Dear Wikimedians,

The Wikimedia Foundation is pleased to announce a small new program called the Hardware Donation Program. In a word, it is a program designed to donate depreciated (but fully working) hardware from the WMF office to community members who would put it to good use.

The program, including instructions on how to apply, is described on Meta, here:

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Hardware_donation_program

Please read the information carefully. I especially encourage you to pay attention to the program's design considerations, which determine most of the decisions we'll be making.

We currently have approximately 20 laptops ready to be donated. Applications are welcome.

The upcoming Wikimedia Conference in Berlin (in about two weeks) would be an excellent opportunity to deliver some of those laptops in person to approved applications, so if you think you might be interested, I'd encourage you to apply as soon as possible.

Please also help spread the word about this program, by forwarding this e-mail to other Wikimedia lists you're on, and posting the link to the program page on village pumps and *community* (not public) social media channels or other communication forms you use.

Special thanks to User:Anntinomy from Wikimedia Ukraine, who had the idea of asking about possible donation of older machines from WMF, and inspired this program.

Mini-FAQ:

Q: Why are you doing this? A: WMF's Office IT determines a lifetime for work machines, and regularly replaces older machines. This creates a stock of older, working machines, that are available for donation. We can donate them locally to San Francisco charities, but figure that if we can find low-cost ways to deliver them to our own community members, that's so much better.

Q: Am I eligible? A: Read the fine program documentation.

Q: If I'm eligible, am I guaranteed a donated laptop? A: no.

Q: Once these 20 laptops are donated, will there be others? A: yes, eventually.

Q: How can you ensure people would use the machines for Wikimedia purposes? A: We can't. We'll be making a good-effort assessment of the likelihood of Wikimedia use, and make a decision to donate (or not) the equipment. Once donated, the equipment no longer belongs to WMF. We encourage, but can't enforce, reporting on impact achieved using the equipment.

Q: I need a few laptops for my event in two weeks! Can I get them through this program? A: No. Read the fine program documentation.

Q: I'm really happy about this! A: So are we! :)

Q: I'm really angry about this! A: So it goes.

Q: I have more questions! A: Hit 'Reply'. :)

Cheers,

Asaf