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Help iFixit choose where some donations go!

Hi Meta!

Our Community (the staff team and YOU) have been tasked with helping us choose where we donate some of our charitable contributions each year. The first step is nominations. Feel free to list as many possible recipients as you feel are deserving and a few words about why they’re awesome. My plan is to compile a bunch of different recipients and ultimately you all will vote on which organization we choose. I have a few general rules that we’ll need to follow:

  • They need to support our causes (think Right to Repair, Repair Shops, people who fix things, people who promote re-use before recycle, etc.) but we’re open to considering things I’ve not listed if you can make a strong case on how they align with iFixit!
  • They need to spend the donation on that mission. This isn’t a bonus for their bank account.
  • We can also donate tools rather than money if that helps them reach their goals.
  • I’d really love to see recipients from around the world–we’re a global site and we want to support people everywhere. So if you’re not in the US, your community isn’t excluded!
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@amber Well, there really is nothing going on in my area that would even remotely qualify. Our HS STEM is actually well funded and does not really lack anything. Sadly enough our local junior college lacks any kind of engagement. A few of my colleagues and associates tried to get at least a facsimile of a repair cafe of the ground but it all frizzled away due to an unbelievable  lack of interest. People here are just not into repair, reducing or repurposing. We are still heavy into replacing. We suffer form severe myopia and do not grasp what‘s coming at us. Personally, I would try and see if there is anything like a tool library that is in existence or at least planned around your local area. I am certain that those folks would and could use your generous help. On a national level, Robin Ingenthron does some pretty good stuff with cooperatives in Mexico and some African nations as well as Coco Henkerson at cocothegeek.com who really rocks it in Atlanta.

Just my 2 cents….

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Those are some very valuable 2 cents, I'm happy to receive them. Into the nomination pool they go!

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Two come to mind:

The KiCAD project

https://www.kicad.org/donate/

What they do:

Provide free schematic entry and PCBA software. The kicad devs have created software that rivals eagle and orcad, but there is no cost of use. This has single-handedly eliminated the barrier of entry into making professional PCBs. No longer do you need to be a mega-corp to use push-and-shove for moving traces, circuit simulation and create matched trace lengths for differential pair traces.

Why this is important:

If you want to make a flex pcb for your 1990s gameboy, you need software to make that happen. Circuit design software used to be expensive pay-per-month software. Kicad is free. You can make a pcb for your switch or add a flex pcb with headphone jack to an iphone like strangeparts did.

More about them:

https://www.kicad.org/about/kicad/

Open Source Hardware Association

https://www.oshwa.org/membership/

What they do:

Promote open source hardware and enable engineers and creators to build off each other's designs within a fixed open license structure. They promote thorough project and hardware documentation by making every certified device have schematics, gerbers and mechanical drawings available to the public in an open and indexible manner. They are also a boon for the small and medium sized electronics market.

Why this is important:

There are many options for developing software and sharing it with others on the internet. The original developer can chose to keep their software completely private or license their software under any open software license available, each with different levels of control. Open source licenses, such as GPL, GNU, MIT, BSD, etc.. all have different nuances, such as allowing for all or parts of the source code to be released to the public. The GNU license is a copyleft license which, in short, is a free-for-all, benefit-humanity license, but requires the individual or company using the GNU licensed software to contribute back to the community and leave everything open. The GNU license requires all future derivatives to be GNU licensed. Linksys was in hot water for violating the GNU license for their WRT54g router and had to release the source code to the public. The results of this violation lead to a lot of the wifi router 3rd party software which is available today, such as dd-wrt and open-wrt.

Developing hardware has none of these kind of licenses. It’s a headache to reuse other’s work and there is no foundation for freely sharing and distributing designs, until now. This is one of the key benefits of using an open source hardware license. The main downside is that it is hard to legally go after nefarious individuals or organizations that duplicate the original open hardware designs for profit, especially internationally. However, I believe that open hardware is incredibly useful as it provides a look under the hood at working production-ready hardware. No electronics mega-corp will ever provide fully detailed and well documented material on how to create your own trinket. Some colleges still teach hardware design on 30-40yr old silicon and insight into modern hardware is not in the curriculum. The educational value of open hardware is unmatched. Adafruit and sparkfun both license some of their products under open source hardware licenses and anyone can take a peek at the schematic files.

More about them:

https://certification.oshwa.org/process....

https://www.oshwa.org/definition/

KEXP

Because sound matters. JK :D.

https://www.kexp.org/donate/

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This is great, thank you!! :D

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You are most welcome!

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Most Helpful Answer

I suggest CC4D repair cafe in Rhino Refugee Settlement Uganda!

The founder Mathew Lubari fled from his home in South Sudan with only his simple toolkit in a ziplock bag and repair skills - now he is using them to build up his community.

Community Creativity for Development. (C4CD) is a Youth lead community-based organization formed in August 2019 by Mathew Lubari, a South Sudanese refugee professional who saw a gap in repair, reuse and maintenance of electronics in Eden Zone, Rhino Camp Refugee Settlement Arua-Uganda. CC4D has a mission of connecting the community while protecting the environment.

The main activities include:

  • Digital Literacy Skills trainings,
  • Repair and Maintenance of Electronics and non electronics.
  • Collection and recycling of electronics waste.
  • Awareness raising on E-Waste management.
  • ICT Mentorship

More info: https://www.facebook.com/CC4D.Uganda
email: comcreativ4d@gmail.com twitter: @mathduckson

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@Jessika Luth Richter totally agree. Definitely a worthwhile cause and Mathew does an incredible job on a monumental task.

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Thanks for the suggestion, Jessika!

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https://azstrut.org

Arizona Students Recycling Used Technology has been empowering students to repair and refurbish computers and other tech devices since 1998.

We have two partnership programs with Arizona schools and community organizations - Techie Labs and Techie Camps. Both are hands-on experiences to build confidence in repair and reuse.

Last year we partnered with 18 schools for their academic year to provide Techie Labs. Instructors and students use donated equipment for learning while being exposed to our mission. Many of the students learn how to refurbish computers that are donated back to AZ StRUT to give to Title I schools and non-profits.

Techie Camps are half day workshops for groups of learners who take apart and rebuild a computer while learning about the components. The feeling of accomplishment that everyone expresses once the computer restarts is profound. "I did it!" is a common shout. In the second half of the Camp, each learner receives a refurbished computer to take home. Imagine that! each student takes home a refurbished laptop for continued learning.

This year we hired a full time Education Manager and are expanding our Techie Lab and Camp partnerships and topics to include, for example, "Elements of Your Smart Phone," "Lithium Ion Batteries, " and "iPhone and iPad Repair."

We have been using our set of ten IFIXIT Essential Electronics Toolkit in our labs and camps for several years.. We'd like to request 20 more sets of these toolkits. The toolkits are used by learners to understand, for example, that a battery or home button on an I-phone or I-pad can be replaced. All of our Labs and Camps include hands-on learning so the toolkits are essential to our effectiveness.

We regularly post on Instagram, Facebook and Linked In and would share and tag IFIXIT on our posts related to Techie Labs and Camps.

We look forward to partnering more closely with IFIXIT in the future and appreciate your consideration.

We would be eternally grateful for your support.

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Awesome program, @maryanna! I'll take this before my team!

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How about Free Geek?

They are a nonprofit that fixes up computers and gives them to the needy and sells others to fuel the cause.

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Sounds awesome, @guardian10! Can you share some links or more information about this program?

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URBAN CODERS GUILD

Mission & Vision: Urban Coders Guild exists to provide computer science education, access and opportunities to youth from historically underserved, underrepresented and otherwise under-resourced communities. Its vision is a more inclusive, more diverse tech ecosystem with equitable access to career and entrepreneurship opportunities for Tulsa’s Black, brown, and female youth. This vision foresees tech careers and tech entrepreneurship as a means of transformative change in our communities and viable pathways to the creation of intergenerational wealth.

Our project: The program would have presentations on sustainability issues of e-waste, mining for rare earth minerals, right to repair, and teach our students' entrepreneurship skills. Our mission and vision is to elevate many of our low-income students through not only saving their families’ money on new electronics but paving the way for Black, Latino/a/e, and Indigenous-owned businesses in Tulsa.

Our organization would receive donations of broken phones from the community, and our students would learn computer architecture and hardware through fixing smartphones using iFixit tools, parts, and guides. This program will culminate in a presentation of a student's smartphone fixing business with a mockup of their logo, social media, and business plan.

Some of the iFixit tools that we would like to provide each one of our 20 students is an iOpener, the Essential Electronics Kit, the Magnetic Project Mat, Tessa Tape, as well as replacement screens and batteries for the phone model that we will select based on our community’s donations.

We had the pleasure of speaking with you a few weeks ago along with our Fall intern, Mariia Shevchenko.

We appreciate your interest in supporting this program. And we look forward to partnering with IFIXIT to offer this unique program in the spring.

More about us: www.urbancodersguild.org

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Thanks for the follow up Urban Coders guild! I'll be in touch. =]

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https://juicycrumb.com

They are making Logic boards to breath live back into old devices! Which helps the environment.

And I'm sure It will be successful!

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Thanks for the nomination, @beanman56!

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https://EveryMac.com

They're a Non-profit website that supplies Info To many users,

And lately they have been running a bit low on funds.

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This one, too, @beanman56!

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Have you ever considered supporting software development outfits like LineageOS.org?

They contribute a lot to keeping old devices that don’t get software updates/ are EOL updated, secure and useful. It doesn’t matter much if you keep your phone functional by repairing it if you can’t even use it for your digital train ticket because the app needs at least Android 8. Plus, at least in my experience, it makes those old devices that might have significantly slowed down over time feel snappy again.

For me, and most people I know, the primary reason for getting a new phone is software, not hardware.

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Hi

Over in the Uk there aren’t many charity’s for repair but I have heard of the Restart project

https://therestartproject.org/

They help teach people fix their stuff which I think is pretty cool:-)

Thanks:-)

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Amber Taus will be eternally grateful.