refurbishers@googlegroups.com: Megan J. Smith, U.S. Chief Technology Officer and Assistant to the President

[John L. German]

refurb...@googlegroups.com:
Megan J. Smith,
U.S. Chief Technology Officer and Assistant to the President

In a brief one-on-one conversation with her this afternoon Tuesday June 7, 2016, at UN HQ in New York, I mentioned having helped the Office of Science and Technology Policy of the Executive Office of the President research and write Executive Order 12999:

http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/100841

which was then signed by President Clinton, essentially mandating that "educationally useful Federal equipment" be donated to K-12 education in the USA, and the subsequent gap between what we had hoped and expected as donations placement organizations:

"nonprofit reuse or recycling program"

and the way Executive Order 12999 was actually interpreted and implemented.

She immediately gave me her card and said to get back to her about that -- hence this email message that you are now reading, asking the questions below.

First, about the actual experience of donations placement organizations working, or attempting to work, under Executive Order 12999 and any subsequent legislation or regulation about donations of "educationally useful Federal equipment":

How the policies and procedures are working, and what isn't working as well as it could

What would it take for what isn't working as well as it could, to work better

Second, about the tax implications of technology donations from US donors other than the US Federal government, this is to ask about the actual experience of donations placement organizations working, or attempting to work. under the 21st Century Classrooms Act or any other federal legislation or regulation about the tax implications of technology donations from US donors other than the US Federal government:

How the policies and procedures are working, and what isn't working as well as it could

What would it take for what isn't working as well as it could, to work better

Thanks for your help on this, and looking forward.

If anyone needs anything else, about the above or anything else, let me know.

If this email message leads to any useful or interesting results, I'd be interested in hearing about it.

John L. German (a pro bono volunteer)

Director, Non-Profit Computing, Inc. (a nonprofit organization) -- since 1984, an all-volunteer organization best known for arranging donations of computers and other items, procurement, and logistics worldwide

Main Representative to the United Nations, and Member of the Board of Trustees, People to People International (founded by President Eisenhower) -- includes Committee on Disability

Chair, International Service Division, The Rotary Club of New York

Non-governmental organization representative, Technical Subgroup of the Ad Hoc Open-Ended Working Group on Informatics (informally, the Working Group on Informatics), Economic and Social Council, United Nations

Senior Advisor, United Nations Public-Private Alliance for Rural Development
Senior Fellow, Public-Private Alliance Foundation

Member, High-Level Panel of Advisers, United Nations Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies and Development

germ...@hotmail.com 212-759-2368

Non-Profit Computing is a Participant in the United Nations Global Compact

[Phil Shapiro]

Kudos, John, in your help in getting that executive order written.  Here was my experience contacting the property manager NASA Goddard for surplus Macs that

they had. He told me - "If you want any surplus NASA computers for the public school you work at, show up at one of our auctions and bid for them."  The year this occurred was 2001.  I was working for Arlington Public Schools at the time.  http://www.his.com/pshapiro/themanwhogives2.pdf

     This is not what I wanted to hear -- and was in violation of the spirit (if not the letter) of the executive order.   I didn't know where to turn to for help on this -- so I let it drop.

            I did hear from a community builder colleague of mine (who has since passed away) that the U.S. Dept of Commerce was very helpful in supplying an educational nonprofit organization in DC with some surplus computers.  In the intervening years, I have scarcely heard executive order 12999 ever mentioned (or used) again. A worthwhile effort that didn't seem to grab hold -- but maybe it might grab hold now as the Federal gov't comes to understand clearer the role of tech in our economy and society.

                   Phil Shapiro

                   Takoma Park, Maryland

---

From: "John L. German" <germ...@hotmail.com>
To: refurb...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, June 7, 2016 2:44:35 PM
Subject: [Refurbishers List] refurb...@googlegroups.com: Megan J. Smith, U.S. Chief Technology Officer and Assistant to the President

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Phil Shapiro, psha...@his.com
http://www.his.com/pshapiro/briefbio.html
http://www.twitter.com/philshapiro
http://www.his.com/pshapiro/stories.menu.html

"Wisdom begins with wonder." - Socrates
"Learning happens thru gentleness."

[Pat Furr]

John,

Jim Lynch and I spent quite some time a couple of years ago assessing the current state of federal donations being given to schools.  If you want some in-depth findings of what is happening in California, I would be glad to talk to you about it.

The program is a mess and totally worthless.  The implementation varies from state to state and is dependent upon who you know.  I have lots to say and I believe it is a waste of taxpayer money that doesn’t benefit schools.

I am here if you need further information.

Pat Furr

Founder/President of Computers for Classrooms, In.

Celebrating our 25^th year of helping schools, low income families and seniors

 

530-521-9782

--

[Jim Lynch]

A working group of us have been working with HUD, Commerce, and GSA on a revision of Executive Order 12999 and the Computers for Learning program to try and make the program more effective. Pat is on that working group. The changes seem to be well under way, but it’s too soon for me to report in to ya’ll officially on this.

 

-jim

[John L. German]

refurb...@googlegroups.com:
Open Camps @ UN 2016

FYI per the Journal of the United Nations today Tuesday July 5, 2016:

http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/En/lateste.pdf

Journal of the United Nations
Programme of meetings and agenda
Tuesday, 5 July 2016
Official meetings


Open Camps @ UN 2016 (Office of Information and Communications Technology (OICT))

The Open Camps @ UN 2016, is organized by the Office of Information and Communications Technology (OICT), from Friday, 8, to Sunday, 17 July 2016, at Headquarters. The 10-day event, featuring more than 25 sub-conferences covering a variety of open source technologies...

For information and to register, go to:

http://opencamps.org/

The world's largest mission-driven open source conference

Of all the events that are part of this conference, I plan to attend this:

http://uniteforhumanity.com/

A community-run conference focused on the use of open source technologies to address humanitarian issues and pursue the UN'sGlobalGoals

where "the UN'sGlobalGoals" refers to the 2030 Agenda:

http://www.un.org/pga/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2015/08/120815_outcome-document-of-Summit-for-adoption-of-the-post-2015-development-agenda.pdf

TRANSFORMING OUR WORLD:

THE 2030 AGENDA FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 

Looking forward.

If anyone needs anything else, about the above or anything else, let me know.

If this email message leads to any useful or interesting results, I'd be interested in hearing about it.

[John L. German]

refurb...@googlegroups.com:

Computer donation available starting ASAP

If your organization is seriously interested, email me as soon as you can (responsively to their request) and I'll arrange contact with the donor, a major firm in midtown Manhattan -- here's their description of their donation:

I’m part of the Procurement team...

 

I’m currently working on finding a vendor to donate our computers to. These computers do not have hard drives but are in good condition.

 

Duration of donation will be approximately four months. During this time we will be donating approximately 30-40 computers a month. The Equipment will not be palletized for pickup. The models may vary but will mainly consist of OptiPlex 760 Desktops and OptiPlex 780 Desktops.

 

If awarded the donation, how soon would you be available to pick up the equipment?

 

Please let me know if you have any other questions and or if you would like to accept our donation.

 

Thanks

My questions emailed to them, to which they responded as above, were:

Non-Profit Computing will be happy to place your donation promptly and well for you, and ensure that the recipient organization provides you a proper letter of receipt if you need that -- it'd also be helpful to know:

Do the items being considered for donation include printers / scanners / copiers / fax equipment, network gear, or anything else other than desktops or laptops

Is there a list of the items being considered for donation, and if not yet, what are the approximate quantities and timing for asset disposition, whether all at one time, or in stages over a period of time, and if in stages, approximate quantities anticipated per stage -- when appropriate, we've also placed donations in corporate / institutional government refreshes where the donated items go out as the new items come in

Do the items being considered for donation include any items that are known not to be fully working, and if so, whether those items been professionally diagnosed -- we can place items that are known not to be fully working, or have them mined for parts, with an absolute minimum going to responsible recycling / destruction

Have any parts been removed, for example, hard disk drives or RAM -- this isn't the only data destruction method, but if your firm chooses it, it influences the donations placement process so we need to know

Are all the items being considered for donation owned by your firm -- if any are leased, for example, we've worked with that in previous corporate / institutional / government donations, we just need to know up front

Whether your firm has any preferences or restrictions as to kinds of recipient organizations or their locations

If pickup will be required, whether there's a window of availability, or a deadline, for pickup, and where geographically to pick up -- if your firm expects to be shipping anyway for your firm's own reasons, for example to a staging area / warehouse as part of your firm's asset disposition process, could such shipments be made instead to a distribution center or freight forwarder that would be involved in the donations placement process

Does your firm need tax-deduction documentation -- our pro-bono tax advisor advises that letters of receipt not include values, which should come from your firm's own tax advisors, but we'd be keenly interested in your firm's take on current best practices for receipting for donations, particularly at the scale you refer to

We place donated items directly with recipient end-user organizations -- as soon as we have the above information, we make a match with an organization that needs what you have.

I'm sure you have questions that aren't covered above -- once we have the above information, I'd be happy to call you.

Their first email message, to which I responded as above, said:

I work in the Procurement Department...and we are currently in the process of a long-term renovation. With that being said, we are replacing all of our current computer equipment and would love the opportunity to donate any computers, laptops, etc.  we will no longer be using.
 
Is this something that would interest you? If so, please give me some details on the types of computer equipment that you accept for donation as well as the amount you are willing to accept. Also, please let me know the pick-up options and prices.
 
Look forward to hearing from you.
 
Thanks so much!

[br...@cristina.org]

The National Cristina Foundation promotes technology reuse for organizations who teach and train disabled, disadvantaged and at-risk populations.  Donated technology has a positive outcome on many fronts as people learn new skills that help them take pride in themselves and their accomplishments.  Sufficient access to technology can mean independence, employment and the opportunity to lead more meaningful lives.

The work of the National Cristina Foundation has made it possible for hundreds of thousands of computers and related technology to be reused productively across American to make a difference in the lives of millions of people. 

We would be pleased to receive this donation. We will accept any amount of equipment being offered.   

If awarded this donation, we will arrange partner pick up within donor's desired time frame.    

We can provide you with any specific information you may need.  Please note there are no fees for any of our services.

Please contact Meredith Wynne (mere...@cristina.org) for placement information.

Thank you for your consideration,

Brian Barrett

Director, IT & Communications

National Cristina Foundation

[John L. German]

refurb...@googlegroups.com:

Donation available --
"HP DesignJet 750c wide format printer"
[prints on paper up to 36 inches wide]
with error message on the display screen
“Switch power off. Check cartridge path.”

If your organization or any other worthy organization you know is seriously interested, email me as soon as you can, and I'll arrange contact with the donor, an architectural  firm in midtown Manhattan -- here are their answers to my questions which they emailed me today Monday July 10, 2017:

I assume it's not under warranty -- has it been professionally diagnosed or serviced

It is not under warranty. We had a repairman come in and look at it, who did not know how to address the issue – we kept getting the message on the display screen “Switch power off. Check cartridge path.”  It continues to display this message.

Is it owned by you / your firm -- if it's leased, for example, we've worked with that in previous corporate / institutional / government donations, we just need to know up front

It is owned by our firm.

Whether you / your firm has any preferences or restrictions as to kinds of recipient organizations or their locations
We do not have any preferences as to the recipient.

Whether there's a window of availability, or a deadline, for pickup, and where to pick up

We would like the plotter to be picked up at the latest, at the end of this week. It is located at our offices[...]there is an elevator in the building that goes to [their] Floor.

 

Do you / your firm need tax-deduction documentation -- our pro-bono tax advisor advises that letters of receipt not include values, which should come from your / your firm's own tax advisors, but we'd be keenly interested in your / your firm's take on current best practices for receipting  for donations

We would like tax documentation. We estimate the value of the plotter to be $1,500.00.

Looking forward

If anyone needs anything else, about the above or anything else, let me know.

If this email message leads to any useful or interesting results, I'd be interested in hearing about it.