Donation Initiatives

There are a couple of donation groups that we found that take computers that are no longer needed and reallocate the resources to another location that is in need. One such group donates used laptops to families in third world countries so that they can communicate with their children and/or relatives at MIT.

We also spoke with a man named Jerry Burke, who formally worked at MIT's Information Systems and is now retired. Mr. Burke works with Cambridge School Science departments and his contacts at MIT to get computers donated to the schools. He gets used computers, restores them, and donates them to these schools, who do not have the money to purchase these resources on their own. If the computers are not needed at the schools, he donates them to local churches instead.

The problem with these donation initiatives is that they are very informal. Mr. Burke basically gets the computers he donates from people he knows in MIT departments, the home computers of faculty or staff, or from graduating students that no longer need their computers. One reason why most departments do not donate their machines is that the paperwork involved in getting the computer donated is very annoying. For instance, the computer must be decommissioned by the MIT Property Office and untagged, and there are a number of forms that need to be filled out before the process is complete. Thus, many departments would rather just have the computers disposed of, as it takes up less of their time.

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Source:
Jerry Burke
JBurke6357@aol.com