Where Can One Find Computer Related Charity Work? 258
LS asks: "For a while now, I've been trying to find work that utilizes my programming skills to do more than just help a company win in the market, make me money, and maybe even provide enjoyment. I'd like to contribute to the well-being of humanity and maybe leave a lasting mark as well. I'm working for a start-up that looks like it's about to fold. Can anyone point me to some resources for finding charitable organizations that need computer work, anywhere in the world?" I think that a quite a few of us who wouldn't mind devoting some hackin' time to a good cause. What's the best way to go looking for organizations who need the help? Updated!
Update: 07/15 05:15 PM by C :Miniluv sent in this helpful tidbit on this issue: "In response to the Ask Slashdot article about Charity Work and Technology, I went digging and came up with TechVolunteer. They don't have any searching or volunteer stuff listed yet, but they say the site is under developement. Maybe some encouragement might help them along?"
Macatawa Area Community Network (Macnet) (Score:1)
GuideStar.org (Score:1)
It is targeted primarily at people who are interested in donating to charity, but would also be ideal for looking for employment since it hosts the addresses of all nonprofit organizations that file with the IRS (all U.S. nonprofits earning more than $25,000 per annum are required to file) as well as information voluntarily provided by organizations that do not file.
Technical skills can be put to good use in charity work. It's not a matter of choosing to give luxury items like computers to people who really need medicine. The organizations can use the skills to meet logistical challenges and to keep operating costs low - ensuring that the most resources go towards those that need them.
A simple answer (Score:1)
How aout Higher Ed? (Score:1)
Of course it takes the right place, and the pay isn't corporate, but you do feel like you're doing something that matters.
Sounds Obvious, but.... (Score:1)
As an example, I recently worked for New City Development Corporation, a non-profit ministry of New City Fellowship, a Presbyterian church here in St. Louis, MO. The organization builds/remodels low-income housing in the inner-city, rebuilding broken neighborhoods. And they are committed to racial reconcilation. I found myself working there in the office and noticed a great need for some hacking. Taking out their ridiculously unstable Win95 firewall, and replacing it with a Linux box would have done them a lot of good. I also had numerous ideas for software projects (that probably would have been well-taken-to in the Open Source community) that would have extraordinarily useful and a drastic improvement over their current way of getting things done.
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Re:School Sysadmining (Score:1)
Non-Profit Opportunities found (Score:1)
Re: Habitat for Humanity (Score:2)
science (Score:1)
For example I used to live near a startup astronimical research institute [pari.edu]. It's for proffit, but its useful and interesting.
freenets (Score:1)
that's in or near your city,
they need your help, guy.
Technical Volunteering (Score:1)
"Hands On San Francisco" and Related Organizations (Score:2)
Re:here's one (Score:2)
I guess this makes senses if you really believe Africa is all the same (ie populated entirely by rat infested grass huts), all over, and needs nothing but tonnes of free food and past-their -sell-by-date medicines.
Its not and it doesn't. Many areas in African states are battling to make a successful transition to a (relatively) modern economy due to lack of skills. The universities are unbelievably under-resourced particularly with technology (many aren't able to even offer CompSci or IT orientated courses). The exception here is South Africa (where I come from) but even here, the best IT skills leave for salaries in strong currencies. The US Peace Corps sent out English and economics teachers and lecturers throughout the 60s and 70s: now I suspect Africa could do with wave of tech teachers.
Sure there are people starving in Africa. But everybody knows that. What you don't get pictures on the cover of Time magazine of is small businesses in tourism, craft manufacturer etc who can't expand beyond occasional passerby tourist trade because there's no way to get the message out that not everyone here lives in rat-infested grass huts.
Re: Live near a Reservation by chance? (Score:2)
--
Re:Get a paying job. Here's why. (Score:2)
I'd rather waste some extra money on lazy slackers, than deprive good people who really DO want to get ahead, any opportunity at all.
Non-profit in DC Area (Score:1)
Re:Find a regular charity (Score:1)
I'd say find a charity you support, call them up and tell them you've got time to spare and they will probably happily accept you.
Re:here's one (Score:4)
...contribute to it? Nice spew. Feel better now?
Have any of you stopped, EVEN ONCE, and considered what goes on outside the windows of your fucking Lexus?
Why yes, yes indeed. My wife drives it most days so I walk to work instead.
Many developing nations are opting to build universities and educate their people as a means of addressing poverty. I know of someone (a brother of a good friend) who is in Nigeria right now helping a university there set up its computer networks; he began by helping with the building construction, but since he knows a few things about setting up networks he was able to help out here as well.
I suppose you believe that these nations should be growing their economies by waiting for handouts from the West instead? I hate to break it to you, but unless the nation is rich in natural resources such as oil the West would just as soon forget what goes on in a developing country. Case in point: How many Tutsis were slaughtered in Rwanda in 1994? 800,000? IIRC, your "goddamned news" gave it scant coverage after the first week or so. The last time I checked this is on par with estimates for some famous Western genocides (such as the million or so who perished in the Armenian genocide), however suprisingly little effort was made on the part of the West to try to pacify the situation. We seem not to care much about people with brown or black skin who have no resources to peddle.
Opposition to technological investment by developing nations because "people are suffering" is silly and paternalistic. People are starving in the United States too, but we allow the tech industries to thrive--we even prefer "computers in the classroom" over investing in social programs to address these problems.
Nursing homes Need Help (Score:2)
"IT" needs. Of course, it's often not brain-salad work by any means. I'm
helping out at a Good Samaritan nursing home here in Minneapolis, and they are
just now putting their mailing list "online" (by which they mean, in a
computer database vs. on typewritten sheets of paper formatted to Xerox onto
mailing labels). The computer I work on is a 286 (probably almost as old as I am) running MS-DOS 5.0; the database is Alpha Three! Their mailing list is running about 1500 addresses which is more than twice the number of residents in the nursing home...kinda bizarre
-JD
Open-source package for non-profits (Score:1)
Personally, I've found this work quite fulfilling because I can exercise my coding skills while furthering a goal I truly believe in. If anyone else is interested, check out the Open Source link on our homepage [dm.org] for more about the project. We're in early development now but we should have an alpha release available for download in August. We will have our office running this system by the end of the summer!
Re:Contribute to online knowledge-base (Score:1)
Folks Don't *Need* Computer-Related Stuff (Score:1)
First, let me say that LS has his heart in the right place. Giving back to the community, at least in my mind, is a responsibility.
Folks such as myself believe that computers are a necessity. I don't believe that I could live anything approaching a happy live without email.
That said, not a mile from my home is a place where people who regularly go without food sleep. I drive by that homeless shelter every day on the way to work.
The lives of those who visit the homeless shelter can not be improved by programming or high speed internet access.
The kids who go to several of the high schools in my district can't pass elementary level math and science tests. These kids have don't need perl lessons, they need basic, how-do-I-balance-my-checkbook math.
I highly recommend each person find a meaningful cause. Mine is Habitat for Humanity [habitat.org]. It is my choice because at the end of the day, I can see progress. I once did a Thanksgiving at a soup kitchen. It was depressing. I knew that tomorrow the same people would be here. All I had to show for the day was empty bowls. I didn't fix a problem, I was helping a person get though one day.
After a day with Habitat, there are walls. Next week, there will be a roof. A few months and there's a house and a family. Years from now, I can drive by that house and point it out to my kid as something I did to make the world a better place.
With soup or even a nice piece of code, what have I left for the next generation to see? Little, I believe.
On the selfish side of the street, Habitat also gives me the opportunity to get some exercise. That's something I wouldn't get if I were using my computer skills for a charitable organization. Also, in a couple years, I plan to build my own house. Having worked with Habitat, I've learned skills that will save me money down the road. My working with Habitat has been very symbiotic.
Everyone should get out there and give back to the community. But, before you pigeonhole yourself into thinking your only skill is computer-related, ask yourself if there is anything else you can provide to the community that might be better utilized. I think you'll find hard labor benefits the community more than any computer project you can hack together (probably on company time {grin}).
InitZero
Re:here's one (Score:1)
You, sir, are a moron.
Can you bother to ask yourself the contrary question: "There are countries where people are dying from starvation; why are these countries not well supplied with schooling, money, and IT? Well, maybe because they're too fucking busy trying to eat to survive to care about stuff that is comparatively secondary?
it is in fact possible to pull a culture up to first-world levels of education in a fairly short time, the members of those cultures are not stupid, they simply have tradition, and the older members are often resistant to change.
Drop the euphemisms, e.g., "change" for assimilation. The western world simply does not appreciate that which is worthy in the third world peasant's culture, and aims to replace it with unbridled commercialism, money worship and such.
netcorps.org (Score:1)
Free software! (Score:2)
Re:European/Swedish Charity (Score:1)
Non-Profit ISPs (Score:2)
List of charities seeking geeks (Score:2)
In the UK, VOIS [vois.org.uk] might be one to investigate, or FHIT [fhit.org], or Oneworld [oneworld.net], or even VSO [vso.org.uk]. The Information Works [infoworks.co.uk] build database solutions for non-profit groups. There is also an Oxford based charity [fahamu.org] 'dedicated to strengthening the capacity of not-for-profit organisations in the third world through the use of information and communication technologies'.
Thse guys [wajones.org] pioneered a 'circuit riders' concept in the US. The Technology Project [techproject.org] in the US is 'dedicated to accelerating social and political progress by building technological capacity for community collaboration and citizen engagement'. For current news about technology and non-profits, see here [pnnonline.org].
There are several organisations working in 'developing' countries, such as this one [ghaclad.org] working to 'accelerate socio-economic development and education through the use of emerging technologies in Ghana and throughout the African continent'.
In Australia, the Computerbank project [computerbank.org.au] works in redistributing computer equipment and providing training.
Many charity recruitment pages [charitynet.org] also list vacancies for IT professionals.
I have a big bunch of more academic links on ICT and non-profit management if anyone's interested [mailto].
-Rob
School Sysadmining (Score:2)
Gospelcom.net (Score:1)
Gospelcom.net hosts the websites for nearly 200 Christian ministries. They're based around open-source tools - Apache, PHP, Perl, mySQL, etc. I'm confident that an email to Gospelcom would result in a list of the different ministries that needed work done on a volunteer bases.
See http://www.gospelcom.net/ [gospelcom.net].
Re:Get off your ass and HELP people! (Score:1)
There is one reason, and only one, why the standard of living is so high in the developed world and so low everywhere else. That reason is specialization of labor. If I'm a computer geek, I provide orders of magnitude more value by being a *really good* compter geek. If I hammer nails with Habitat for a day, instead of spending that day doing economically productive computer geekery, I have reduced the total quantity of resources available to everyone. Don't believe me? Consider the fact that for what I can earn in a day's worth of computer geekery, I can buy the services of three or four laborers to hammer nails for Habitat--and, by the way, provide a day's wage to three or four people who can't access the skilled IT markets like I can. How can it possibly be desirable for me to waste my time hammering nails?
The real tragedy is that when people like me want to contribute what we can to good causes, we invariably encounter people like you--so we shrug and do nothing. We've been yelled at so much, we're not even listening any more.
-Graham
open source (Score:1)
Open source software isn't the typical 'feed the poor' or 'spend time with those less fortunate' project, but one could argue that free software does help those less furtunate then ourselves.
Start with volunteering... (Score:1)
I can only speak about the situation in Belgium and don't know how it is in other countries, but my impression is that the average non-profit organizations are rather unaware of what technology could mean for them and that in many cases budget posts for technology (websites, databases, software development, hardware maintenance) are not, or insufficiently, included in their subsidy applications - so there will be few organizations who have that (paid) dream job ready and available for you. Organizations targeted towards providing media access (alternative local radio, the rare freespeech.org [freespeech.org]-style non-profit content provider types etc.) might be an exception to this, but I don't think this is the kind of organisation you're interested in in the first place.
Most nonprofits, though, would benefit from technical competence, so I think your wish is a very valid one. I would suggest that, if you find an organization whose goals you approve of, you start volunteering for them, going to meetings, offering help - perhaps not tech-related in the first place, but you could evolve towards showing them the benefits of online presence (creating/improving a website for them), quick and easy ways of communicating (setting up mailing lists, online calendars...), improving administration software and further on ... The clue would be, that you invest some of your free time into getting to know them and doing stuff for free first, making technology a structural part of their organisational model. In the future this might turn into a (partly) paid job by incorporating more technical projects into the organization's workflow and including this in subsidy applications.
The above scenario might work for smaller, flexible and young organisations with not-too-strict administrative models, not for giant NGO mammoths. In the last case, you might just want to try sending spontaneous application letters, doing some phonecalls, etc. Wishing you good luck!
Non-Profit ISP (Score:1)
There might be a similar organization in your area, however, CedarNet is kind of unique.
"...we are moving toward a Web-centric stage and our dear PC will be one of
How do you make small-scale eComm work ? (Score:2)
I'm a Brit, so our "enclaves of poverty" aren't from quite the same source as yours, but we certainly have them.
You say you've managed to reduce unemployment and improve the local economy, by small-scale e-Commerce. Care to share any advice on how to do this ? I've worked on big over-funded startups that completely failed to make money, so I'm a little wary of suggesting eCommerce as a "guaranteed M M F" strategy.
What's the deal here ? What did you find worked, and what didn't ? What are the important skills to impart to people before they start the business ?
The Post Office! (Score:1)
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seumas.com
refurb old PCs (Score:1)
I'm sure groups like this exist, but when i volunteered to funnel my companies excess hardware to group homes (social service kids) in our county, i noticed a real need for this kind of service. I basically ended up re-learning about forgotten hardware, swapping components in and out trying to discover what was broken and what wasn't, re-installing software, etc. Needless to say, since this is not my area of interest/expertise, it was alot of time and frustration. A group with a directed goal like this could really make this process more effective and efficient! I'd love to join a group like this, but i've been too lazy to start one myself
cheers ya'll!
stu.
Re:open source (Score:1)
Developing good open source software definatly is a good cause. Not quite Mother Teressa work, but more then most people contribute to humanity.
Re:here's one (Score:2)
Because of the diversity of circumstances in developing countries, different things are appropriate to different people. Just the same applies in the west - in your case a lesson in elementary geography would probably help most, whereas to a teenage gang member in the south bronx, it would be largely irrelevant.
In the same way, there are people in many parts of the developing world whose biggest obstacles to improving themselves are lack of access to communications technology and education. These tend to be people whose elementary needs for food and moderately stable governance are taken care of, but who are excluded from the process of development by distance or by social and economic forces. Some Amerind tribes throughout the Americas fit this bill, as do some people in India and the stabler parts of Africa.
On the other hand, for the people who fit the stereotyped image of third-worlders, and are either starving or in fear for their lives from bandits, terrorists, geurillas or governments (it can be hard to distinguish), teaching then about Linux would indeed be inappropriate.
the view from foresight.org and nanodot.org (Score:1)
The James Randi Educational Foundation needs help (Score:1)
(We're a 501c3 non-profit organization that promotes critical thinking)
A national DB of Non-profits would be a great Idea (Score:1)
Defense (Score:1)
First of all, not all charities are wonderful legitimate causes. There are quite a few scams out there, and quite a few stupid causes.
Secondly, you shouldn't expect or demand charity from the American public. A big part of the foundation of this country is Capitalism. The idea of earning your own money, then giving it away to people who didn't earn it, is a fundamentally Communistic idea. When you talk about "today's unprecedentedly selfish" people, you sound as if you consider yourself part of yesterday's precedentedly selfless people. Well "yesterday's" people said that the idea of forcing the upper and middle classes to give their money to the lower classes (Communism) wasn't just a bad idea, but it was EVIL and they were quite cruel to anyone who disagreed. So don't get up on high horse and preach to "today's" computing community that we're all selfish bastards. And if you feel the need to be that self-righteous, at least have the balls not to post it anonymously.
Lastly, but most importantly, you have shown up at a major hang-out of the computing community. You're frustrated that said community doesn't do enough for charity. Then you see them saying they want to help charities, they're just looking for the opportunity. This is a perfect chance for you to tell them about all these charities that you think they're bastards for not helping. Instead, you just flame them. Why don't you do something constructive: Answer his question! Tell us what charities you think we should be helping instead of criticizing us for not helping!
www.vote-smart.org (Score:1)
Re:open source (Score:1)
You're guaranteed to learn, and have a good time, and help the open-source community.
I'm looking for volunteers (Score:1)
I'm a Christian trying to make a cool web community for teens and college students (not nessicarily all Christian stuff) I have a few volunteers but no other geeks to help with the actual programming. (Mostly perl but I'd like to do some Java and maybe Python as well). Anyone who is interested should visit my domain above
Never knock on Death's door:
Colleges with CS departments (Score:1)
If you head over to the website of some nearby Universities (assuming there's one nearby) and go to their CS department, you can find out what they're working on and decide if you would be interseted in helping with that topic.
A great thing about volunteering there is you can really put your knowledge and talent to use, and learn an incredible amount at the same time.
Re:here's one (Score:1)
Historically, Africa was the primary source of colonies for the European nations, typically the UK, for the purpose of raiding its natural resources such as gems. Now that colonization is 'illegal' under international treaty, there is no Western interest in Africa's well-being, since it is too unstable to have large western-owned factories (e.g. Nike or Adidas shoe factories like in Asia) or its denizens are too unskilled or there is no one that wants to deal with corrupt governments.
You want to start education at a grass-roots level. The more trickle-down bureaucracy you have, the less effective the policy and the more waste in time and resources. The effects of bureacracy in America can be seen with failed schools and high crime rate in the cities.
Third world countries are primarily agricultural. With the green revolution, many more have been saved from starvation. The situation, although still ugly, has improved massively throughout the last 30 years. All the press wants to show people is the continual bloodshed, but America is one of the next most violent countries in the world today.
What developing countries need is technology to sustain both agriculture and the electronic industry of the 21st century. If the Americans learn from their own socioeconomic mistakes and grass-roots non-governmental organizations get involved in promoting technology in developing countries, they will become the producers of the next generation as the first world countries are relegated to the service industry.
Here's another one... (Score:1)
Re:VolunteerMatch.org (and Vaya.org!) (Score:1)
Mouse.org - computers and expertise for schools. (Score:2)
They need all sorts of people, proprammers, networking people, etc. I'm not sure whether they have operations in other parts of the country as well.
Hotnutz.com [hotnutz.com] - Funny
Between the firebreathing there is a point (Score:2)
There is an appropriate time to send the Geeks in. After you've gotten people decently fed, housed, and on the road to feeding or at least taking proper care of themselves. And there is probably at least one or more places in Africa that have reached that stage already and are ready for that next level. That's hopefully where the "Geek Team" are being sent.
duccess story Re:Not An Organization (Score:2)
What happened to him is that someone befriended him and mentored him. With that person's help he was able to increase both his math skills and his sellf-image to the point where he worked his way through university by tutoring math. He is now a registered engineer.
Why not do this: (Score:2)
Check out:
Geeks Into The Streets [umbc.edu]
and
The GITS Agape House Project [umbc.edu]
To see what you can do in your own neighborhood.
GITS was started by Jeff Covey [smart.net] (of freshmeat fame) and is currently supported by the UMBC-LUG. [umbc.edu] This is something that you can do in your own neighborhood with very little assistance.
-p.
The view from outside the Lexus (Score:2)
I am an international development professional by trade. I am currently living and working in Egypt on a project not related to information technology.
While I understand that things like Internet access for developing countries may seem frivolous in the face of other very real and very pressing needs, there is sound theory behind it and I believe it is a critical piece of the international development puzzle today.
First of all, nobody is suggesting that we wire developing countries to the exclusion of other interventions. Geekcorps and similar initiatives do not exist in a development/aid vacuum; there are many other organizations working on other worthy projects in a wide variety of areas.
While starvation must of course be addressed when it occurs, it is not sufficient to simply hand out bags of food. Over the last several decades we have seen repeated cycles of starvation in the Horn of Africa which have not been alleviated in the long term - many argue they have been exacerbated - by the mass distribution of food and seeds. We need to look at what causes famine in order to end the cycle. And we can trace many of the complex, intertwined causes of famine back to general poor economic health.
Similarly, we see war and civil instability in many developing countries, and we really have no proven methodologies to end such conflicts once they have started. If we are to prevent them in the first place, we must look to their root causes, and again economics is high on the list.
It's early days yet, but the way that commerce is conducted has already been turned upside-down by information technology and other recent developments in globalization. This trend offers both great perils and great opportunities for the developing world. Developing countries shut out of the IT revolution risk falling even further by the wayside of the global economy. Not only will non-wired countries be locked out of the new economy, but they risk having their old standby exports priced out of the market by more efficient, wired producers. At the same time, this technology twists comparative advantage into new and exciting shapes, and developing countries with even a modest information infrastructure may be able to broaden the base of their economies and compete worldwide in sectors and geographical areas that were completely closed to them before.
Is IT a magic bullet that will end starvation and war? Of course not - there's no such thing. But it is a very important part of a larger equation of economic development that is our best hope of alleviating these and many of the other problems that face developing countries.
These initiatives are serious, they are very badly needed, and they deserve to be supported.
- Rob
SETI@Home (Score:2)
God only knows, the best thing we could do is leave this flaming wreck of a planet for somewhere else.
OTOH, local charities use computers as much as everyone else. They might need software installation, database management, custom software, spreadsheet gurus, or people to help out with their internet presence. Give them a call.
Try volunteering at a shelter or public job training center, teaching basic computer skills so that people can re-enter the modern workforce in a more meaningful position than hamburger flipper.
A simple answer (Score:2)
Think about this: last year alone, 15% of United States charities failed. That's a pretty amazing number. And when you think about how the economy was doing in that same period of time, that's pretty scary. Or how about the Silicon Valley area United Way chapter that almost failed until the Gates foundation stepped in at the last minute with the saving donation? Where are you going to find a richer group of people in the entire USA? You won't.
As far as I can tell, Bill Gates is the only computer user in this entire country who's done anything, and even he's still got billions and billions to spare. Hopefully he'll keep it up.
So, what can you do? Talk to Bill Gates or start your own effort, because you won't find any other help in this self-centered crowd.
If you do start your own project, please let us know. Hopefully you'll inspire at least another person or two to look beyond their own petty little world and do something useful.
There are many charitable groups out there... (Score:2)
The question, IMHO, is probably more one of which groups are going to have a positive impact, rather than just add to the problem. (A -lot- of aid to African nations, especially by rich nations and large organisations, has been designed to leave Africa deeper in debt, with even worse environmental chaos, and less ability to independently resolve it's own problems.)
If you want to make a positive difference in the lives of others, ask yourself what the difference will be like in 20, 30 or 40 years time. Will it still be a blessing, for having been, or a curse?
The danger a lot of well-meaning but totally brain-dead organisations pose can be worse than the original problem. Pest control, through the introduction of non-native animals, accounts for a significant percentage of animal extinctions in recent times, never mind the devastation to the local plant-life.
Computing hasn't (yet) caused the total destruction of an ecosystem, the obliteration of native life, or the extinction of a society. But shoddy products, hostile attitudes, stupidly high maintenance costs and corruption amongst more than a few companies that shall remain nameless does not fill me with hope that this situation will last long. Just because someone means well does NOT mean they'll do good.
This isn't meant to dissuade. It's simply a caution. You don't run programs off the Internet blind, so don't walk into a charity blinkered.
Don't mod me down just cos it's a "me too" :) (Score:3)
to do some work for charitable organisations, to see them get online and helping people on the net...
Perhaps there is a need for a bulletin board of some kind for this
- I wonder if Slashdot might be able to host this kind of forum out of the kindness in their blessed penguin hearts
Seriously, a moderated roster of some sort would be ideal - sort of like matching up a
jobsearch site with an employment wanted column... You could even have jobs
that fit a certain criteria emailed to you - each one with an ID number or something along those lines...
Anyone else think this could make more people sympathetic to the open source movement?
Re:How do you make small-scale eComm work ? (Score:2)
I do consulting, I replace alot of computers and their parts in the course of the year. I stockpile these goodies until you can get a machine together. I donated a T-1 line to my res. and made my first student the root user. Then I kept taking in parts and books. (Even the old 3$ learn Java 1.1 in 21 days work.) Linux being free helped immensly. The res runs Suse, and by being a Lug is always getting more and more free software. (If you run a LUG you know what I mean.)
Eventually we had a bunch of people working with P90's and down hosting very basic e-commerce sites, everything from "Native Art" to seminars, tours, t-shirts, etc... The usual stuff. The first e-sites dealt with more reservation specific goods, but by making a link exchange type system for the res, we were able to bring a higher profile to other sites and branch out into mainstream business models. The servers were upgraded, redundancy was built in, etc...
We now sell everything from hemp clothing and other goods to CD's, furniture, software and hardware. We run tech info sites with thousands of views per day. The spirit of cooperation among the people has led to more and more as server space, bandwidth, skills and the like have been freely traded and expanded on. I really have very little left to mentor as many of my one time students are now better C++ coders than myself.
The reason that so many "heavily-funded" e-commerce sites fail is that they want to spend the money and be fancy and have a nice office and hire the best people... you get the point. When you can start a
Noone on the res. needs to make a fortune, $20,000 a year is more than they could have ever imagined. Our most successful site now grosses about $200,000 a year and employs 5 people. The "owner" of the site makes about $25,000 a year take home. This is not alot by most peoples standards, but it is a fortune compared to starvation.
Also, reservations can use their "nation" status to set up sites that a U.S. citizen would be hesitant to. Marajuana cultivation information, supplies, etc... Anonymous re-mailers that can stay anonymous, even online gambling (although we don't).
The most important thing is to give the skills. Once they have the skills, any man's imagination is limitless.
Fiscal Overview:
Startup costs:
~1,000 in consulting fees lost in trade in on old computers. (This is debatable, because some customers were so thrilled to get their new computer set up for free, (exchange of old computer) that they increased business with reccommendations).
2,000 getting T-1 run with a $250 dollar monthly fee. (Paid for one year) (now the res pays it themselves.) Access donated by Univ. of Kentucky.
Linux: Free
Apache: Free
Perl: Free
G++: Free
Grand total: $6,000 over 2 years
And to be honest, the reccommendations and customers gained from them will probably net me another 10-15 thousand this year. (To be donated to Crazy Horse monument).
If the sell what they have, are good at, and can produce themselves, small scale e-commerce is no different from setting up a roadside stand. (It's just a big freakin' road.)
education (Score:3)
- lorie
Try Goodwill... (Score:2)
And not only that, but you can donate your time in the Goodwill (or other charity) office helping with administrative computer stuff. When I was in college, during the summer when I didn't have classes, I used to work an 8 hour day on Wednesdays for nothing at Goodwill working on their administrative systems. Everything from PC support, to new installs, to supporting their database stuff. Chances are any charity in the area would love to have someone come in and help them out with this stuff for free (since most of the other people in the administrative office are paid).
-Todd
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charityfocus (Score:3)
Paul
Chamber of Commerce (Score:2)
Not An Organization (Score:5)
More than anything, a lot of teenagers just want to learn. Sure, they can get HTML classes somewhere, but that isn't going to help them become reliably employable.
I'd encourage people to find a highschool dropout (or one who is bordering on becoming one) or a teenage mother or just about any other kid who doesn't realize they have a future -- and whom others may think the same of -- and, if they have a desire to learn it, you can turn them from a life of being a couch potatoe earning 5 bucks an hour at the mini-mart into an upper-middle-class person with a career and a cool job title.
I've seen this done. To a degree, I'm that person -- only I had to help myself. But there are some other very talented and intelligent kids out there who have completely given up. I don't see a better way to offer your time and energy, computer-wise.
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seumas.com
Act Locally (Score:2)
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Re:How do you make small-scale eComm work ? (Score:2)
Do they have to pay taxes on any of that income? A friend of mine grew up on a reservation and he has said that's one of the big gripes the non-Indians always had with the tribe: they would get lots of benefits (the 100 student school had an Olympic sized pool, kids would get $2k from the Feds when they turned 18, practically free housing, food, etc.) and wouldn't have to pay anything where normally one would. He also said it caused lots a fraud (merchants claiming 90% of sales went to Indians when only 50% did so they could pocket the sales tax difference) and inter government squabble (the state would want to pay for a road but the tribal govt wouldn't let the HP patrol it, it would go to court, and then not get built, etc.).
He what depressed him the most was watching his friends drop out of school and not give a sh*t because they had the attitude that school was useless because the govt (tribal or Federal) would take care of them. I'm glad to see that you helped some people get skills and create their own jobs. IMHO, the ones setting up casinos are doing themselves a disservice in the long run.
Re:Defense (Score:2)
I wish I had a link to the stats, but usually when the economy is good people in turn give more to charities they feel are worthwhile (it doesn't hurt that sometimes this is tax deductible..why be penalized for doing something good. Now donating just so you can get the deduction is another story). But the key is not forcing people to do it. Normally, that would just make someone not want to contribute and make the people on the receiving end ungrateful because they feel it's a right they deserve. I don't mind donating time/money to something that I feel is worthy. I feel great about doing it. Forced contribution (taxes, corporate United Way drives, etc.), just piss me off.
Re:A simple answer (Score:2)
BILL G. donated all that charity money about the time the lawsuits started hitting MS for Monopoly. Amazing the timing on that. He doesn't have a track record for prior donations. He also made the donation a huge publicity stunt. So even while donating he was trying to get something for his money. Again not what I'd call charitable intent.
It also doesn't hurt that many of his donations are gifts of software licenses, training, hardware, etc. Now whether it's the Gates Foundation purchasing them from M$ or M$ giving them away, M$ always comes out ahead with either more sales, a tax write off and more people locked into a M$ solution, which will result in more sales in the future.
I believe my employer gives old equipment to a business that refurbishes them for placement in schools, which in turn provides an opportunity for linux/bsd or companies like www.newdealinc.com to provide software on machines that won't run the latest Redmond bloatware.
Actual charities (Score:3)
While my agency doesn't currently need anyone besides me, there are doubtless MANY charities in your area which are just getting by when it comes to computers. A lot of them are stuck with '486s and are far from fully leveraging their existing software. I bet most could really use a website revamp, or a migration of their donor database to something more robust than Access v2.0, or just a few Word macros to help them save some steps in printing address labels... all of which could be tax-deductible (at your usual rate) if you donate your time.
Look in the phone book, find something you can agree with, and give them a call. You can get more than a tax break - you can get some goodwill, letters of recommendation, broader experience, and some great networking contacts. And in my case, I get to visit an office where they allow pets, so there's lots of fun doggies to play with...
Re:Contribute to online knowledge-base (Score:2)
I'm surprised I haven't read more people mentioning something like this. While it's not the normal idea of charity, it's still providing people with information/technology that they might not otherwise be able to acquire. I would consider developing free/open source software donating to charity also. The FSF is technically a charity and they always need good coders and tech writers (the latter being more in demand). Sure, it might not directly help someone, but it can help make free software better and easier to use, which in turn can make it easier for charities or people without lots of funds able to afford the technology.
Re:For those of you who are Christians (Score:2)
You might not have to look farther than ones own church. When I was talking to my Elder's Quorum president tonight, he was talking about how bad of shape the church's computer is in. It got me thinking about what I could do to remedy the problem, either by fixing it, donating some of my computer empire at home, or even setting up a Linux machine for them. I'm doing the same thing for a relative that can't afford a machine either. Most of the time, one doesn't have to look very far to find a need and it's usually appreciated much more.
Find a regular charity (Score:3)
In this day and age, almost every charitable orginization has an online presence. Most use computers in their offices too I'm sure. It seems to me the best thing to do is find a charity that you like/agree with and then go to them asking if they need anything done. That way you know that you are working for a cause that you believe in.
What about setting up an ecommerce package so that they can take donations on the web? Who knows what they need - they do, but chances are that most will gladly take your help and work with you to come up with a good project if they don't have something immediate in mind.
That's what I think . . . of course if your real motivation is to help, it's possible that you could be the most help doing something else. Are you open to that possibility?
Re:open source (Score:2)
Don't you think having a free operating system and applications that don't require one to be on a corporate upgrade death(for your finances) march is a good idea for humanity? Many people here have mentioned setting up linux or using other open source tools to help charities do their jobs. These organizations often don't have the finances to pay for commercial software. They need good free software to do their job. It might not be directly helping the charities, but it will help them eventually. If one has coding talent, then put it to use helping people. Contributing to open source is just one way of doing that.
Re:pitching in (Score:2)
Talk about ungrateful! So instead of having 7 people be able to access the web, write letters, etc, they went back to one machine. I'd rather work on a slow machine than have to wait until it's my turn for one that's probably not all that much faster. Even if it didn't have the plug in support that IE has, not every website requires IE or M$ only plugins (Thank God!) and would still be useful for those people who didn't need the plugin.
Contribute to online knowledge-base (Score:2)
Lately, I've had to remove my email address from the page while I am finishing up my thesis (and to avoid spam), but I hope to get back to it soon.
If you have a particular area of knowledge or passion, share it with others online. It's rewarding in both you and your readers. A particular area that seems to be in BIG demand is online lesson plans for elementary school teachers. I used to get constant requests for such tools.
MOD This Guy Up - Good Ideas! (Score:2)
Actually find a couple people to moderate and run the sub-section. Offer a place for legit organizations and groups to ask for help and a place for geeks to over their help. Sort of a MonsterBoard for geek-good-samaritans. A place to talk about things, including special 'articles' that seem intersting. There's no limit to what a small effort Slashdot puts forward could do, considering the massive amount of energy and knowledge it has access to in its hundred thousand members.
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seumas.com
here's one (Score:5)
Re:Get off your ass and HELP people! (Score:2)
VolunteerMatch.org (and Vaya.org!) (Score:5)
Sys Admin Work (Score:2)
One of my family members helps out at a toy library for handicap children (the more young handicap children play the more they develop as they grow) that provides toys for families that have handicap children and little money. They have a computer network that they could never keep running. I started going in once a week and got it stable.
I'm not sure how much programming work there is out there but there is certainly alot of admin and teaching work that can be done.
For those of you who are Christians (Score:2)
http://www.wycliffe.org/computer/compjob.htm
--
"How many six year olds does it take to design software?"
Do it yourself (Score:2)
Furthermore, find something that could use your assistance, say a web page needing a better perl script, and offer your assistance there. If it's a small page devoted to a good cause then they'll graciously accept your help.
Look around you (Score:2)
I'd say that you're doing charitable work right now. After all, isn't charitable work when you work your *** off, and don't get paid anything at the end?
You're right - the power of aspiration is powerful (Score:3)
One of the things that I have learnt in this role is the power of aspiration.
Most of the students at the hall of residence are from the country. They are from a lower socio-economic background and many are here on scholarships and bursaries. For the most part, they are all very smart and talented - but many have no goals or idea where they want to be.
As a tutor, I have the pleasure of telling these students about myself (it's always fun to talk about yourself :-). I've told them how I started like them with no money and bogged down in my university degree. I have also told them how I found something I loved doing (IT obviously) and how that motivated me. I have also told them how I fought to get into the industry that I wanted to be in (eg changed degrees, moved interstate, did work experience for free) because I believed in my goal.
And you know what, I know that several of the students that I have tutored have started to aspire to bigger things. These students aren't accepting that they are at the bottom of the heap, but that they too can have a goal and control where they go.
So like Seumas said, find a person who is desperate to learn, show them what they can do, encourage them, support them and most of all, show them what they talents could produce and where it could take them.
The reward for them is a whole new way to look at life.
Your reward is to know that you have made a difference to a person - which I think is one of the highest rewards on this planet.
Re:Get a paying job. Here's why. (Score:2)
The real problem is to make sure that help is always there for those who need it, while simultaneously instilling in people the notion that they cannot rely on that help.
If people think that they can rely on charity, some of them will, and it drags the system down. Therefore, I move that we set aside a portion of our income taxes for charity, and divide it up as follows: 25% health care, 25% housing assistance, 25% food and 25% for a massive disinformation campaign to convince the general public that the other 3 charities don't exist.
What do you like to do? (Score:2)
That's not a reason not to use yer awesome godlike skillz for charitable work. If you don't want to go completely nuts, however, find something you're interested in, something you care about, and find somebody in that interest area that needs you.
The big causes are well served and well funded (and mostly indistinguishable from big business but for selling intangibles), but there's almost certainly some collection of idealists out there who share yourt views who will value and appreciate your contributions. Whatever the cause, from helping educate cute and fuzzy critters to the Toe Jam Liberationist front, there's a protest and/or advocacy group for everything these days. Find one whose rhetoric agrees with you and go to town.
I know whereof I speak; I get paid next to nothing for unholy working hours, and I don't care because I beleive in what I'm doing and I like my work. I can use some help, too. Anybody wanting to donate time, money, hardware, whatever to my cause (which thinks that limited, constitutionally proscribed governemnt, private property rights, and individual freedom are goals worth working for) have a look at our sites [freedom.org], and if you still want to help use the contact info to be found there.
I know of a school for disabled kids in Mexico... (Score:2)
Look to Non-Profits (Score:2)
Anyway, look for your neighborhood nonprofits and get hired there and shape the future that way. At least you get paid (not as much as in the private sector, no stock options!!), and you have others that have the same objective.
I know I could be making 3 times what I am right now, but I believe in the work we do. And i'm in college so I can't work 40 hours.
Deepak
Re:Don't mod me down just cos it's a "me too" :) (Score:2)
Some suggestions (Score:3)
2) Hook up with organizations whose goals you support, either local or national. Most seem to be extremely underfunded, so computer expertise is way out of their budget. Attend a meeting or two, then offer your skills and ask if they know how you could help. Be ready for their being unprepared for your offer-- most have adjusted to shoestring computer operations, if any at all, and many can't even think in terms of how computers can help. But computers almost always can! (C'mon, you're a programmer, you can make almost any office run smoother.) So spend time at their office to examine their processes and what you could automate. Many of these places run more on individual initiative than on strong management. Be sure you make things easier, more than you get in the way.
My own choices would be organizations helping children, the homeless, housing (I'm in San Francisco), environmental causes, media awareness/empowerment groups, certain causes and political groups, and many others. But I'm not proselytizing here (beyond encouraging volunteerism in general); choose organizations you want to help, according to your own values. If the first ones you choose are so lucky as to already have enough help, don't stop looking.
Hey, if you're not satisfied with this, you could set up an operation that helps programmers get in touch with those who need them! Don't forget to account for those who aren't tech-savvy-- you may need to do some active outreach, since they won't find your Web site on their own.
Live near a Reservation by chance?? (Score:4)
They are sending 6 people to africa in a few months. While I find GeekCorps a fine endeavor, we have enough people here who need help. For those in the SW, why not contact your local Reservation and offer to mentor. With a mean 75% unemployment rate you could be helping a new generation move forward as a society. The Hopi average 85% unemployment, with only 25% of working adults making over $7,000 per year.
Sorry, I just realized that if you have a job, you probably live nowhere near a reservation...
(For those of you who do, please help.)
I have been working with my own reservation for only 2 years, and have watched the unemployment rate drop to 25% with the mean income raised by $15,000 a year for adults. Much of this has come from setting up el cheapo .coms and e-commerce. (Yea Linux...) As an Amerind I can tell you that we'd prefer not to be casino employess and the like. Furthermore, contrary to popular belief, the Casinos generally benefit the money men from outside the Res. and do only harm to the residents. (The Pequots being the noted exception and therefore the ones you'll see on 60 minutes.) They are a wasteland of broken promises and corrupt swindlers. (Not that I would mention Kevin Costner by name.)
There are people starving next door. Let's stop giving them fish and start teaching them how to fish.
Re:here's one (Score:4)
Yes, there is untold suffering across the planet, yes terrorists are killing people and cutting off kids hands, yes people are dying from aids and starvation, but the question is why is this happening less in countries well supplied with schooling, money and information technology? I say less because as anyone who has visited the dark side of major american cities can tell you, it isn't limited to the third world.
It would seem to me that education is almost viral in effect. Teach one person to teach, and he can teach a dozen others. Attempting to get the median level of earning up by a small amount is counter to this concept. If you manage to raise ten people $10 above the median wage, what are they going to be able to teach the other 120 people? how to raise their wage $10. Get three people to $100, and you're going to have a far more profound effect.
I think that, (and I emphasise think, since I have no formal training and have done no extensive documented research) that it is in fact possible to pull a culture up to first-world levels of education in a fairly short time, the members of those cultures are not stupid, they simply have tradition, and the older members are often resistant to change. Careful planning, followed by the introduction of, and intensive training in modern technology for a small group would have, IMHO, a far more beneficial effect over the medium term on a large group of people, than attempting to upgrade all of the society a little bit at a time.
Humanity is competitive, it is quick to learn and to teach, and I believe that attempting to shuffle 3rd world countries slowly into the 21st century at a rate which, in some circumstances, isn't even keeping up with the rate of change in the first world, is counter-productive. It leaves those few self-driven individuals capable of making contact with the first world with complete power, hence terrorists and dictators with heavy weaponry, and a terrified, unknowing, uneducated population with no way of coordinating and little knowledge that there is another way.
And so I conclude, running cat5 around villages is entirely to the point, get them out there, make them part of the world, yes it'll be hard on them, but the consequnces of falling further and further behind, as many of the 3rd world countries, laden with debt, are doing now, is far worse.
Re:here's one (Score:2)
I can not see bringing the internet to the third world as being anything other than an ill-conceived farce. It will make World Bank fund corruption look like a smashing success in comparison.
Work for a university (Score:2)
One option is to work for a university - they need people to both sysadmin and write software which enhances the learning environment, but they can't pay huge salaries or offer stock options so have a hard time with recruiting. On the other hand, they tend to have great benefit and retirement packages and are not as insanely-paced as many startups.
<plug>For example, I work for Highwire Press [highwire.org], a division of the Stanford libraries which puts scientific journals like Science magazine online. By helping scientific societies to publish online, we make scientists' jobs a lot easier.
And yes, we have jobs [stanford.edu] open if you are interested :)
</plug>
Re:Where else? (Score:2)
Re:Live near a Reservation by chance?? (Score:2)
I think you are missing the point that perhaps many native american nations want nothing to do with Western "modernization" and capitalist exploitation. They've sustained themselves for millenia with their own economic and social systems. They don't need the white man to "learn 'em" how to make money from casinos. These are the "fish" we are just giving them. "Hey, your society is in shit, well let's give you a casino so we can reinforce stereotypes while giving all us white folks a nice place to gamble" Besides the fact that it is a direct affront to their sovereignty. And at this point I am really sounding out of my place, so perhaps I should just shut up and hear what the real indigenous people around here think about this.
Re:Live near a Reservation by chance?? (Score:2)
Since when have we even been "giving them fish?" In point of fact your idea is fantastic. Right now (no, really, right now) the Grand Chief election in Canada is being counted. phil fontane has been campaigning pretty hard for the last couple of months on "modernizing" the first nations' economies (ie, diversifying from the casino/cigarett/land lease model of the 80's) and now that DIA will actually talk to the Grand Chief (post-Oka stress syndrome on the part of the DIA) and, maybe, pursue some sort of economic "modernization" policy...
Re:Live near a Reservation by chance?? (Score:3)
Or perhaps even just ALLOWING them to fish.
Medical Research / Biotech Companies (Score:2)
Your stock options are just as likely to turn to wallpaper as in the computer industry, of course, but you get to feel extremely self-satisfied if it pays off....