcast one)
If you go to the trouble of wiping and reinstalling it just to offer it for free on Craigslist or whatever the only replies you get is kids wanting to play games on it, that it won't do very well.
"It would run a stripped-down Linux distro pretty well..." -yea, if you knew anyone who wanted to run Linux. Nobody who knows nothing about PCs wants Linux, not even a tiny bit. You might as well brag about how fast it can run Win95.
The concept seems odd (especially knowing what you paid for it
Here's what I have done a few times with old computers. After installing Linux on them, I have used them to teach the Computer Merit Badge to boy scouts at the summer science camp run by our local council. At the end of it, scouts who did not have their own PCs took the machines home. By the end, scouts did not just have machines they knew how to use - they had machines they knew how to program - even though the programming requirements for the Computer Merit Badge are rudimentary, the longest journey is the one that's never begun and the badge took them the first few steps down the path.
I think you're neglecting superscalar operation, though the parent comment must be ascribing supernatural abilities to it...
You said you gave a couple to the church? Ask the pastor. Church pastors, even if they don't know anything about technology, are very connected to the community and will know who needs them the most. In my hometown the computer giveaway charity is run through the Methodist church and the rest of the pastors know to ask there if they have a family in need. Alternatively, if you're in Eastern WA I'll take them for the above charity.
Please put some pants on before you post again.
My PC's are both from 2006 and they seem like new to me!
I killed da wabbit -Elmer Fudd
I've always given cars and computers to the local Mental Health department. They have found folks that really needed them.
who have been looking for computer donations for almost TWO months and although we qualify for some programs, there is typically little to no availability in my area. Our organization works one on one with children and young adults who are born with Autism. We are an established (~10 years) organization and we are also educators. If you would like to know more about what we do, or how we can use the machines in our facilities, please email me directly, and I will gladly provide you with any information that would assist you, including our 501c3 status. You can speak directly to the Director of Operations if you would like. Not sure if I can leave my email address here, but you are welcome to have a look at our website: http://includingkids.org/
Thank you so much for your consideration.
FreeCycle.net
Some charities take donated computers, install open source, and give disadvantaged kids access to technology. But shipping costs for big desktops, monitors, etc. can be a pain. Laptops can be more easily transported to areas where there is a need.
Example: http://www.kidsoncomputers.org/koc-lab-installation
I will echo what others have said about it not being worth while, but let me also explain why. It is an economic problem:
There is a point where the replacement cost of a piece of electronics exceeds the cost of refurbishing them. Even if you do it yourself, you have to think about what other things you could have done with that time. If it took you 2 hours per PC, then you are obviously a capable PC repair tech. At $25/hr that's $50 you could have made. That's half way toward a cheap tablet which is probably more useful than the PC you refurbished.
Similarly, the cost to maintain them often exceeds the total value gained. Those old machines are likely to be flaky or fail entirely. The lost productivity spent working around unreliable hardware. And then people aren't using the current OSs so there are limitations to what you can do with it anyway.
NEVER!
http://www.accrc.org/ for people reading or later searching this thread in the bay area. You give these guys the hardware- they mix/match parts. build usable systems, install linux on them, and give them back to the community to people who will put them to use, and recycle the rest in an environmentally sound way. They have been doing this and doing it well for a long time now.
Geeks Without Borders in Eugene, OR rebuilds and redistributes old computers to those who need them. Maintains them too. They operate mostly in North America.
The web site seems to be down at the moment.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geeks_Without_Borders
Please don't. Those of us that work with charities hate the call when they get 8 year old computers. You are disposing of them for a reason, charities will incur the cost of disposal and usually end up taking a net loss on your generosity.
Throw them through the front window of the charity and drive off. That wasn't so hard.
Every charity is different and has different guidelines for donations. Your best bet is to find a local non-profit [501(c)3] agency that does work in your community that you support and contact them directly. They often have minimum specs much lower then most people would consider usable as many non-profits do not even have technology budgets. Some of the smaller non-profits would be thrilled for receiving a donation of even single core 2+ Ghz machines. This is especially true of organizations that deal with the homeless populations in any area. I work for a medium to large non-profit in NH that provides services to the homeless, mentally ill, as well as provide transitional housing for veterans and we routinely donate our older machines that we take out of circulation to our clients. Lastly if you donate them to a 501(c)3 you will receive a receipt that you can use for tax purposes, because your donation tax deductible.
The Man in Black
Step 1) Drive to Charity
Step 2) Give.
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
Ah yeah. On the other hand, a Core 2 can run up to 18 instructions per clock, so it's 48 billion instructions per second. Anyway, it's friggin fast. Further, a 2.6 GHz processor running a lightweight environment like LXDE could well be more responsive than a 3.2 GHz machine running WIndows 8.
i can think of a thousand things that can be done without needing to exceed the max speed of a hdd. for instance your computer can check every letter you type and offer a list of possible words. my phone does that everywhere i type. windows and linux both can do that too, and a dictionary isn't a huge set and it's the RAM throughput that limits the operations that can be done. since the dictionary library is loaded into ram on boot up.
the nice thing about modern computers is you can buy one that theoretically would require 1000 watts of pull, and yet by not powering everything and underclocking the cpu can idle at as low as 13 to 200 watts, depending which speed you chose. mine idles at 125 watts which also happens to be the voltage draw of the cpu at maximum power. only real math problems and bitcoin mining really push this machine to it's limits, and i don't bitcoin mine and am not a seti at home user. i do video game, but i find that only a certain subset of games are truly worth playing. so i don't push the system to it's limits gaming either. i mainly bought the fast computer because i don't trust cheaply built machines, and the price/performance angle was just right for me.
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
Big white building in Washington. It's got a sign identifying it as "U.S. Capital." I think "Capital" might be the technical term for "cross."
No need to thank me.
PS -- you'll need several computers.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
In the real, non-geek world there are many folks with almost no money who benefit greatly from having a usable computer. Filing unemployment claims and mandatory job searches are some examples of tasks you can do using a slow 'puter on a dialup connection. Driving to use a public computer is expensive, especially in rural areas.
I have several friends who still use P4s for their primary and "kidsputer" needs. There is not money for anything else, which is also why working XP machines promptly disappear from thrift stores.
Hand a thrift store a turnkey system and someone will put it to use.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
Also Computer repair classes at local colleges. Also turn them into bitcoin miners :).
If you, or anyone, is London based, I'm involved with a charity that takes old machines and refurbishes them and supplies them and general IT support at low cost to other local charities, or recycles them where appropriate. We focus on providing open source for ethical and financial reasons. http://www.communitytechnology.org.uk/
Non-profits can get Microsoft software relatively inexpensively. Something like $8 for an OS license and $24 for office. There are restrictions on the licenses though.
i mean i hate to say this, but i know people who have been using a p4 to write open sores software for the past two years and have had dozens of patches accepted to a pretty mainstream project. the project has tens of thousands of downloads so... uhm. yeah.
the only problem they have is lack of RAM , but the clang compiler has helped fix that .
The GNU compile farm provides free build machines for a lot of open source projects. They might be interested.
http://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/CompileFarm
your computer can check every letter you type and offer a list of possible words. my phone does that
Perfect example. Phones with 800 MHz processors do that. I'm using one now that does that. It has 128 MB of RAM, I think. That suggests that 2.6 GHz is overkill for mundane office tasks.
In your example, the person typing does maybe four operations per second while the CPU can do billions. Most office tasks are like that - human-bound or network-bound, not CPU bound.
Yeah I just gave away ten half-computers, mostly P4s, on craigslist. They were gone within a hours.
I donate older computers I have refurbished to the local food bank, because at least in my town, they are most in-tune with who would a computer the most.
It's perfectly reasonable for charity workers to be paid reasonable salaries. It's unreasonable for them to be paid unreasonable ones. The American Red Cross got a lot of flack a few years ago because of the high salary it paid Marsha Evans. Other charities were unfairly accused of doing the same thing but it turned out those claims were exaggerated.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/charities.asp
http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_charities_salaries.htm
If you do donate to a charity, make sure it's an efficient one that serves the cause and not the office holders:
http://www.forbes.com/2009/11/23/charities-most-efficient-personal-finance-charity-09-efficiency_slide_2.html
My 2c on old PCs: Yes, I have lots, but really they are practically worthless. Recipients would do better with a cheap modern netbook than they would a hulking power-guzzling iron monster. Like a story I read about how people donating their old books to libraries: "People can't bare to throw out their old books, so they donate them to us (libraries), and we throw them out for them."
If it is Dell, they recycle computers.
http://www.dell.com/Learn/us/en/uscorp1/dell-environment-recycling?c=us&l=en&s=corp
If it is apple, they even give you a gift card if it's worth anything
http://www.apple.com/recycling/
The issue with 'donating a 6+ year old pc' is generally - as stated - the power draw, the limited life remaining in the computer, and most likely you don't include anything of value with it, so it's more problematic than you first think. ie I doubt anyone would donate their used pc with their terabyte hard drives in them, they remove those first to 'keep for themselves' and replace with smaller ones. It's just the greed of human nature. After 6 years it's basically at end of life for failure - the PSU will blow, the drives will fail, the RAM will be shot, the motherboard won't be upgradeable, etc etc. You have to figure, with your 'donated pos' pc it's probably worth $200-$300 today, and it would just be a smarter purchase to spend the extra $200 on a brand new computer. You can get decent $500 computers all over the place. Even $250 pcs brand new are common - http://www.computershopper.com/feature/build-a-budget-pc-250-500-or-750
So that is probably why so many places just plain don't care about your donated crap you don't want when it comes to computers.
A small town library can often use an additional computer. Put office software on it, photo processing and drawing software, good browsers, and make sure it can work on a network where all the other computers run a Microsoft OS. Also make sure it can talk to networked printers. A page of instructions on how to use the computer would be helpful.
Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
There are a couple of different things to do, but one of the challenges you're going to run into is that most non-profits are kind of too short handed (or short of time) to be able to go, "yes, of course, that'd be awesome!" (That's how many volunteers get turned away as well, actually). A lot of time when volunteers (or donations) turn up, the random employee being offered them is going to be searching their brain for a way to put them to good use, and if one doesn't immediately come to mind, there more likely to turn it down, because they've got more than enough on their plate with everything else. I've been in this position myself. I was working for a collaboration of 60ish non-profits, and someone wanted to donate an old copy machine to a non-profit. They didn't care which, just any one that needed a copier. And it was a pretty good copier, but still. The actually collaboration office couldn't use it, didn't have the room for it, certainly didn't have the money to get rid of it or move it if that became necessary. I sent out many, many calls to every agency I could think of, seeing if they needed a printer. And I'm sure, somewhere, one of them did. But if they had the need, they hadn't yet realized it, or weren't talking about it. And few of the newer ones, that were more desperate for resources, were willing to take the risk of it needing repair work or finding a way to move it from the donor's place to their office.
So here's what I'd suggest. If you have a few good non-profits in mind, ones that you know something about their operations, and there's something *specific* they could use those computers to address....I would offer it to them like that. "Hey, I know you were looking for a way to get the kids in the shelter a way to get on the internet for their homework, I've got some computers for you..." Especially if you can volunteer to provide support. That will actually probably be pretty welcomed.
Second, if you don't have any specific charities in mind, you could see if there's a local non-profit dedicated to fixing up old computers and giving them away. There's usually one in every county, and they'll have the relationships and connections to know who could use it and how to get it to them. I'm sure they wouldn't complain about having the work already done for them.
Third, you could try just contacting various groups and seeing if any are looking for computers. Good groups to start with would be shelters, churches that run shelters/food kitchens/that sort of thing, *domestic* shelters (especially if they have a safe house, but don't be offended if they turn down an offer to help set them up. They guard the locations fiercely, because they must). You could also try the local Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts groups (though I'd recommend avoiding the nearest council, and just seeing about getting in touch with the local volunteers in charge). After school programs might be good, as well as any programs dedicated to helping the elderly and disabled be more self-sufficient. Start by explaining that you've refurbished them (so they're not just "old" computers that need repair) and also, if you're willing to help set them up etc. And there you go.
You probably won't read this, as it'll be at the very bottom, but if you do, I hope it helps.
Even the new Pope wants to sanction Prenda's lawyers. Oh wait....
You can run it stand alone (I have it on some old 512MB Thinkpads) or in a client/server configuration (I have iBooks and eMacs using this running Chrome with Flash and sound). All it does is boot into a full screen Chrome session, so it depends on what you want to do on how useful it is.
In our public school system this has allowed us to repurpose any machine that comes our way. The limiting factor now is space.
(BTW, there are several security issues with it since the private key for the user browser is publically available in the Github project. It also downloads the configuration from Github everytime the machine is started, which means you have to trust me... Or fork the project and trust yourself!)
What, me worry?
Hey Man,
Willie Cade in Chicago will take your machines and give them to schools. Check out http://www.pcrr.com/pcsforschools. They are good folks and a hundred percent hunkydory.
Thanks,
Brian
Find a nonprofit org to donate to that will rebuild them and give them away to needy skoolkids. That's what I help out with on a weekly basis. The high-end machines are rebuilt and sold to help with costs of rebuilding the older models. People saying a 2006 era machine is useless obviously don't know what they are talking about. This nonprofit is still giving single-core computers away. They will take anything except CRTs and what cannot or will not be used is disassembled and sold to scrappers so nothing goes to waste. A PC does NOT have to be less than a year old to be useful!
-- After all is said and done, more is said than done.
..is that most charities or schools get funds for new ones. In the US, there's a tax added to every phone bill (including cells) that provides schools with new computers and network equipment. It was passed during the Clinton Administration without a vote (the FCC just tacked it on to phone bills). So most schools won't accept donated computers unless it's a private school that's short on funds (private schools are exempt from the tax).
Charities often get donations of new equipment, or they use their lack of new equipment as a means of campaigning for funds.
The best way? Take an ad on Craigslist and offer it to a computer user's group who wants to build clusters or do experiments. That might be the only way to really put them to use. Otherwise recycle them.
I know it seems like a waste (and it is, especially when Linux could be installed on old machines and run really well), but new computers are a commodity now.
You see i have this old 286 machine i found in the loft. I can't be bothered to take it down the tip so i thought a charity might like it. ;)
Certainly where I live, the charity shops (of which there are a lot) won't touch hardware. Full stop. They are mostly run by old ladies who wouldn't know a top end PC from a hole in the ground. If they started accepting PCs, old printers, scanners (remember them), etc their shops would soon be full of them.
I have excellent Karma and I am not afraid to Troll it.
Talk to someone in your local chamber of commerce, or a non-profit like United Way. They can probably put you in touch with the right people.
I have a stack of 20 P4 based systems that I can't give away. I restored to factory Windows XP image and tried calling around to various schools, churches, etc., where I thought I might find someone who could use one or all. Basically, nobody wanted them unless they were running Windows 7 and had MS Office 2003 or later installed. Amazing... I thought that someone would be happy to have a beater of a system to use in a front office or something. I can't even justify using them, since I have an ESXi server capable of handling everything they can at a fraction of the power utilization.
www.bakermountain.org would welcome used machines to use for educational initiatives.
I work for a charity /not for profit. I'm the IT guy, the phone guy, the training guy, the data report guy and the anything else guy. A computer that needs less or no management is good for me. That means a new computer - they got easier to manage (though I don't have experience of Windows 8)
I'll tell you my attitude to older computers - first, a P4 isn't slightly older, it's from the dawn of time.
Second, whatever any computer illiterate user tells you about what they want to do wth a computer, their ambitions grow as they acquire skills. So they start off happy with Libre office but 3 weeks later someone told them they need microsoft office.
Then, there is always a friend/son/grandson who is a real whizz with computers and the minute you are out, will clear off all your 'crap' legitimate software and install illegal copies of XP pro and MS office that run for a whole day or two. Personally, at home I run Linux, but at work, even the dispossessed think desktop = windows. Plus, there's a view that if we teach basic skills, they need to be relevant to the installed user base with the highest penetration. That's windows. Sorry I can't get more excited about being thrown skips full of obsolete techno trash, because as we are a charity we get given a brand new computer at the start of every new project.
1. Find out what schools in your area
2. Find out who runs IT and what their IT policies are
3. Ask that key decision maker if they want what you have to offer
4. If they don't want them and you haven't gotten tired go to 1
5. If tired, call Apple, or HP or other company that takes old computers for recycling and recycle them
6. PRINT Computers out of your hands and into someone who wants them (either a school or recycler)
I guess I wasn't clear. My point wasn't to give stuff to a charity to use, but for charities to then give to needy people.
And that peoples appetite grows as they gain experience and skill is fine. The computer isn't meant for long term, it's meant for basic needs. Once they graduate that, then it's going to be on them to upgrade their equipment.
But the starter computer still needs to be given.
Captcha engines
You may wish to contact some senior homes and explain your situation. You have working machines, circa 20xx and you would like to donate them for a cause. They have xxxx and the only requirement would be to provide an internet connection.
Some churches know of senior homes where these boxes could be welcome
Leslie Satenstein Montreal Quebec Canada
This is one http://camara.org/ (probably among many)
Your state should have a listing for non-profits and the services they offer, also you could contact some of the big ones in the area like united way and red cross and find out what they do with it, or who is donating, lots of time its other charities to them. I volunteer at a non profit and FACT has been amazing http://factnj.org/.
We donated 10-s of P4 pc from Rutgers, NJIT and numerous other colleges that we got hand written letters in return so we knew where they where going. fact also picked them up from us. We pick up the machines from our customers, wipe them, load them with lubuntu or XP Pro depending usage, and we print out an OSS recommendation list and pre load with open office and all that. I take care of all the drivers, i have been doing this for years and a small child with a P4 will learn so much its so saddening to hear people talk about trashing these or " recycling" because they aren't being recycled, the sad truth i have learned. these people cant afford cloths. the electricity they dont pay for, id rather pay thier electricity with a few pennies a month then a new couple hundred dollar computer that they dont know how to use and there cat will scratch. yes low income homes have cats and are cluttered alot.
Sorry for the rambling, please ignore the grammar errors and spelling mistakes. BUT PLEASE DONATE!!! there are people who know what to do, if you listen alittle. and please donate working equipment, its not a "dump".
my college computer is helping a little girl learn english and helps her mom keep in touch with a their family back home. this is a computer that couldn't run doom 3 during my school! plz! old computers and cell phones honesty can change lives.
I've found that GNU/Linux can save educational institutions a LOT of money. Especially when they are able to obtain computers that businesses are throwing out because they can no longer run Windows. GNU/Linux has a huge array of education software, and a lot of schools are using the online games which makes it a very good platform for all of the above. It is amazing at the waste from corporate America where the thought process is to "upgrade the PC to support the new version of Windows", where they should instead be saying "install GNU/Linux to allow us to continue using these PCs and give us freedom".
The access fee does not pay for computers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Service_Fund